I saw this wonderfully courageous and informative post by Sabine Canditt the other day where she wrote about Sustainable Scrum.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sustainable-scrum-responsible-choice-sabine-canditt-x0gef
After just completing a The Week program facilitated by the amazing Ann-Marie Kong, it touched my heart.
That said, I wanted to highlight one comment reaction/interaction between Sabine and Erich Bühler
Erich said—
Thank you for bringing this approach into the world! Scrum does provide an iterative approach for teams to create value, but its scope is limited to the product level and struggles with dynamics across the whole organization for several reasons.
Without updating the underlying business and financial model at a strategic level, Scrum alone cannot transform organization-wide sustainability.
I talk a lot about the first step in coaching any client (individual, system, team, etc.) is to build a relationship, gain empathy and understanding, and then gain an idea of where/how to help initially. So, do NOT start to coach until you’ve done some relationship-building.
But what does a coaching relationship, or a professional relationship in general, look like? What are aspects of that? Here are a few things that come to my mind—
Making + taking the time.
Explaining what you do—what is Agile Coaching.
Building some empathy; walking in their shoes; understanding where they are coming from.
Meeting them where they are.
Listening; reflective listening; building metaphors together.
Connecting with their language, not yours.
I recently replied to a LinkedIn post by David Pereira. It was a wonderful post, and I applaud David’s boldness and courage in sharing it.
Here’s a post comment from Stefan Wolpers—
While I agree fully with your personal stance regarding professionalism, David Pereira, some people will shy away, given the current economic climate. Some of the previously aggravated people may seek an opportunity to settle scores.
And here’s my comment—
I love the clarity (No BS) here. Clarity for David and clarity for those who want to work with and who don't want to work with him.
That said, David has the unique privilege that allows him to adopt this clarity. Many don't.
This post is not about David per se. Instead, he inspired me to write it.
I have a pet peeve for most agile coaches that I meet. Most of them avoid having skin in the game when coaching their teams, leaders, and organizations.
Too much life Coaching / Professional Coaching influence in their coaching approach;
A lack of deep and broad competency and skills;
Significant risk aversion and fear of failure.
A few years ago, I wrote a piece about internal vs. external agile coaches and the possibility of being “pickled” as an internal coach. The first one was the primary point and the second was a response to the large number of comments the first received. As I recall, this was one of my most widely read and reacted to articles.
Here are links to the two articles. You might want to give them a quick read for context for this one…
And to explain a bit more on pickling – The Hammer and the Pickle
Several internal coaches in my network, all of whom I know and respect, were taken aback by these posts. I remember one in particular as really being moved by them. And not in a positive way.
I was reading a newsletter the other day and the following quote was mentioned as part of an article that was warning of too much criticism on the web nowadays and reminding us of the need to ignore our critics.
Theodore Roosevelt quote:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
And it hit me. Hard!
Not that I was wrong in my embedded agile coaching posts, but it reminded me that I had forgotten a very important point.
To all of the coaches who were touched and influenced by my articles, I solemnly take my hat off to you in respect and support.
You all, whether you are pickled or not, are IN THE ARENA. And I am NOT.
Which is something that an external coach or consultant, like myself, doesn’t always realize nor respect enough. We’re often critical without stepping onto your field and being side-by-side with you. In your arena.
As an external agile coach, the quote reminded me of two important things:
To first, always approach my criticism with positive intent, empathy, and an understanding of the arena that everyone is in.
Secondly, to try very hard to partner with my clients, stepping into their arenas to better my understanding of the field of play. From a player’s perspective.
And to hope that I too can occasionally step onto and into a variety of ARENAS to become a better Agile Coach.
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.
