Prescott's

Coaching the Brine

Coaching the Brine

In Prescott’s Pickle Principle, Gerald Weinberg shares the metaphor of cucumbers (people) and the impact that brine (company cultures, systems) can have on them (pickling). The notion is that if you are a change agent you need to be aware of the fact that you (the person, the cucumber) may be pickled by the brine (the culture) before you can effect change on the culture. That you can become “part of the problem”, if you will.

And there’s a bit of subtlety to it in that many of us are unaware (lack the self-awareness) that we’ve been pickled.

I was reminded of the principle just the other day when I read this LinkedIn post by Magnus Hedemark.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of a corollary to the principle.

Sure, as an agile coach, particularly an embedded or internal coach, I can easily become pickled. But what if I actively coach the brine instead of the cucumbers? What if I intentionally spend the majority of my time at the brine level?