Walking Their Talk, Sustainability, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sustainability

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.

Sustainability
Short-takes, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sandy’s Take
Sandy’s Take
Short-takes, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
Coaching, ACGW, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships

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.

Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships
Personal Thoughts, Short-takes
Robert Galen
Privilege Awareness

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.

Privilege Awareness

Reflect

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Stop Reacting

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I find myself and so many others, when confronted with something, we immediately begin reacting. And it’s made me think there is an alternative reaction to immediate action. That we have the option to focus on creativity, thoughtfulness, and the power of slowing down. For example—

  • Stop immediately going into problem-solving or solutioning mode;

  • Stop immediately going into fixing mode; and

  • Stop immediately going into directing mode.

And instead, take more time—

  • For balanced consideration

  • To ideate

  • To noodle

  • For creating and exploring options

  • To consider consequences, pros/cons

  • To view things from a wide variety of perspectives

This connects to Weinberg’s Rule of 3.

Wrapping Up

So, the next time there is an emergency, the shit is hitting the fan, or your boss is asking for immediate action or solution…

Stop, Pause, Breathe, and then Slow Down!

You just might find yourself reacting with better results…

Stay agile my friends,

Bob.

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The 3-R’s of Agile Coaching

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The 3-R’s of Agile Coaching

I was reflecting on the craft of agile coaching the other day. As I often do, I was thinking of areas that are important in my coaching competency or my focus.

Sometimes, when I’m reflecting like this, I get way too much information to consider. But this time, something simple and clear came out of my reflection and I thought I’d share it with you. It’s a metaphor I’ll refer to at the 3-R’s of Agile Coaching and my focus on them has been increasing the quality of my coaching. Let’s explore each ‘R’ in turn.

Relationship

I’m continuing to discover that relationship is the center of everything in my coaching. And when I say relationship in this sense, I mean—

  • Relationship with myself;

  • Relationship with my individual clients;

  • Relationship with my client system(s).

I most actively see it nowadays in the intentionality I have in entering spaces and the meta-skills I bring into play. But I also am more intentional in creating, fostering, and building my ongoing relationships with my clients. This ‘R’ reminder me that the key is being more intentional in how I’m “showing up”.