WHAT IS AGILE COACHING?
“Going Agile” requires more than using stickies and standing around a board in the mornings. It asks us to not only adopt new practices and techniques, but to show up in a completely different way at work – no matter our role or rank. What started out as a new way of software development has in the 20+ years since its inception revolutionised organisations, leadership teams, the way we interact with customers, even the way we structure our organisations and reward people.
AGILE IS SIMPLE, BUT NOT EASY
This is where Agile coaching comes in. It may be concentrated in a role – the Agile Coach – but as agility grows and evolves in organisations, more and more people will find the essence of it useful, if not essential. It may not be your full time job, but the mindset and skills will serve you well in a VUCA world.
What is it? Well, not only does it require certain competencies, but it also has a specific focus, which requires additional competencies and experience. Let’s look at the competencies first.
WHAT IS AGILE COACHING?
“Going Agile” requires more than using stickies and standing around a board in the mornings. It asks us to not only adopt new practices and techniques, but to show up in a completely different way at work – no matter our role or rank. What started out as a new way of software development has in the 20+ years since its inception revolutionised organisations, leadership teams, the way we interact with customers, even the way we structure our organisations and reward people.
AGILE IS SIMPLE, BUT NOT EASY
This is where Agile coaching comes in. It may be concentrated in a role – the Agile Coach – but as agility grows and evolves in organisations, more and more people will find the essence of it useful, if not essential. It may not be your full time job, but the mindset and skills will serve you well in a VUCA world.
What is it? Well, not only does it require certain competencies, but it also has a specific focus, which requires additional competencies and experience. Let’s look at the competencies first.
WHAT IS AGILE COACHING?
“Going Agile” requires more than using stickies and standing around a board in the mornings. It asks us to not only adopt new practices and techniques, but to show up in a completely different way at work. No matter our role or rank. What started out as a new way of software development has in the 20+ years since its inception revolutionised organisations, leadership teams, the way we interact with customers, even the way we structure our organisations and reward people.
AGILE IS SIMPLE, BUT NOT EASY
This is where Agile coaching comes in. It may be concentrated in a role – the Agile Coach – but as agility grows and evolves in organisations, more and more people will find the essence of it useful, if not essential. It may not be your full time job, but the mindset and skills will serve you well in a VUCA world.
What is it? Well, not only does it require certain competencies, but it also has a specific focus, which requires additional competencies and experience. Let’s look at the competencies first.
AGILE COACHING COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK
The first Agile Coaching Competency framework was the brain child of Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd in collaboration with ICAgile back in 2011. The model has been adopted and adapted as the application of Agile has grown over the years. We have a version of the model for Team Coaches, and another for Enterprise Coaches, an important distinction as set below.
Agile Team Coaching vs. Enterprise Coaching
Bringing coaching to an organisation is a powerful way to strengthen an agile transformation. If you have questions about whether agile team coaching or enterprise coaching is right for your organisation, here is an overview from ICAgile of both types of coaching and a short guide to help you decide which type of coaching to pursue first.
AGILE COACHING COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK
The first Agile Coaching Competency framework was the brain child of Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd in collaboration with ICAgile back in 2011. The model has been adopted and adapted as the application of Agile has grown over the years. We have a version of the model for Team Coaches, and another for Enterprise Coaches, an important distinction as set below.
Agile Team Coaching vs. Enterprise Coaching
Bringing coaching to an organisation is a powerful way to strengthen an agile transformation. If you have questions about whether agile team coaching or enterprise coaching is right for your organisation, here is an overview from ICAgile of both types of coaching and a short guide to help you decide which type of coaching to pursue first.
Agile Team Coaching Competency Framework
Team Coaches focus on embedding Agile at the individual team level, using traditional Agile frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, etc. They may work with one team, or multiple teams and they interact with groups outside of the individual teams, but their focus is on enabling and developing agility at the “make” or “build” level. They do the very important work of making sure that teams are able to build products the right way, and deliver work sustainably. A Team Coach’s main focus is on partnering with their team or teams in order to accelerate their performance and achieve their desired outcomes. They do this through maximising the team’s collective intelligence and through developing the team and its members. Team Coaches also support their Product Owners in figuring out what is the right product to build, they might support stakeholders to grow in agility, they cheer lead Agile in the rest of the organisation. A Team Coach may bear the title of “agile coach“, but the agile coaching journey starts with Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Flow Masters, all of whom spend at least some of their time doing team coaching.
Agile Enterprise Coaching Competency Framework
Enterprise Coaches on the other hand don’t often work with individual delivery teams. Their focus is on creating an organisation where every part is approached with greater agility in mind – top to bottom, end to end. They coach leaders and leadership teams at all levels to grow their inner agility and constantly evolve their organisations through discovery and experimentation. Enterprise Coaches define their success by the growth of agility in those they coach, as well as the ability of their coachees to cultivate agility in others in turn. In other words, they aim to equip people inside the organisation to do their own Agile Transformation, rather than do it for them. In this way organisational agility is not only lasting, but it evolves organically. They work hand in hand with Team Coaches to ensure that Agile at the team level is healthy and support agility in all areas of the organisation, including Finance, Marketing, People Operations, etc. In order to function as an Enterprise Coach they have acquired professional coaching skills, leadership and organisational development skills, they understand business agility and large-scale change, and although they have expert knowledge and deep experience of Agile and Lean, they don’t have to rely on a specific Agile framework. An Enterprise Coach is a walking, talking example of agility embodied.
Agile Team Coaching Competency Framework
Team Coaches focus on embedding Agile at the individual team level, using traditional Agile frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, etc. They may work with one team, or multiple teams and they interact with groups outside of the individual teams, but their focus is on enabling and developing agility at the “make” or “build” level. They do the very important work of making sure that teams are able to build products the right way, and deliver work sustainably. A Team Coach’s main focus is on partnering with their team or teams in order to accelerate their performance and achieve their desired outcomes. They do this through maximising the team’s collective intelligence and through developing the team and its members. Team Coaches also support their Product Owners in figuring out what is the right product to build, they might support stakeholders to grow in agility, they cheer lead Agile in the rest of the organisation. A Team Coach may bear the title of “agile coach“, but the agile coaching journey starts with Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Flow Masters, all of whom spend at least some of their time doing team coaching.
Agile Enterprise Coaching Competency Framework
Enterprise Coaches on the other hand don’t often work with individual delivery teams. Their focus is on creating an organisation where every part is approached with greater agility in mind – top to bottom, end to end. They coach leaders and leadership teams at all levels to grow their inner agility and constantly evolve their organisations through discovery and experimentation. Enterprise Coaches define their success by the growth of agility in those they coach, as well as the ability of their coachees to cultivate agility in others in turn. In other words, they aim to equip people inside the organisation to do their own Agile Transformation, rather than do it for them. In this way organisational agility is not only lasting, but it evolves organically. They work hand in hand with Team Coaches to ensure that Agile at the team level is healthy and support agility in all areas of the organisation, including Finance, Marketing, People Operations, etc. In order to function as an Enterprise Coach they have acquired professional coaching skills, leadership and organisational development skills, they understand business agility and large-scale change, and although they have expert knowledge and deep experience of Agile and Lean, they don’t have to rely on a specific Agile framework. An Enterprise Coach is a walking, talking example of agility embodied.
Agile Team Coaching Competency Framework
Team Coaches focus on embedding Agile at the individual team level, using traditional Agile frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, etc. They may work with one team, or multiple teams and they interact with groups outside of the individual teams, but their focus is on enabling and developing agility at the “make” or “build” level. They do the very important work of making sure that teams are able to build products the right way, and deliver work sustainably. A Team Coach’s main focus is on partnering with their team or teams in order to accelerate their performance and achieve their desired outcomes. They do this through maximising the team’s collective intelligence and through developing the team and its members. Team Coaches also support their Product Owners in figuring out what is the right product to build, they might support stakeholders to grow in agility, they cheer lead Agile in the rest of the organisation. A Team Coach may bear the title of “agile coach“, but the agile coaching journey starts with Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Flow Masters, all of whom spend at least some of their time doing team coaching.
Agile-Lean Practitioner
A deep understanding of the agile mindset, values and principles and the application of them in a variety of agile frameworks
Facilitation
A neutral guide who supports a group to achieve their purpose and desired outcomes in a collaborative manner
Professional Coaching
A coach that engages a person in a creative process to discover their own insights and take inspired action without being attached to a specific outcome
Professional Team Coaching
A professional coach who uses an understanding of group dynamics and team development to help a team maximize their collective intelligence to achieve the desired results
Transformation Mastery
Application of organisation development, behavioural sciences, and change theory to lead sustainable organisation transformation
Business Mastery
Application of business strategy, management, product ownership, and process improvement
Technical Mastery
Expertise in the technical craft of developing software
Mentoring
Offer expertise and experience in service of fostering growth of others
Training
Increase knowledge and understanding
Agile Enterprise Coaching Competency Framework
Enterprise Coaches on the other hand don’t often work with individual delivery teams. Their focus is on creating an organisation where every part is approached with greater agility in mind – top to bottom, end to end. They coach leaders and leadership teams at all levels to grow their inner agility and constantly evolve their organisations through discovery and experimentation. Enterprise Coaches define their success by the growth of agility in those they coach, as well as the ability of their coachees to cultivate agility in others in turn. In other words, they aim to equip people inside the organisation to do their own Agile Transformation, rather than do it for them. In this way organisational agility is not only lasting, but it evolves organically. They work hand in hand with Team Coaches to ensure that Agile at the team level is healthy and support agility in all areas of the organisation, including Finance, Marketing, People Operations, etc. In order to function as an Enterprise Coach they have acquired professional coaching skills, leadership and organisational development skills, they understand business agility and large-scale change, and although they have expert knowledge and deep experience of Agile and Lean, they don’t have to rely on a specific Agile framework. An Enterprise Coach is a walking, talking example of agility embodied.
Agile-Lean Practitioner
A deep understanding of Lean, product flow, scaling, culture, organisation structure, management, along with an internalisation of Agile values and principles. Experience of multiple different organisations and cultures
Facilitation
Large scale facilitation, facilitating challenging groups
Professional Coaching
Coaching leaders at all levels, including executives. Coaching coaches and developing coaching capability in others. Designing coaching programs
Professional Team Coaching
Systems coaching, coaching at all levels, coaching executive teams. Developing internal competency groups
Transformation Mastery
Large scale transformation. Lean change. Developing inner agility. Growing others to live in constant transformation and educating them to grow it in others in turn
Business Mastery
Business Agility. Understanding market forces and business drivers. Agile strategy. Product management
Technical Mastery
The application of Lean and Agile in the development of services and products in the market sector
Mentoring
Mentoring of leaders on creating organisation environments, application of agile and Lean to leadership, designing mentorship programs, mentoring Team Coaches
Training
Leadership development programs, designing training programs, training the trainer
OUR PRODUCT RANGE IS MADE UP OF THE FOLLOWING:
SENIOR AND EXECUTIVE LEADERS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Leadership team coaching – Book a conversation
- Leadership development – Book a conversation
- Leadership agility – Book a conversation
- Enterprise agility
AGILE COACHING AND TRANSFORMATION LEADS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Agile team coaching certification training
- Enterprise agile coaching certification training
- Enterprise Transformation Leader Program
- Development of in-house coaching competency – Book a conversation
LEADERS IN AGILE TEAMS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Agile team coaching certification training
OUR PRODUCT RANGE IS MADE UP OF THE FOLLOWING:
SENIOR AND EXECUTIVE LEADERS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Leadership team coaching – Book a conversation
- Leadership development – Book a conversation
- Leadership agility – Book a conversation
- Enterprise agility
AGILE COACHING AND TRANSFORMATION LEADS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Agile team coaching certification training
- Enterprise agile coaching certification training
- Enterprise Transformation Leader Program
- Development of in-house coaching competency – Book a conversation
LEADERS IN AGILE TEAMS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Agile team coaching certification training
OUR PRODUCT RANGE IS MADE UP OF THE FOLLOWING:
SENIOR AND EXECUTIVE LEADERS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Leadership team coaching – Book a conversation
- Leadership development – Book a conversation
- Leadership agility – Book a conversation
- Enterprise agility
AGILE COACHING AND TRANSFORMATION LEADS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Agile team coaching certification training
- Enterprise agile coaching certification training
- Enterprise Transformation Leader Program
- Development of in-house coaching competency – Book a conversation
LEADERS IN AGILE TEAMS
- Individual coaching – Book a free session
- Agile team coaching certification training
