How much teaching should an agile coach do?
A member from Scotland recently asked the Agile Mentors Community this thought-provoking question, “How much teaching should an agile coach do?”
He added that he often inherits teams that have a very low or deeply flawed understanding of Lean and agile, as well as a very low motivation to learn on their own and wonders how much teaching he should do at this stage as an agile coach.
We heard several great answers from members, and below are summaries of some of the most interesting ones.
Struggling Teams Need Training
An agile coach from Texas replied, “We joke there’s an ‘Amber’ signal and I get called to work with teams that are struggling.”
She begins by watching and observing the team’s workflows and behaviors, coaching where needed and training on specific concepts, like sprint goals. She gives them an exercise to get their ‘aha’ moment, talks for a few minutes on the topic and gives the team a practical application to have an impact.
“Without observation and interview, I could train based on assumptions and waste their time,” she adds.
An agile coach from Florida added he would teach based on what he observed and where teaching is needed, but he cautioned others to avoid a lot of lecturing all day.
Understand the Attitude of the Team
A London-based agile coach said,” I think it depends a lot on the attitude of the team. If they’re open-minded and humble, then I’d be looking to teach/coach/mentor as much as possible, as quickly as possible. If they’re defensive or if they feel they’re already doing a great job, then you need to be careful not to alienate them. I think in these kinds of situations a delicate use of language and an indirect approach to teaching is needed.”
Teaching is a Great Way to Gain Common Understanding
A Virginia-based Scrum Master chimed in saying he finds training classes a great way to level-set on agile and Scrum with new teams to ensure there is a common understanding. He adds that you can continue teaching ways to be more agile as examples come up with the team, allowing training to be more concrete and driving useful conversations.
Teaching, Coaching & Mentoring is all Necessary
Another agile coach, also based in Florida, adds there are times when teaching is necessary. She suggests sharing during the team’s working agreement that there will be times of mentoring, coaching and teaching and help the team understand the differences.
She adds, “One thing I’m learning is to back away from always telling or direct teaching, and teaching from a coaching mindset by asking good questions that make people think.”
A North Carolina-based consultant joined in on the discussion and added, “For me, for each engagement with a client, I set the ideal approach, by presenting my recommendations in terms of coaching, training and mentoring. This presents to them a baseline in terms of expectations and strategy, however, having good situational awareness and flexibility will be necessary as well.”
Embracing Failure is a Great Way to Learn
A Scrum Master in the community added that one of the hardest things she’s learned is that we sometimes have to let the team fail, even if as a Scrum Master we know beforehand that they will fail. “There is nothing more educating than embracing failure,” she says.
Let’s Mentor and Advise
Mike Cohn jumped in to say, “We named this community a mentors community because I felt the agile world has shifted way too far toward coaching and too many coaches never offer advice. Instead, they say things like, “And what do you think about that?” all the time.”
He adds, “There is undeniably a time when coaching is the right approach. But just as undeniably there are times when mentoring is the right approach to take when approached with an issue.” “I suspect the mix shifts quite dramatically over time. Early as an agile team, a team will likely need more mentoring. They don’t have the context to be coached toward right decisions. Later the same team can be coached more than mentored,” says Mike.
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