Agile Coaching Evolution Program

Learn the fundamentals of becoming an effective Agile Coach.

Many people make the mistake of believing all you need to become Agile is to send your Scrum Master to a two day certification course, follow some of the practices, and voila – you’re Agile.

The reality is becoming an Agile individual, team, and organization requires a fundamental shift in the way we all think and work, and that takes time and concerted, sustained effort. Just like trying to lose weight, eat better, or break a bad habit like smoking, we all know the end result is better for us, but that doesn’t make it easy to do.

Often we need a coach or mentor to see us through the difficult times so we may reach our goals. Someone that understands what we are trying to do, and can see us through the challenges so we may make meaningful, long-lasting change. That is the role of an Agile Coach – to help us make meaningful change that lasts.

This learning program is designed to help you organically grow your in-house Agile Coaching capacity through an 18 session, multi-week hands-on learning engagement. Each 1/2 day session focuses on a different topic that when culminated creates a holistic program designed to help a person gain the core skills and knowledge to become an effective Agile Coach

Note: that a person must commit to and attend all 18 sessions to successfully complete the program. It is expected there will be approximately one 1/2 day session per week for 18 weeks.

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?

This program of 18 courses is designed for Scrum Masters, Project Managers, and managers that have considerable experience in Agile practices, in working with teams, and are interested in:

• Helping their teams and organization make long-lasting, meaningful change.
• Helping their organization achieve a higher level of maturity and Business Agility.
• Helping Agile teams and individuals reach a high-performing state.
• Develop their skills and abilities to help others grow and improve their practices, mindset, and techniques.

By successfully completing this program (all 18 sessions), you will:

• Have a deeper understanding of the Agile mindset and counter-Agile culture.
• Understand what is needed to help make meaningful, long-lasting change.
• Know how to coach and mentor people, teams, and organizations towards sustainable evolutionary improvement.
• Learn techniques to work with others to build more resilient systems for service delivery.
• Become and know how to encourage others to be systems thinkers.
• Know how to facilitate and manage expectations and disagreements towards successful outcomes.
• Understand the challenges of organizational change and how to help make it successful.

Attendees are expected to be either a practicing Scrum Master or Project Manager, Manager of an Agile initiative, or a senior Agile team member with at least a year’s experience on an Agile team.

Achievement of a globally recognized Scrum Master or Product Owner certification such as the Registered Scrum Master® (RSM) or Registered Product Owner® (RPO) is required.

Prior experience in Organizational Change Management techniques such as ADKAR® (from ProSci) or Lean Change Management would also be helpful, or in formal leadership approaches such as the Leadership Circle®.

Attendees will be expected to read several books and report on them during the 18 sessions, meaning they must allocate capacity for homework and assignments every week outside of business hours. The work load won’t be overburdening, but it will require commitment over the entire 18 sessions (likely one per week or two).

Here are some recommended learning suggestions for before the class, some of which (along with others that are topic-specific) will be referenced during different sessions of this program:

• “Coaching Agile Teams” by Lyssa Adkins
• “Drive” by Daniel Pink
• “Turn The Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders" by David Marquet
• “Quiet: The Power of Introverts” by Susan Cain
• “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni
• “The Principles of Product Development Flow” by Don Reinertsen

Session Focus / Topic

1 - The Agile Mindset

2 - Organizational Change and Culture

3 - Levels of Agility

4 - Common Agile Methods and Techniques

5 - Team Dynamics

6 - Facilitating and Mentoring

7 - The Power of Self-Reflection

8 - Coaching Techniques

9 - Systems Thinking and Flow

10 - Empiricism and Improvement

11 - High Performance

12 - Empathy, Crisis, and Conflict Resolution

13 - Customer Focus

14 - Organizational Change

15 - Learning and Motivation

16 - Scaling Agility

17 - Coaching “Up”

18 - Core Coaching Characteristics and Creed