I don’t believe I’ve ever read any guidance around ENTERING a coach. Well, other than “plopping” (parachuting, dropping, etc.) them into a situation and telling them…
Go Coach!
And this is less about how the coach enters, but more about how the organization’s leaders explain things before the coaches engage.
For example, the following questions need to be answered and communicated before the coaches ever enter the engagement—
Why are you engaging a coach? For how long? How many?
What skill(s) do the coaches bring to the table?
What was asked for? What needs their help?
What is the Goal(s) for the coach? What does “Done” look like?
Does everyone understand the role of an agile coach? What do they do? not do?
How are the coach(s) going to engage with the organization at each level?
And this isn’t a definitive list. The point is, there needs to be clarity around the purpose and guardrails for any coaching engagement. And I feel the organizational leaders need to take the time to establish AND clearly communicate it. Managing expectations if you will.
And not to let the coaching firms “off the hook”
There are two critical things that the coaches (firms, individual coaches, coaching teams) need to clarify before walking in the door as well.
First, they need to articulate their ethics. What are the “driving forces” behind what they will and will not do? How they operate. And how they meet their clients in the pursuit of their goals.
This is crucial to get out in the open before ever engaging. Not just to be transparent, but to ensure that there is ethical alignment between the coach(s) and the client(s).
The second imperative is establishing a coaching agreement. This is part of the contractual and statement of work processes. It clearly needs to articulate the partnership (or lack thereof) between the coach and client. What are each’s responsibilities to the other? What are the goals for the engagement and how will the goals be measured?
I like wording around—what does a good-to-great outcome “look like”?
And a solid coaching agreement does not focus too much on—
Solely the dollars
# of teams coached
Duration or speed
Non-shared results
Ambiguous expectations
Team-only focus
Meaning it’s more about becoming partners in an agile journey.
Wrapping Up
My advice to anyone on both sides of an agile coaching engagement is to focus on “entering” as your first and most important activity.
If you’re a coaching firm, I think you have to insist on a broad & deep, thoughtful, and thorough entry strategy. In my experience, it’s the first and probably most important key to a successful engagement.
But then again, parachuting in and figuring things out later, might be an effective alternative strategy ;-)
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.