If you’re a basketball fan and know who Allen Iverson is, then you’ll probably remember his infamous rant about “practice”. While he can never be questioned for the effort he put forth in games, he didn’t have a fondness for practice.
Now that doesn’t have much to do with coaching. Yet, I like the reference.
In this article, I did want to explore the notion of practice related to becoming a better coach. Both a professional coach and an agile coach.
A Sidebar
Not that long ago, a young man sat down with me at a coaching clinic at a Scrum Alliance Gathering. He was a Millennial looking for career advice and he was very direct.
“Bob, I want to achieve your level of expertise in the agile coaching community and I want to do it in a year. Please tell me how to do that.”
Sadly, I don’t think my answer helped him nor was it well received. It was simply that…you can’t. And I wasn’t speaking from a position of ego. But from the position that it’s taken me ~20 years to acquire whatever skills I have in my journey. And I didn’t think that can easily be encapsulated and subsumed overnight or within a year.
Practice
So, back to the point. If you’d like to become a skilled coach, I don’t think the following gets you there—
Reading a book (or 10 books) on coaching;
Attending a class (or more) on coaching;
Listening to people coach on recordings;
Watching people coach.
Sure, all of these are nice and helpful. But IMHO, there is only one way to become a solid coach. That is…
Drumroll please, To COACH, and to COACH some more, period!
In other words, to practice your craft of coaching by coaching as much as you can. And in this case, I’m focusing the article mostly towards agile coaches and that where we’re going next. Exploring the nature of practicing coaching.
Practicing your craft
It sounds quite easy to say, simply coach to become a better coach. And in a way, it’s true. But there’s more nuance to it than that.
An important part of it is to be coachable. To be humble, to actively empty your cup, and to be curious about everything. Another part is being relentless as a continuous learner. To always be looking to get better to serve your coaching clients.
Another part is remaining patient. It takes time to master anything. (I’m not going to reference the 10,000 hours) And along with patience, is perseverance and realizing that it’s not a destination, but a journey. Let me say that again. You should always be practicing to get better.
Finally, agile coaching isn’t simply about professional coaching. Although many in the Agile and Scrum communities think that it is. I subscribe to the Big Wheel of Coaching as a framework for all of the stances required to be an effective agile coach. Adding a model or framework to your thinking and journey really helps in how you assess your strengths, your challenge areas, and to plot your personal development.
I have three models that I think of in guiding my own coaching journey—
The Agile Coaching Institute, Agile Coaching Competency framework, sometimes called the X-wing model.
The Big Wheel of Agile Coaching. And effort led by Mark Summers and folks who attended Scrum Coaching Retreats in Europe.
The 9 Coaching Roles, by Barry Overeem.
All three help me in defining the breadth of this thing we all call “agile coaching” as being more than most of us realize.
Now I want to explore some ideas for practicing your craft.
1—Pair-coaching
I think one of the best ways to sharpen your saw in coaching is to pair with another coach. I’ve shared some thoughts on the power of and approach to pair-coaching here, so I’m not going to expand a lot on it.
That being said, I often hear excuses when it comes to pair-coaching. That is, the clients won’t pay for it or you can’t find the right coach to pair with. Nonsense. I challenge you to make it a strong part of your coaching approach and to commit to pairing as often as possible. Make it happen and you’ll be a better coach for it.
2—Getting a mentor/coach
I can’t say it strongly enough, in order to become a great coach, you’ll need a mentor and/or coach. Preferably more than one. I offer this as a service under my Agile Moose persona. But there are many others who do as well. I think the key impediment to most here is simply finding the initiative to reach out to folks. Often, we’re too shy about it. So, fight through any excuses and go find yourself a coach!
You’ll want to find a coach that you’re comfortable with, that you respect, and that you trust. That might be the most important thing—focusing on the “relationship”. And don’t be afraid to “try them on”, as most coaches support a free, get to know each other, session.
And another aspect here is to twist it around and BE a mentor and/or coach to someone. There’s hardly a better way to learn and grow yourself than by teaching others.
3—Finding opportunities to coach
I would argue that it might be challenging to find coaching opportunities if you just sit around. But if you’re proactive, there are lots of them. For example, you can—
Coach at Scrum Gathering and Agile Alliance events
Coach at your local conferences and meetup groups
Setup your own Coaching Circle online OR join an online circle
Offer free coaching to underserved diversity groups
Reach out to your network and offer to coach
Practice in Dojo sessions whenever you can…
Don’t get caught-up on charging for or generating great revenue for the coaching. Instead, look at it as an opportunity to Pay it Forward to our wonderful community. While also learning and growing your coaching chops.
4—Be receptive to feedback
One of the key aspects of coachability is the ability to receive feedback. It’s critical but hard for most of us.
You’ll want to develop—
A thick skin and self-awareness; with limited to no triggering;
A sponge-like mentality, just take it in;
An appreciation for the GIFT of feedback;
A thoughtfulness or reflection posture.
For receiving feedback. And beyond receiving it, you’ll want to practice internalizing and taking action on it.
What’s that famous feedback quote? Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions. Try to adopt that mindset for ALL feedback…
5—Walking your talk
One of the most important things you can do as a coach is…don’t coach. Instead, show.
Leading by example and by modeling the behavior of your agile principles in action. And not just doing it when the going is easy, but when the going is hard and the stakes are high. It’s during these challenging times that your actions speak more powerfully to everyone around you.
And I’d argue that it starts as an inside out job. Are you applying your principles to yourself and giving yourself the self-care that you need?
Serving yourself and taking care of yourself is the most important thing you can do as a coach and example you can set for other coaches.
Wrapping up
I’m working thru the ORSC coaching program right now. I’ve had 5 classes that I’ve gone thru and now I’m in a certification cohort. About 6 months into a 10-month duration. One of the things we do is coach each other…a lot. I’d guess that perhaps 50% of the work is in experiential learning around coaching practices and then practicing them in pairs, triads, and groups. Serious scenarios, serious feedback, and serious learning!
I’ve been pleasantly surprised that even though I’ve been coaching for ~20 years, that I’ve still got a lot to learn. Particularly powerful for me is that I’m learning more about myself (inside-out job), which is making my coaching all the better.
I guess my point is—that if I can continue to practice, you can too!
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.
A few resources for your practice
Targeting the Scrum Alliance CEC or CTC certification paths as a learning journey
A safe place to practice your coaching with global coverage - https://www.agilecoachingcircles.com/
Contact Brandon Raines for a BLM coaching and mentoring group based on East Coast, US
Contact Joanne Stone for a Toronto-based agile mentoring group
Mike Cohn’s mentoring network - https://www.agilementors.com/