I was talking with someone the other day and we landed on a metaphor for agile coaching that has really resonated with me since. We explored how becoming a chef or master chef as being seemingly similar to the journey that agile coaches take on to master our own craft.
And the journey is not by personal declaration, for example, I am a Master Chef. Or I am a Master Agile Coach. Not at all.
Instead, the recognition is hard-earned over time. Earned mostly by demonstrating our skills to other coaches, to leading coaching authorities, and ultimately to our clients.
What are some of the activities or things I would think about for agile coaches who are operating with the mindset of a master chef?
Learning
Chefs go to cooking schools as a baseline in their learning. When they exit, they typically start at the bottom and work their way up in their profession. Their progress is not by talking or self-promotion. Instead, it’s by demonstrating their skill and abilities to, well, cook. And cook and cook.
Agile coaches mastering their craft should spend an inordinate amount of time coaching and be coached. They are learning by observing and being mentored and coached by other master coaches. They are self-aware of their skills and patient in their learning, knowing that certification classes were simply a beginning. They also realize that their learning is accelerated by coaching and mentoring others, so they do that regularly. In a word, they grow by coaching and coaching some more.
Specialty
Chefs have a wide variety of specialty roles, fully realizing that you can’t be an expert on it all. For example, there are:
Sous Chefs, Pastry Chefs, Line Chefs, Executive Chefs, Chefs de Cuisine, Sauce Chefs, Senior Chefs, and Head Chefs;
As well as Line Cooks, Prep Cooks, Relief Cooks, and Short Order Cooks
Just to name a few.
Agile coaches acknowledge their specialties as well. For example:
Leadership Coach
Enterprise or Organizational Coach
Product or Scrum Mastery Coach
Team Coach
Technical Coach
A big part of acknowledging the levels of agile coaching is a bit of staying in your lane, or not trying to coach in an area where you don’t have the experience and chops. And then working hard to broaden their capabilities into new specialties.
Respecting your ingredients
Chefs seem to have a strong, basic understanding of their ingredients. They are interested in how they were raised, where they came from, are they fresh and in season. All with a focus on farm-to-table dynamics and a strong respect for the people providing them.
Agile coaches should have respect for the art and craft of coaching. Always looking for the why behind what they do and connecting it with respect to those who’ve come before us. When we research techniques, we should look at where they come from and who is recommending them. As not all ingredients are equal—so we need to have a discerning eye.
Dexterity
Chefs are able to effectively use the myriad of kitchen tools at their disposal. And they are masters at the most commonly used—for example, their chef’s knife. And they don’t depend on their tools for excellence. The tools are only a means to an end, as the chefs’ skills are what make great food.
Agile coaches need to master all of the stances associated with good coaching. Not simply settling on or leveraging one. They are also situationally aware of the need to switch stances (dancing) to better serve their clients. And beyond the stances themselves, the coaches develop other skills such as mindfulness, listening, empathy, and emotional intelligence among some of the most important.
Continuous Variation & Discovery
Chefs seem to continuously experiment with new recipes, techniques, and tools in their kitchens. The best chefs seem to do more of this—showing their creativity and innovation. Also, deciding whether to stay true to the tradition of each dish OR adding flair or experimentation and making something unique?
Agile coaches know when to stay traditional and use tried and true approaches. But then, they also have a flair for experimentation, taking risks, and trying new things. All focused on their client and their own improvement and learning. And it’s not by reading or talking about it. It’s by doing it (coaching) as much/often as possible.
Teaming
Chefs seem to be natural team members, or at least most of them do until they achieve fame. When I’ve observed a group of chefs in a kitchen it almost seems as if they’re dancing in a well-choreographed play. Each has its unique roles, but they’re also very aware of the whole group. And the goal is to get out a series of outstanding meals to their guests. That goal seems to align with everyone.
I often joke that some of the hardest people to coach as part of a team, are agile coaches. Usually, practice purism and ego get in our way. But the reality is that this impacts our clients and our results. We need to be able to walk our talk in operating in coaching teams the way we expect our clients to operate. In the service of our clients and to our colleagues and team-mates. There can be no more powerful example than I high-performing agile coaching team.
Evaluating our competency
Only a chef with expertise in the same cuisine can truly judge another chef. And the evaluation is based on the dish itself—the depth of taste, the presentation, and the creativity are all evaluated. And greatness is usually self-evident and clear.
Only an agile coach who has similar expertise to the (alleged) expertise of another agile coach can truly evaluate another coach. And the evaluation can only be on the coaching delivered by the coach and on the impact/results that are realized by the client. And a Master Agile Coach can usually identify true competence and greatness in the making.
Wrapping Up
I dream of a day, perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek, when there are agile coaching experiential shows similar to—
Chopped
Iron Chef
Beat Bobby Flay
Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives
Where agile coaches get the chance to transparently demonstrate our capabilities to our peers. In these forums, you can’t fake competency and skill, and those with hard-earning skills will emerge victoriously. Which also means our clients emerge victoriously.
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.