Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
We've Moved
We've Moved
Walking Their Talk, Sustainability, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sustainability

I saw this wonderfully courageous and informative post by Sabine Canditt the other day where she wrote about Sustainable Scrum. 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sustainable-scrum-responsible-choice-sabine-canditt-x0gef

After just completing a The Week program facilitated by the amazing Ann-Marie Kong, it touched my heart.

That said, I wanted to highlight one comment reaction/interaction between Sabine and Erich Bühler 

Erich said—

Thank you for bringing this approach into the world! Scrum does provide an iterative approach for teams to create value, but its scope is limited to the product level and struggles with dynamics across the whole organization for several reasons.
Without updating the underlying business and financial model at a strategic level, Scrum alone cannot transform organization-wide sustainability.

Sustainability
Short-takes, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sandy’s Take
Sandy’s Take
Short-takes, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
Coaching, ACGW, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships

I talk a lot about the first step in coaching any client (individual, system, team, etc.) is to build a relationship, gain empathy and understanding, and then gain an idea of where/how to help initially. So, do NOT start to coach until you’ve done some relationship-building. 

But what does a coaching relationship, or a professional relationship in general, look like? What are aspects of that? Here are a few things that come to my mind—

  • Making + taking the time.

  • Explaining what you do—what is Agile Coaching.

  • Building some empathy; walking in their shoes; understanding where they are coming from.

  • Meeting them where they are.

  • Listening; reflective listening; building metaphors together.

  • Connecting with their language, not yours.

Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships

Soft Coaching

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Coaching during Coronavirus—Take it Easy…

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Coaching during Coronavirus—Take it Easy…

“Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand

And take it easy”

From the Eagles – Take it Easy

I was talking to my Agile coaching colleague and friend, Leon Sabarsky, the other day and he shared a shift in his coaching that has been influenced by the COVID-19 Pandemic and all of its impacts on our lives.

He said that he was simplifying, slowing down and “softening” his coaching. He used “encouraging stretch” in sprints as an example. In his before pandemic coaching, he might try to push his teams more to stretch in their sprint delivery efforts. But now, he’s backing off on all of that as folks are working remotely while tired, stressed, worried, sleep-deprived, fearful, and simply overwhelmed. Not to mention having new coworkers (kids, pets, spouses) who are not always contributing to focused work and productivity.

This REALLY resonated with me. First, it’s because it’s not something folks seem to be talking about. Most people in the online Agile community now are pivoting towards:

  • Providing virtual training (masses of online training)

  • Sharing how to work effectively remotely

  • And scrambling to keep their jobs/revenue streams flowing

But not many are talking about the psychological impacts and what leaders, coaches, and Scrum Masters can do to help.

Here are some ideas that Leon and I came up with to pivot from getting more shit done or recovering revenue, to simplifying things and being kinder to one other. Please consider them in these really challenging times.