Agile Coaching Skills

  • Observing
  • Listening: 3 levels of listening, listening beyond words
  • Mirroring: reflects to the system where they are at
  • Feedback: giving and receiving feedback in a structured coaching approach
  • Clarifying: business problems, goals, values
  • Enables safety through:
    • structure
    • relationship
    • empirical approach
    • confidentiality
    • build trust
    • promotes safe-to-fail environment
  • Conflict navigation
  • Powerful questions
  • and many more …..

An Agile Coach ….

.. may temporarily take on any of the following stances:

  • Coach: I help you explore the problem space to identify your solution
  • Teacher: I impart knowledge
  • Facilitator: I make it easier for you to achieve your goal
  • Moderator: I help you follow a process
  • Advisor/Counsellor: I give advice
  • Expert: I show you by doing it
  • Mentor: I share my experience
  • Consultant: I bring expertise and advise
  • Observer: I watch and share my learnings
  • Servant Leader: lead in a service of others, serve and set an example

Some other skills as listed on Scrum Alliance CEC:

  • Contribute to significant improvements in organizations or departments through coaching techniques
  • Helped organizations and teams beyond the basics of Agile theory and practice
  • Enable teams and organizations to find their own solutions to business problems through the application of Agile principles
  • Good communication skills
  • Promote and embody the mindset of Servant Leadership
  • Rich set of facilitation, training and coaching tools, and models