You can't buy agile methods - but you can learn them!

Vhanges are happening faster and faster, while companies are stuck in old, outdated structures. The introduction of agile processes is a solution to this: they help to achieve more flexibility and shorten adaptation times. So far, so good. But why is coaching important for the introduction of agile processes and methods? The agile manifesto from 2001 makes it clear in four short statements what needs to change:

• Individuals and interactions take precedence over processes and tools.
• Functional products have priority over extensive documentation.
• Collaboration with customers takes precedence over contract negotiations.
• Accommodating change takes precedence over strict plan adherence.

The difficulty, however, is applying these principles to companies, teams and structures that for many years thought and worked in exactly the opposite way: Tasks were predetermined, procedures defined down to the last detail, time and energy spent on status meetings, and new ideas nipped in the bud by lengthy approval processes. Processes can be defined and tools can be configured. But no matter how detailed processes are described, one thing must not be forgotten: It's not processes that work and think, it's people. Processes should be a tool for more efficiency and productivity. But that only succeeds if everyone involved has the opportunity to adapt them according to their needs. So if companies want to work in an agile way, they not only need to rethink their ways of working, but the behavior and mindsets of everyone involved need to change. This can be achieved through targeted and good coaching. Whereas traditional management is concerned with the actions of employees and their results, coaching starts one level down: It influences attitudes and views and creates new experiences, which in turn affect the level of action.

Coach vs. Consultant

Coaching is often confused with consulting, but the difference is clear: While consulting often prescribes solutions or recommends a certain procedure, a coach wants to enable people to develop solutions and procedures themselves. An example makes it clear: Anyone familiar with the Scrum method will quickly come across the sentence: "The Scrum Master should not also be a developer". This statement leads many teams to doubt whether they can work according to Scrum at all if they do not have a dedicated Scrum Master. How would a consultant react to such a question? He could confirm that in this case it is not possible to work Scrum compliant and that a ScrumMaster has to be hired or seconded. Another answer could be that in this case one simply appoints a rotating Scrum Master from the team.

A coach, on the other hand, would first question in this situation why a Scrum Master is recommended at all and what role he has in the process. His solution could be similar to that of the consultant, but with the difference that the coach simultaneously conveys the solution competence. Together with the team, he supports the solution finding in the specific situation and thus gets the team to be able to make such a decision on their own the next time. The coach leads, guides and helps to draw own conclusions and to recognize solutions. Only then will the individual employee, the team or even the management be able to continue on the agile path without the coach.

Systemic Coaching

Coaching, whether agile or not, is therefore always useful where behaviour is to be changed in the long term and sustainably. And it is necessary when the goal is not only to solve a specific problem, but to enable people or teams to develop and implement their own solution strategies. Agile working therefore also requires a change in attitude and learned ways of working. These changes affect the individuals, the organization as a whole, as well as the existing interactions and are accordingly to be seen in three dimensions:

• Organization
• Actual status
• individual behaviour

Experience shows that the introduction of agile methods always succeeds in the long term when companies illuminate these three dimensions, present dependencies and use these as a basis and starting point for agile change. Systemic coaching establishes the link between the dimensions by addressing all three levels.

team coaching

Here, teams learn what agile means and understand the roles and responsibilities involved. They learn to support and respect each other. The teams usually go through four phases: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.

Management Coaching

Just like the teams, management needs to understand the changes that agile methods bring. These changes range from "What is Agile Leadership?" to "How does our bonus system work in an agile environment?" to "How does our entire company become agile?" So managers should be empowered through coaching to take ownership of and coordinate agile change.

Coaching of an organization

Of course, you cannot coach an organization as such. Nevertheless, not only people but also companies have abilities, strengths and weaknesses. You have to imagine the organization as a network in which framework conditions, requirements and structures change at different points and at different times. Agile coaching focuses on these interrelationships and also takes into account the soft factors such as the corporate culture. Only if you understand how the overall system works, how people, processes, structures and decisions interact with each other, will the "Agile Change" work sustainably.

The Agile Coach as a guest in the company

The described aspects already imply the profile of a good agile coach. In addition, there are further factors:

• A Scrum Master, whether certified or not, is not necessarily a good coach. Only experience makes him or her one.
• The coach should not become part of the team. His essential tasks include maintaining neutrality and keeping an overview. This rarely succeeds when one is involved in the content of a project.
• Introducing an agile approach in a company does not succeed by "buying" Scrum Masters.

Good coaches first explore the prevailing corporate culture in order to adapt the pace and form of change precisely to it and to pick up the employees. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but there are tools that can be used to shed more light on the cultural aspects. One example is the Enterprise Transition Framework (ETF) from agile42. This first looks at the status quo from various perspectives, and then develops a strategy in which short-, medium- and long-term goals are defined. Finally, the implementation is tested in pilot projects - always with the knowledge that mistakes are allowed and that the entire agile transformation is a learning process.

A good coach uses various tools to impart knowledge, encourages experimentation, clarifies consequences and demands continuous improvement - all this always with the aim of giving people opportunities and, above all, the courage to self-reflect so that change or "Agile Change" can happen.