I have a theory. And it’s not much different than my theory on how to be a good human. And it is a simple list.
- Before offering any advice or counsel to anyone, you must first earn their trust. And the best way to establish and build trust between two people is to offer it first. Express humility and genuine interest through showing vulnerability and asking questions to which you do not know the answer and are honestly interested in knowing the answer.
- Have and express passion for the problem space that your client lives in. If you do not genuinely have passion for solving their problems, you will likely not be the best coach for them. Notice, I said problem space not solving or solutioning. You will further build trust by demonstrating your ability to understand the subtleties of their problem space and really, only then, will you best be able to coach individuals and teams. “Problem space” is intended to be a broad term that fully embraces the industry, the market, the company’s complexities (history, culture, politics), the technology, and their current state of change adoption and transformation.
- Be open and infinitely flexible when it comes to the client’s business, situation, politics, and complexities… and yet firm on the matters they have asked you to help them change. As agile coaches, we sometimes forget we cannot fix everything (and we often have opinions on virtually every topic). It is critical that we acknowledge our role in the corporate environment. If they’ve asked us to focus on one particular problem space or part of the organization, we should do so and no matter how much we’d like to offer advice on things outside of our purview, we should be cognizant of our role in their complex ecosystem and stick to the problem domain we’ve been assigned to. That said, an excellent coach may subtly learn to plant very small seeds that grow into ideas in the minds of others who may actually have the role and influence to impact those other areas.
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