At K21 I learned that, in order to achieve agile transformation results, you need to pay attention to the four domains of agility: Business, Cultural, Organizational and Technical. To be a good agile coach, I must know my competence in each of these domains. But how do I find out?
Rodrigo de Toledo answered this question through the Coaching the Coach tool. Here’s how this tool works.
Coaching the coach
The four domains of agility must be worked on all levels of the organization, separating the coach’s work into:
- individual: coach with people from the organization;
- team: coach in a team or sub-teams;
- company: coach in the organization as a whole.
So, a table is drawn up which allows for self-assessment, linking your action across each of the domains and company level, as illustrated below.
Filling out the table
Seeing and understanding the four domains is important when you fill it out, as seen in these examples:
- single domain: I know the topic and have done this before;
- preferably pairs: I know the topic, have done this, but am not sure of doing it alone;
- in pairs to learn: never did this but want to learn;
- don’t count on me: no interest at present.
Example:
Reading the result
Considering the table:
- what knowledge or practices are required to become more secure in the activities in blue?
- with yellow, what must I study to get ahead? What will I do to create opportunities to find this sort of learning scenario?
- Do I really not want to take part in the technical part of the company level?
Another way of reading this, which I really like, is:
- Am I acting strongly in the items in green?
- Does the organization I’m in need me to do something I’m not doing?
Using the coach tool with colleagues
I used this with some colleagues. Here are some of the results:
- one of them found out that his knowledge in the area of business wasn’t in agreement with his and the company’s expectations. This colleague was, therefore, able to make plans to act and evolve in this domain;
- another discovered that he was a good coach in organizational change, but hadn’t visualized this. The interesting thing is that the current organization where he works really needs this type of help. In other words, he just needs to put his knowledge into practice.
So, how about a chat about Agile Coaching?
