- Resisting the Urge to Provide Unsolicited Expertise
- Handling Explicit Requests for Expertise
- Sharing the “Minimum Viable” Amount of Expertise
- We All Have Blind Spots
- Applying a Coaching Mindset to Teaching
- Creating a Self-Serve Knowledge-Sharing Environment
- Guidelines for Sharing Feedback and Expertise
- Additional Considerations for Sharing Feedback and Expertise
- Receiving Feedback as a Coach
- Chapter Summary
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Additional Considerations for Sharing Feedback and Expertise
Here are some additional thoughts on sharing feedback and expertise with a Professional Coaching mindset.
Embrace Not Knowing
An important part of Professional Coaching is being comfortable with not knowing. Not knowing may not match our image as an Agile expert. If we are the expert, how can we be comfortable with not knowing? It’s simple. Although we may be an expert in Scrum or Kanban or test-driven development, it is the coachee who is the expert in the area where Agile is being applied. Our role is to help the coachee become an expert at applying Agile within their context. We want our coachees to see us as a partner first and Agile expert second. For this to happen, we need to act as a partner first and Agile expert second.
Acknowledge the Coachee’s Contributions
It’s not unusual for others to give you credit when you provide the missing puzzle piece. When you offer expertise that helps another person solve their problem, acknowledge their part in coming up with that solution. They figured out how to adapt the knowledge you provided to their specific circumstances. Remind the coachee of everything they did to come up with the solution and that you are their partner.
Encourage the Coachee’s Learning and Growth
After providing feedback or expertise, look for follow-up opportunities that will help the coachee to learn and grow. If the coachee asked for help splitting user stories, what user story splitting resources might you share? If the coachee requested advice on applying Kanban practices, what training might you or others offer? Most likely, many people are seeking your Agile expertise, so the more that your coachees invest in their own learning and growth, the more you can focus on providing the highest value to everyone you serve.
What if Their Approach Is Not as Good as My Approach?
The goal of coaching is to help people find their own solutions and to encourage their learning and growth so that they can practice Agile without having an Agile expert involved. When people make their own choices, they feel greater responsibility for the outcomes and will learn and grow more quickly. The goal is not to arrive at the solution that you feel is best, but rather a solution that moves the coachee toward mastery.
What if They Make a “Bad” Decision?
In a workshop, in reference to letting people and teams make their own decisions, a participant once asked, “What if we let them make their own decision and it doesn’t turn out well? I mean, if it is the kind of thing where they might skin their knees, that seems fine, but what if they might end up in the Emergency Room?”
We love questions that contain their own answer. And in fact, we thought it was so good we decided to use it as an example of when to move from Professional Coaching to something else. If someone comes up with an approach that is not what you would do, but it is what they came up with and the risk is analogous to getting a scrape when falling off a bicycle, there’s likely more growth opportunity than actual danger. Conversely, if they come up with an approach that you know from experience is likely to end badly, it is worth mentioning your past experience in a similar situation. People are responsible for their own welfare. If they still want to continue, there’s really not much anyone can do to stop them.