Description
Book SynopsisDamon Poole has provided Agile coaching and training for thousands of people at companies such as EMC, Capital One, Oanda, Ford, and Fidelity. He speaks frequently at Agile Alliance, Agile New England, Kentucky Fried Agile, Atlassian Summit, Agile and Beyond, Agile Toronto, and others. As a coach of coaches at Eliassen, Damon led the Agile Delivery team which grew to hundreds of Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches in the field.
He created Eliassen's Agile Transformation approach and the training content across all aspects of Agile, and led the effort to provide opportunities for the coaches to advance in their coaching journey. This background gave Damon the opportunity to learn from hundreds of Agile Coaches in an enormous variety of client environments and from the wider international Agile community.
Damon is an International Coaching Federation Associate Certified Coach, International Coach Academy Certified Professional Coach, and is an ICAgile Certified Profe
Table of ContentsPreface xiii
Acknowledgments xix
About the Authors xxi Chapter 1: Basics of Professional Coaching 1 What Is Professional Coaching? 1
Our Coaching Toolbox: Principles, Objectives, and Techniques 6
Objective-Based Coaching 7
An Example Coaching Conversation 12
Powerful Questions: The Primary Tool of Professional Coaching 14
Applying Professional Coaching to Teams and Organizations 19
Chapter Summary 19
Chapter 2: Professional Coaching in Depth 23 Professional Coaching Starts with Permission 24
The Session Purpose 25
Exploring the Coachee's Mental Landscape 29
Forward Motion (aka Planning) 30
Closing a Coaching Session 33
Coaching Techniques 34
An Extended Example of Professional Coaching 36
Chapter Summary 39
Chapter 3: Acting as a Mirror 41 Neutrality: The Absence of Distortion 42
Fully Absorbing Information 43
Consider Your Response 46
Reflecting the Coachee in Your Response 47
Helping the Coachee Focus 50
Using the Team to Augment Your Coaching 53
A Complete Summary of Professional Coaching 55
Chapter Summary 57
Chapter 4: Offering Expertise 59 Resisting the Urge to Provide Unsolicited Expertise 60
Handling Explicit Requests for Expertise 60
Sharing the "Minimum Viable" Amount of Expertise 66
We All Have Blind Spots 69
Applying a Coaching Mindset to Teaching 71
Creating a Self-Serve Knowledge-Sharing Environment 72
Guidelines for Sharing Feedback and Expertise 74
Additional Considerations for Sharing Feedback and Expertise 74
Receiving Feedback as a Coach 76
Chapter Summary 76
Chapter 5: Coaching toward Performance 79 Connecting People with Their Best Selves 80
Shifting from Obstacles to Goals 83
Providing Feedback on the Coachee's Journey 85
Rewiring Our Thought Patterns 88
Team Self-Coaching 94
Supporting Coachee Improvement Efforts 94
Chapter Summary 95
Chapter 6: Being the Best Coach You Can Be 97 Bring Your Whole Self to Coaching 98
Leverage Your Emotional Intelligence 102
Experiment and Take Risks to Grow as a Coach 105
Consider Specialized Tools and Techniques 107
Incorporate Coaching Skills into Your Everyday Interactions 109
Pursue Excellence 112
Chapter Summary 114
Chapter 7: Leveraging Group Facilitation 117 The Best Results Emerge from Self-Organizing Teams 118
Facilitation Structures and Practices That Maximize Coachee Choice 119
Powerful Activities--Powerful Questions for Teams 122
Additional Opportunities for Team Coaching 125
Case Studies 126
Chapter Summary 133
Chapter 8: The Coaching Engagement 135 Discovering the Work That Needs Doing 136
Doing the Work 137
Measuring Agility 140
What's Your Coaching Engagement Model? 141
Coaching Contrasted with Other Services 142
The Coaching Agreement for the Coaching Engagement 143
Chapter Summary 148
Appendix A: Exercises 151 Guidelines for the Exercises 151
Exercises for Chapter 1 153
Exercises for Chapter 2 155
Exercises for Chapter 3 157
Exercises for Chapter 4 160
Exercises for Chapter 5 161
Exercises for Chapter 6 162
Exercises for Chapter 7 164
Exercises for Chapter 8 165
Additional Exercises 166
Appendix B: References 169 Our Coaching Principles 169
Coaching Objectives 170
Behaviors to Do and Avoid 171
Professional Coaching Starting Reference 173
Guidelines for Creating Powerful Questions 175
Additional Powerful Questions 176
Guidelines for Sharing Feedback and Expertise 177
Guidelines for Staying in the Coaching Mode as Much as Possible 178
Example Descriptions of an Agile Coach and Professional Coaching 179
Example Coaching Agreements--For Individuals, Teams, and Organizations 181
Example Service Offerings 184
Coaching Techniques 186
Recommended Resources 195
Index 197
