[This is the second of a three-part series. Start from the beginning: Lean-Agile transformation as Lean-Agile process]

What with last week’s London workshop (sold out!) and work on the new book I’ve got a bit behind my usual blogging schedule. Sorry about that! Every cloud though – here’s Agendashift partner Andrea Chiou debriefing (in Slack) her appearance this week at the Agile NOVA meetup in Washington, DC:

I said, using this style of interview, you can get managers in a room learning about each other’s vision for their most pressing problems, and in doing so you can then see where there is energy, as well as where there are solutions already inherently existing within the org

And:

This differs from almost every other Agile transformation approach I know, except one (I mentioned Open Space Agility). And the reason it works is because it is values-based, and based on mutual exploration and dialogue with managers/sponsors.

I might add here that Agendashift is also about exploration and agreement with participants (not just managers and sponsors), but Andrea does a great job of explaining how Agendashift helps facilitate those early conversations.

Especially in the guise of the Agendashift facilitator day, you can view the Agendashift workshop as a demonstration of three things:

1. The power of a values-based and outcome-centric approach
2. How the different techniques we use integrate so pleasingly
3. An end-to-end transformation process that mirrors (and even exemplifies) a Lean-Agile delivery process.

Part 1 in this series expanded on point 3. Today, we’ll again review the five sections of the workshop, this time as a possible structure for a coaching engagement:

1. Discovery: Identifying the strategic goals and needs that any coaching must support, setting the right tone in terms of ambition without losing sight of where the real challenges and opportunities lie
2. Exploration: With or without the aid of the Agendashift assessment, exploring key areas of opportunity in more detail, identifying obstacles, and from those generating a set of outcomes that represent the scope, objectives, and priorities of the engagement
3. Mapping: Understanding the challenge in enough breadth to be sure of not missing anything important, and keeping the coaching process fed with fresh and important challenges to investigate
4. Elaboration: Generating, framing, and develop actions
5. Operation: Ensuring follow-through, maintaining appropriate transparency, accountability, and feedback in the relationship

Just as we discussed in the previous post, this isn’t a completely linear process, in fact much of this needs to happen on a frequent or ongoing basis. There are however some key conversations that do need to be had, and the earlier in the process, the better. A coaching engagement that stands on a platform of agreed needs, scope, and level of ambition is surely healthier than one based on the offer of technical help or of facilitating a process whose goals no-one is able to articulate.

The tools we use and demonstrate through workshops will be used more informally and naturalistically in a coaching context, but they’re still valuable. All the more so, some of them! What coach wouldn’t want to be able to ‘flip’ obstacles into outcomes, identify the drivers behind pet solutions (and thereby open up the possibility of alternative solutions), or turn the vague into something actionable? These are very teachable skills. So too are the highly reusable skills of framing hypotheses and developing actions. Many coaches will find what Agendashift says about organisational design interesting too.

Coming up in the next few weeks are opportunities to experience this for yourself, with events in Hamburg (Feb 9th & 10th), Manchester (March 23rd), Edinburgh (April 6th), and Oslo (April 21st). Don’t see one near you? Get in touch and we’ll see what we can arrange together.

This was the second of three related posts (posts 3 coming soon):

1. Lean-Agile transformation as Lean-Agile process
2. Agendashift as coaching framework
3. Agendashift as Good Strategy

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