Building Relationship and Credibility When Coaching Leaders | Gary Cohen | #5

In this episode, Gary Cohen shares insights on coaching leaders in organizations on agile principles and practices. Gary is a software development leader and an agile coach/consultant. His specialties include software development leadership, agile development and product management, agile mentoring/coaching, business process reengineering, consulting, and mentoring. He is a strong advocate for continuous improvement, emphasizes the importance of feedback across all aspects of the organization, and is passionate about empowering people within the organization. Gary holds several agile credentials, including Certified Scrum Master, Certified Product Owner, ICP-Agile Facilitation, ICP-Agile Coaching, and Path to Agility Practitioner. His multifaceted skills contribute to building effective and adaptive software development teams and processes.

Takeaways

• Understand the business outcomes leaders want to achieve and align agile practices with those goals.

• Cross-functional teams are powerful and important in achieving the benefits of agile.

• Learning and adapting are key features of agile, but they may contradict fixed schedules and roadmaps.

• Develop internal champions to sustain agile practices within organizations. Building relationships and trust is crucial in agile coaching.

• Giving frontline employees a voice helps build trust and credibility.

• Agile metrics should be used as a guide and guardrails, not the end goal.

• Measuring value in non-monetary terms can be challenging but essential.

• Agile coaching is evolving towards more cross-functional teams and a focus on outcomes.

• Focus on delivering value and being valuable to others, rather than titles or compensation.

• Develop emotional intelligence and self-mastery as an agile coach.

• Courage and transparency are important when coaching leaders.

• Continuous learning and curiosity are key traits for agile coaches.

• Join agile coaching communities and events for further learning and practice.

Connect with Gary

• Website: ⁠https://www.practical-agility.com/⁠

• LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyacohen/⁠

• Meetup: ⁠https://www.meetup.com/philadelphia-area-agile-coaching-dojo/⁠

Connect with Vit

• Website: ⁠https://vitlyoshin.com/⁠

• LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vit-lyoshin/⁠

• X: ⁠https://twitter.com/vitlyoshin⁠

• Other: ⁠https://linktr.ee/vitlyoshin⁠

Timestamps

(⁠00:00⁠) Intro

(⁠05:07⁠) The Importance of Coaching Leadership on Agile Principles and Practices

(⁠07:56⁠) Essential Agile Practices for Leaders

(⁠13:49⁠) Establishing Trust and Credibility with Leaders

(⁠15:50⁠) Understanding and Communicating with Leaders

(⁠19:50⁠) Sustaining Progress After the Coach Leaves

(⁠25:22⁠) Overcoming Resistance from Leaders

(⁠33:35⁠) Using Agile Metrics

(⁠40:34⁠) Upcoming Trends in Agile

(⁠47:57⁠) Advice to Younger Self

(⁠50:11⁠) Final Lesson from Coaching Leaders

(⁠54:06⁠) How to Contact Gary Cohen

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