Agile Coaching Retreat has been organized by the Scrum Alliance since 2011 and so far has had a huge impact on the development of agile coaching and Agile coaching mindset.
This year, the Agile Coaching Retreat is being held ONLINE and has a different purpose: to support some regions that have had fewer opportunities to work on organizing Agile Coaching events. This is definitely another great step for the entire Agile community to grow.
How is this global event conceived?
The organizers sent a message to the Agile World more than symbolically: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Five days, four blocks a day, three hours of block duration, in two languages, one world.
The conference covers the East (from Australia to India), Europe, North and South America.
Each day of the conference will have a different topic that will be covered by the biggest names in the world of Agile coaching.
Monday was dedicated to professional coaching, as one of the key competencies of an agile coach. Lectures are focused on coaching skills, tools, as well as the mindset needed to do 1: 1 coaching.
- The first three-hour block on the first day started at 05:00 Central European Time, in the so-called APAC group. It began with a welcome speech and a lecture on “Kanban is Coaching” by lecturer Sally Sloley. Mohsin Shahzad then addressed the participants and talked about the “powerful conversation” in coaching. At the end of this block, we met a great tool for personal development, “Personal agility”, which was presented by Janani Liyanage.
- The second, European block began at 10:00, with a welcome speech and a lecture by Kirsten Dierolf.
She talked about coaching as a fundamental skill for agile way of work. We had the opportunity to hear how to structure a coaching session, how to formulate coaching questions, as well as some best coaching practices. She showed how we can use coaching in working with leaders, daily communication, team meetings, conflict resolution and the like.
The next speaker in the European block was Kim Morgan, who spoke about transformational change and how to facilitate change in others. Together with the participants, she explored the factors that lead to the transformation of learning, as well as the unconscious barriers that stop change. She also addressed the role of the coach in creating a safe environment in which coaching gives maximum effect, but also what to do to make that change last.
Troy Yorke dealt with basic tools that neutralize fear and resistance and how to establish a clean and fluid coach attitude. He also shared with participants some simple techniques on how to anchor a client’s strength at any point in a coaching conversation. Troy was the last speaker at the European part of the event of the first day.
- The third, North American part of this event began at 6pm CET.
The block began with a lecture by Bob Galen, who talked about the differences between coaching with a leader and team coaching. In his many years of work, he has noticed several anti-patterns in coaches:
- They often assume and tell leaders what to do
- They marginalize the feelings of leaders and their resistance to change
- They often lack credibility and experience in working in organizations
The next speaker was Sinead Condon, covering the topic of accelerating work in the future. The Corona virus has prompted business leaders to rethink their business models and adapt them to the new situation. Leaders must now accept the new normal.
The last speaker of the first day was Mike Hamman, who shared his experiences of coaching with CEOs and talked about how to use the Agile approach in working with CEOs, how different executive coaching is from classic coaching and how this type of coaching can help leaders to become carriers of agile transformation.
- The fourth block of this great online event started at 9 pm CET and covered the area of Latin America, i.e. Spanish-speaking area.
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