Agile Coach meets Manager

A manager today has many parts to the job like being a coach, a leader, and sometimes creating the culture. These are all elements that agile coaches have been working with for a long time; of course, some more than others depending the type of agile coach.
If we take these experiences to the managers, we can help them become better managers as well as helping with creating better working environments and good engineering culture.
In this talk, Gitte will talk about some of the differences and similarities with the two roles, and about some of the barriers she sees for the industry to have really good leadership. She draws upon many years’ experience as an agile coach and a few years as a manager.

Transcript

1. Agile Coach meets
   Manager
   Gitte Klitgaard
   Native Wired
   Agile meets Architecture, October 2023
   

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2. @nativewired
   Pronouns: She/her
   @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
   

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3. Why do I talk about this?
   

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4. Should:
   * Coach, support, and lead
   * Create culture
   * Help people grow
   * Provide safety
   * Set direction and frames
   * Be a role model
   * Etc.
   * Etm.
   A modern manager
   @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
   

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5. * Companies do as they have done for millenia
   * Leaders are strong
   * Best at the craft
   * Leaders don’t always have the tools
   * Egos
   * Managers and leaders are not always the same
   5
   But there are barriers
   @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
   

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6. What about agile coaches?
   @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
   

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7. 7
   Overloaded Term: Agile Coach
   Technical
   Process
   Framework
   Transformations
   Change
   People and interactions
   Teams
   Leadership
   Business
   Organisations
   Problem solving
   Solution providers
   @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
   

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8. 8
   Agile Coach in this talk
   Technical
   Process
   Framework
   Transformations
   Change
   People and interactions
   Teams
   Leadership
   Business
   Organisations
   Problem solving
   Solution providers
   @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
   

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9. * Figuring out different solutions
   * Working in different contexts
   * Working with different people
   * Handling conflicts
   * Adapting to what is
   * Observing
   * Coaching people
   * Retrospectives – always inspect and adapt
   9
   Someone that is used to
   @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
   

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10. Differences and Similarities
    10
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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11. * Coaching /helping people grow
    * Listening and caring
    * Communicating
    * Working with psychological
    safety
    * Conflict management
    * Difficult conversations
    * Working with accountability and
    responsibility
    11
    Similarities
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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12. * People have to have 1-1 talks/coaching from their manager
    * Managers set expectations, coaches advice on how to set
    them
    * There are different responsibilities
    * Managers do performance evaluation/feedback rounds
    * There is less focus for managers
    * The manager is “the boss”
    * Managers need to hire and fire
    12
    Differences from being a coach
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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13. My experiences with managers
    #notallmanagers
    13
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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14. * Many managers have not learned how to be leaders
    * People skills are underrated
    * Clear communication
    * Truly listening
    * Psychological safety
    * Being vulnerable
    * Hard skills are underrated
    * Setting clear expectations
    * Accountability and responsibility
    * Hard conversations
    * Conflict management
    * Firing people
    * There is a lack of selfleadership and development
    * More managers than I expected could use some help
    14
    Learnings about leadership
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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15. * Companies need to appoint managers
    with people and leader skills.
    * They need to train the leaders in tools
    * “Strong leader” needs to be redefined
    * The managers need support, coaching
    and mentoring to become leaders
    * The industry need to look at science J
    15
    What needs to change in the
    industry?
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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16. And we can help
    16
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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17. * Do part of the job
    * Or have others do it
    * Help managers learn leadership tools
    Meta
    * Help managers learn what we do by coaching,
    mentoring and advicing
    17
    Three ways to help
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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18. * It is hard to be a manager
    * And it won’t get easier
    * Managers don’t always get the
    tools
    * Managers need support as well
    * We can help and we do
    18
    Wrapup
    @nativewired.bsky.social #amaberlin
    

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19. I love connecting
    gitte.klitgaard@yahoo.dk
    Want a workshop or a talk?
    Thinking about getting some
    leadership coaching and guidance?
    Want to be coached?
    Get in touch J
    http://www.nativewired.com/
    dk.linkedin.com/in/gitteklitgaard/
    @nativewired.bsky.social
    

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