Professional Coaching for Agilists

Preface xiii<br>Acknowledgments xix<br>About the Authors xxi <br> <br> Chapter 1: Basics of Professional Coaching 1 <br>What Is Professional Coaching? 1 <br>Our Coaching Toolbox: Principles, Objectives, and Techniques 6 <br>Objective-Based Coaching 7 <br>An Example Coaching Conversation 12 <br>Powerful Questions: The Primary Tool of Professional Coaching 14 <br>Applying Professional Coaching to Teams and Organizations 19 <br>Chapter Summary 19 <br> <br> Chapter 2: Professional Coaching in Depth 23 <br>Professional Coaching Starts with Permission 24 <br>The Session Purpose 25 <br>Exploring the Coachee's Mental Landscape 29 <br>Forward Motion (aka Planning) 30 <br>Closing a Coaching Session 33 <br>Coaching Techniques 34 <br>An Extended Example of Professional Coaching 36 <br>Chapter Summary 39 <br> <br> Chapter 3: Acting as a Mirror 41 <br>Neutrality: The Absence of Distortion 42 <br>Fully Absorbing Information 43 <br>Consider Your Response 46 <br>Reflecting the Coachee in Your Response 47 <br>Helping the Coachee Focus 50 <br>Using the Team to Augment Your Coaching 53 <br>A Complete Summary of Professional Coaching 55 <br>Chapter Summary 57 <br> <br> Chapter 4: Offering Expertise 59 <br>Resisting the Urge to Provide Unsolicited Expertise 60 <br>Handling Explicit Requests for Expertise 60 <br>Sharing the "Minimum Viable" Amount of Expertise 66 <br>We All Have Blind Spots 69 <br>Applying a Coaching Mindset to Teaching 71 <br>Creating a Self-Serve Knowledge-Sharing Environment 72 <br>Guidelines for Sharing Feedback and Expertise 74 <br>Additional Considerations for Sharing Feedback and Expertise 74 <br>Receiving Feedback as a Coach 76 <br>Chapter Summary 76 <br> <br> Chapter 5: Coaching toward Performance 79 <br>Connecting People with Their Best Selves 80 <br>Shifting from Obstacles to Goals 83 <br>Providing Feedback on the Coachee's Journey 85 <br>Rewiring Our Thought Patterns 88 <br>Team Self-Coaching 94 <br>Supporting Coachee Improvement Efforts 94 <br>Chapter Summary 95 <br> <br>Chapter 6: Being the Best Coach You Can Be 97 <br>Bring Your Whole Self to Coaching 98 <br>Leverage Your Emotional Intelligence 102 <br>Experiment and Take Risks to Grow as a Coach 105 <br>Consider Specialized Tools and Techniques 107 <br>Incorporate Coaching Skills into Your Everyday Interactions 109 <br>Pursue Excellence 112 <br>Chapter Summary 114 <br> <br> Chapter 7: Leveraging Group Facilitation 117 <br>The Best Results Emerge from Self-Organizing Teams 118 <br>Facilitation Structures and Practices That Maximize Coachee Choice 119 <br>Powerful Activities--Powerful Questions for Teams 122 <br>Additional Opportunities for Team Coaching 125 <br>Case Studies 126 <br>Chapter Summary 133 <br> <br> Chapter 8: The Coaching Engagement 135 <br>Discovering the Work That Needs Doing 136 <br>Doing the Work 137 <br>Measuring Agility 140 <br>What's Your Coaching Engagement Model? 141 <br>Coaching Contrasted with Other Services 142 <br>The Coaching Agreement for the Coaching Engagement 143 <br>Chapter Summary 148 <br> <br> Appendix A: Exercises 151 <br>Guidelines for the Exercises 151 <br>Exercises for Chapter 1 153 <br>Exercises for Chapter 2 155 <br>Exercises for Chapter 3 157 <br>Exercises for Chapter 4 160 <br>Exercises for Chapter 5 161 <br>Exercises for Chapter 6 162 <br>Exercises for Chapter 7 164 <br>Exercises for Chapter 8 165 <br>Additional Exercises 166 <br> <br> Appendix B: References 169 <br>Our Coaching Principles 169 <br>Coaching Objectives 170 <br>Behaviors to Do and Avoid 171 <br>Professional Coaching Starting Reference 173 <br>Guidelines for Creating Powerful Questions 175 <br>Additional Powerful Questions 176 <br>Guidelines for Sharing Feedback and Expertise 177 <br>Guidelines for Staying in the Coaching Mode as Much as Possible 178 <br>Example Descriptions of an Agile Coach and Professional Coaching 179 <br>Example Coaching Agreements--For Individuals, Teams, and Organizations 181 <br>Example Service Offerings 184 <br>Coaching Techniques 186 <br>Recommended Resources 195 <br> <br> Index 197