Want Better Agile? Just Turn Managers Into Coaches!

Turn Managers into Coaches for better agile? If it was that simple don’t you think that they would have already done it?

I was struck recently by an article from Forbes that said in order to create high-performing teams we need to turn managers into coaches.

Earlier in my agile learning journey, I would have been all over that. “Yeah, that’s right. They are the problem! The managers need to learn to coach.”

Maybe I am evolving but I didn’t have that reaction when I saw the article. It actually struck a discordant note with me because not long ago I had learned a hard lesson from fellow coach Bob Galen about having empathy for managers.

For those of you who don’t know him, Bob is a seasoned Agile coach. I think seasoned is a polite way of saying old (ahem) I mean mature. (He refers to himself as “salty”.)

In any case, Bob is a guy who has been around the block. Bob is recognized for his coaching and managerial chops and he even has an alter ego as an Agile Moose.