Playbook 2: Leadership Agility & Executive Coaching (Complete) Goal: To develop the agile mindset, behaviors, and capabilities of senior leaders and executives to enable them to effectively lead and sponsor agility within their organization. This playbook outlines a structured approach for coaching leaders on their journey towards greater leadership agility, covering the process from initial discovery through to sustaining growth beyond the formal coaching engagement.

Chapter 1: Discovery & Goal Setting

Objective: To establish a strong, confidential foundation for the coaching relationship by thoroughly understanding the leader's context, challenges, and aspirations, clarifying the scope, potentially utilizing assessments for insight, and co-creating clear, measurable coaching goals and a formal agreement.

Key Activities & Content:

• 1.1. Conduct Initial Interviews & Understand Context:

  • Coachee Interview: Hold one or more confidential, in-depth conversations with the leader (coachee). The primary aim is to build rapport and understand their world from their perspective. Key areas to explore:
    • Role & Responsibilities: What are their key accountabilities and measures of success?
    • Challenges & Opportunities: What are their biggest current challenges, frustrations, and perceived opportunities?
    • Strengths & Development Areas: What do they see as their key strengths? Where do they feel they need to develop?
    • Aspirations: What are their career goals and personal aspirations related to their leadership?
    • Agility Context: What is their current understanding and experience with agile principles and practices? What are their views on the organization's agile journey (if applicable)?
    • Coaching Expectations: What do they hope to gain from coaching? What are their expectations of the coach and the process?
  • Stakeholder Interviews (Optional & With Permission): With the coachee's explicit permission and agreement on who to involve, conduct brief interviews with key stakeholders (e.g., their manager/sponsor, key peers, direct reports). The focus is typically on gathering perspectives about the leader's context, strengths, and potential development areas as perceived by others, and understanding stakeholder expectations for the leader's growth. Confidentiality boundaries must be clearly established.
  • Goal: Gather rich qualitative data to understand the coachee's unique situation, build trust, and identify potential focus areas for coaching.

• 1.2. Clarify Coaching Scope & Focus:

  • Synthesize Information: Review the information gathered from interviews (and any initial observations or documentation).
  • Define Boundaries: Work collaboratively with the coachee (and sponsor, if involved in contracting) to define the specific scope and boundaries of the coaching engagement. What specific aspects of leadership agility will be the primary focus? Examples:
    • Developing specific agile leadership behaviors (e.g., empowerment, fostering psychological safety).
    • Improving strategic thinking and adaptive decision-making.
    • Enhancing ability to lead change and sponsor transformation.
    • Developing coaching skills for leading others.
    • Navigating specific organizational challenges through an agile lens.
  • Define Success: Align on what successful outcomes would look like for the coaching engagement itself. How will the coachee know they have made progress?
  • Goal: Ensure mutual understanding and agreement on the specific purpose and focus of the coaching relationship, preventing scope creep and managing expectations.

• 1.3. Administer & Debrief Leadership Assessments (Optional):

  • Purpose: Assessments can provide valuable data points for self-awareness and discussion, but they are not evaluative tools or prerequisites for coaching. Their use should be discussed and agreed upon with the coachee.
  • Types of Assessments:
    • 360-Degree Feedback: Provides structured, multi-rater feedback on observable behaviors. Requires careful setup, ensuring confidentiality for raters, and a skilled debrief by the coach.
    • Leadership Agility Assessments: Specific tools designed to measure competencies or mindsets associated with agile leadership (e.g., Leadership Agility 360, Comparative Agility's Agile Leader assessment).
    • Behavioral/Style Assessments: Tools like DiSC, MBTI, Hogan, or StrengthsFinder can enhance self-awareness regarding communication styles, preferences, and potential derailers.
  • Debrief Process: The coach facilitates a confidential debrief session where the coachee explores the assessment results, identifies key themes, reflects on the feedback, and considers implications for their development goals. The results belong to the coachee.
  • Goal: Provide objective data and external perspectives to deepen the coachee's self-awareness and inform the goal-setting process.

• 1.4. Co-create Coaching Goals & Formalize Agreement:

  • Goal Setting: Based on the discovery interviews, scope definition, and potentially assessment results, facilitate a collaborative process where the coachee defines 2-3 specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for the coaching engagement. These goals should be owned by the coachee and reflect what they want to achieve.
  • Coaching Agreement: Formalize the coaching relationship with a written agreement. This typically includes:
    • Confidentiality Clause: Clearly stating the confidential nature of the coaching conversations.
    • Logistics: Session frequency, duration, location (virtual/in-person).
    • Roles & Responsibilities: Outlining expectations for the coach, coachee, and sponsor (if applicable).
    • Scope & Goals: Documenting the agreed-upon focus and SMART goals.
    • Duration & Review: Specifying the initial duration of the engagement and how progress will be reviewed (e.g., mid-point check-in).
    • Ethics: Referencing adherence to a coaching code of ethics (e.g., ICF).
  • Goal: Establish a clear, shared understanding of the coaching objectives and the operational framework for the engagement, ensuring commitment and accountability.

Outputs from Chapter 1:

• Confidential Interview Summaries/Notes.
• Assessment Results & Debrief Notes (if applicable, property of the coachee).
• Clearly Defined Coaching Scope & Focus Statement.
• Co-created SMART Coaching Goals owned by the coachee.
• Signed Coaching Agreement outlining logistics, roles, goals, and confidentiality.

Chapter 2: Agile Mindset & Principles for Leaders

Objective: To explore the foundational thinking, values, and principles that underpin agile ways of working and contrast them with traditional management paradigms. This chapter focuses on helping the leader understand why agility is relevant in today's environment and what core mindset shifts are required for effective agile leadership.

Key Activities & Content:

• 2.1. Explore the VUCA Context:

  • Understanding the Environment: Facilitate a discussion about the characteristics of the modern operating environment:
    • Volatility: The speed and unpredictability of change.
    • Uncertainty: The lack of predictability and the inability to forecast outcomes accurately.
    • Complexity: The multitude of interconnected factors and variables, where cause-and-effect relationships are unclear.
    • Ambiguity: The lack of clarity or the potential for multiple interpretations of conditions or events.
  • Relevance to the Leader: Connect these concepts directly to the leader's specific industry, market, and organizational challenges. How does VUCA manifest in their world? Why might traditional planning and control methods be insufficient?
  • Need for Adaptability: Frame agility as a necessary response to effectively navigate and thrive in a VUCA world, emphasizing adaptability, resilience, and learning.

• 2.2. Deep Dive into Agile Values & Principles:

  • Beyond the Manifesto: Move beyond simply listing the 4 values and 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto. Engage the leader in a deeper exploration of their meaning and implications specifically for leadership. Use Socratic questioning:
    • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools: How does this change how you structure teams, facilitate collaboration, or evaluate performance?
    • Working software [or solutions] over comprehensive documentation: How does this influence planning, requirements gathering, and progress tracking at a strategic level?
    • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation: What does genuine partnership with customers/stakeholders look like from a leadership perspective? How does it impact decision-making?
    • Responding to change over following a plan: How can leaders create strategic plans that embrace adaptation? How does this shift the view of "deviations" from the plan?
  • The 'Why': Focus on the underlying purpose and intent behind each value and principle. Why is valuing individuals and interactions crucial for complex work? Why is responding to change essential for delivering value in uncertain markets?
  • Personal Resonance: Encourage the leader to reflect on which principles resonate most strongly with them and which present potential challenges or tensions with their current beliefs or organizational norms.

• 2.3. Introduce Key Agile Leadership Concepts:

  • Servant Leadership:
    • Definition: Explore the concept of leaders primarily focusing on the growth and well-being of their people and the communities to which they belong. Contrast this with traditional top-down, directive styles.
    • Behaviors: Discuss specific servant leader behaviors (e.g., listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, building community).
    • Reflection: How does this concept align or conflict with the leader's current style and organizational expectations?
  • Growth Mindset (vs. Fixed Mindset):
    • Concept (Carol Dweck): Explain the difference between believing abilities are fixed versus believing they can be developed through dedication and hard work.
    • Implications: Discuss how a growth mindset fosters resilience, embraces challenges, values effort, learns from criticism, and finds inspiration in others' success – all crucial for navigating uncertainty and fostering innovation.
    • Self-Reflection: Encourage the leader to reflect on their own mindset triggers and how they respond to challenges and setbacks.
  • Psychological Safety:
    • Concept (Amy Edmondson): Define as a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking (e.g., speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes).
    • Criticality: Explain why it's essential for learning, innovation, reporting errors, and high performance in complex work environments.
    • Leader's Role: Discuss the leader's significant impact on creating (or destroying) psychological safety through their actions and responses. Explore specific behaviors that foster safety.

• 2.4. Contrast Leadership Styles: Command-and-Control vs. Agile/Enabling:

  • Comparative Analysis: Facilitate a discussion comparing and contrasting traditional management approaches (often characterized by hierarchy, detailed planning, top-down direction, focus on efficiency and compliance) with agile leadership approaches (characterized by empowerment, enabling teams, coaching, focusing on outcomes, value delivery, and adaptation).
  • Scenario Exploration: Use realistic scenarios relevant to the leader's context to explore how different leadership styles might play out and their likely consequences.
  • Identify Necessary Shifts: Help the leader identify specific, concrete shifts they might need or want to make in their own leadership approach to better align with agile principles and effectively lead in their current context. This forms input for future coaching sessions.

Outputs from Chapter 2:

• Coachee's documented reflections on the relevance of VUCA and Agile Principles to their context.
• Notes on personal connections, tensions, or questions related to Servant Leadership, Growth Mindset, and Psychological Safety.
• Coachee's self-analysis comparing their current leadership style with agile leadership ideals.
• An initial list of potential leadership behaviors or mindset shifts the coachee is interested in exploring further in the coaching engagement.

Chapter 3: Leading Agile Teams & Organizations

Objective: To translate the agile mindset and principles explored in Chapter 2 into concrete leadership actions and behaviors that foster an environment where agile teams can thrive and the organization can become more adaptive. The focus shifts to the leader's role as an enabler, impediment remover, and architect of the organizational system.

Key Activities & Content:

• 3.1. Practice Empowering Teams & Individuals:

  • Shift from Directing to Enabling: Discuss the fundamental shift from assigning tasks and dictating solutions to empowering teams with clear goals and the autonomy to figure out the 'how'.
  • Techniques for Empowerment: Explore practical methods:
    • Clear Intent & Boundaries: Setting clear, outcome-oriented goals (e.g., using OKRs) and defining decision-making boundaries, rather than prescribing specific actions.
    • Delegation Models: Introduce frameworks like Jurgen Appelo's "Delegation Poker" or the "7 Levels of Delegation" to facilitate conversations and clarify authority levels for different types of decisions (Tell, Sell, Consult, Agree, Advise, Inquire, Delegate).
    • Provide Resources & Remove Constraints: Proactively ensuring teams have the necessary skills (through training/hiring), tools, information, and access to stakeholders required to succeed.
    • Coaching Stance: Encourage the leader to practice asking powerful questions to help teams solve their own problems, rather than immediately providing answers.
  • Reflection: How comfortable is the leader with delegating authority? What small steps can they take to increase team autonomy within their context?

• 3.2. Actively Create Psychological Safety & Trust:

  • Building on Awareness (Chapter 2): Move from understanding the concept to identifying specific actions the leader can take to cultivate psychological safety.
  • Leader Behaviors that Foster Safety:
    • Model Vulnerability: Share appropriate personal mistakes or uncertainties. Acknowledge what they don't know.
    • Invite Participation & Feedback: Explicitly ask for input, ideas, and dissenting opinions. Frame work as learning problems where diverse perspectives are needed. Use phrases like "What might we be missing?"
    • Respond Productively: React to bad news, errors, or challenges with curiosity ("What can we learn?") rather than blame or punishment. Separate blame from accountability.
    • Show Respect & Build Rapport: Demonstrate active listening, acknowledge contributions, and build personal connections with team members.
  • Trust as Foundation: Discuss how consistent demonstration of these behaviors builds the trust necessary for psychological safety and high performance. Trust is earned through actions.
  • Action Planning: Identify 1-2 specific behaviors the leader can consciously practice to enhance psychological safety within their sphere of influence.

• 3.3. Focus on Removing Organizational Impediments:

  • Leader's Role in Systemic Issues: Emphasize that while Scrum Masters handle team-level impediments, leaders are uniquely positioned to address larger, systemic obstacles that span across teams or departments.
  • Creating Escalation Paths: Ensure clear, safe channels exist for teams to raise organizational impediments (e.g., through Scrum of Scrums, direct conversations with managers, LACE support).
  • Taking Ownership & Action: Coach the leader to:
    • Actively listen to understand the impact of reported impediments.
    • Prioritize which systemic issues require leadership attention.
    • Take ownership for driving resolution, even if it involves difficult conversations or collaborating across organizational boundaries.
    • Communicate progress back to the teams who raised the impediment.
  • Examples: Discuss common organizational impediments leaders might tackle (e.g., cumbersome funding processes, conflicting departmental priorities, outdated technology platforms, restrictive HR policies, dependencies on slow-moving external groups).

• 3.4. Apply Systems Thinking to Organizational Dynamics:

  • Seeing the Interconnections: Introduce the concept of viewing the organization not as a collection of separate parts, but as an interconnected system where actions have ripple effects.
  • Tools & Concepts: Explore basic systems thinking concepts relevant to leaders:
    • Feedback Loops: Identifying reinforcing loops (which amplify change) and balancing loops (which resist change) within the organization.
    • Delays: Recognizing that the effects of actions or decisions may not be immediately visible.
    • Avoiding Local Optimization: Understanding how improving one part of the system in isolation might negatively impact the whole (e.g., optimizing development speed without addressing testing bottlenecks).
    • Visualization: Encourage simple mapping techniques (like causal loop diagrams or high-level value stream maps) to visualize interactions and dependencies related to a specific challenge the leader is facing.
  • Goal: Help the leader develop a broader perspective to make more informed decisions that consider the health and performance of the overall system.

• 3.5. Shift Focus: From Managing Tasks to Enabling Outcomes:

  • Synthesizing the Shift: Bring together the concepts discussed in this chapter to reinforce the core transition required of agile leaders.
  • Contrast Table (Example):

    Traditional Focus	Agile Leadership Focus
    Assigning tasks to individuals	Defining clear outcomes & goals for teams
    Monitoring activity & hours worked	Measuring value delivery & impact
    Controlling the 'how'	Enabling team capability & autonomy
    Solving problems for teams	Coaching teams to solve problems
    Managing individuals	Improving the system & removing blockers
    Ensuring compliance	Fostering learning & adaptation

  • Personal Application: Facilitate reflection on where the leader currently spends their time and energy, and identify opportunities to shift towards more enabling activities.

Outputs from Chapter 3:

• Coachee's reflections and potential experiments related to empowerment techniques (e.g., using delegation levels).
• A personal action plan with 1-2 specific behaviors to practice for fostering psychological safety.
• Identification of 1-2 key organizational impediments the leader commits to investigating or addressing.
• Notes/diagrams from applying systems thinking principles to a relevant leadership challenge.
• Defined strategies or intentions for shifting daily focus from task management towards enabling outcomes.

Chapter 4: Strategic Agility & Decision Making

Objective: To equip leaders with principles and practices for applying agility to their strategic responsibilities, including planning, portfolio management, investment decisions, and navigating the balance between current operations and future innovation. The aim is to foster more adaptive, evidence-based strategic leadership.

Key Activities & Content:

• 4.1. Explore Adaptive Planning & Forecasting:

  • Critique Traditional Planning: Discuss the limitations of traditional, long-range, fixed annual planning and budgeting cycles in a VUCA world (slow, assumptions become outdated, discourages adaptation, often politically driven).
  • Rolling-Wave Planning: Introduce the concept of planning with decreasing levels of detail over time. For example, detailed plans for the upcoming quarter, high-level objectives for the next quarter, and strategic themes or intentions beyond that. Emphasize regular (e.g., quarterly) review and adjustment cycles based on actual results and changing conditions.
  • Beyond Budgeting Concepts: Explore principles that challenge traditional budgeting, such as:
    • Dynamic Forecasting: Moving from fixed annual budgets to more frequent, rolling forecasts.
    • Decentralized Decision-Making: Empowering those closer to the information to make certain investment decisions within agreed boundaries.
    • Funding Value Streams/Outcomes: Allocating funds to long-lived teams or strategic outcomes rather than temporary projects, allowing for more flexibility in how outcomes are achieved.
  • Scenario Planning: Discuss using scenario analysis to explore different potential futures and build more resilient strategies, rather than relying on a single predicted future.
  • Application: How could the leader experiment with more adaptive planning or forecasting within their sphere of influence or advocate for changes at the organizational level?

• 4.2. Manage Portfolio Flow & Limit Work-in-Progress (WIP):

  • The Problem of Overload: Discuss the negative consequences of having too many strategic initiatives running simultaneously (divided focus, context switching delays, overburdened teams, delayed value delivery across the board).
  • Visualize the Portfolio: Introduce Portfolio Kanban as a way to visualize the flow of strategic initiatives (e.g., epics, projects) from idea through analysis, approval, implementation, and completion. This makes bottlenecks and the volume of work visible.
  • Implement WIP Limits: Explain the concept of setting explicit limits on the number of initiatives allowed in certain stages (particularly "in progress" or implementation stages) at the portfolio level. This forces prioritization and improves throughput of the most important work.
  • Prioritization Frameworks: Discuss techniques beyond simple ROI for prioritizing strategic initiatives, considering factors like value, urgency, risk reduction, and cost of delay (e.g., Weighted Shortest Job First - WSJF, or simpler frameworks based on strategic alignment and estimated value/effort).
  • Reflection: How are strategic initiatives currently managed? How visible is the work? Could visualizing the portfolio and limiting WIP improve focus and flow?

• 4.3. Make Data-Informed Strategic Decisions:

  • Shift from Gut to Evidence: Encourage a move towards validating strategic assumptions and decisions with data and feedback, rather than relying solely on intuition, opinion, or authority.
  • Leading vs. Lagging Indicators: Discuss the importance of identifying and tracking leading indicators for strategic initiatives – early signals that suggest whether an initiative is on track or if assumptions are holding true (e.g., early user adoption rates, feedback from prototypes, market testing results) – rather than waiting for lagging indicators (e.g., final revenue, market share).
  • Hypothesis-Driven Strategy: Frame strategic initiatives as hypotheses ("We believe that by doing X, we will achieve outcome Y, and we'll know we're succeeding when we see metric Z change"). This encourages defining assumptions explicitly and seeking data to test them.
  • Feedback Loops: Emphasize building feedback loops into the strategic process – regular reviews (e.g., quarterly business reviews, portfolio syncs) where data is analyzed, learnings are shared, and decisions are made to pivot, persevere, or stop initiatives based on evidence.

• 4.4. Balance Exploration (Innovation) & Exploitation (Optimization):

  • The Ambidexterity Challenge: Discuss the inherent tension leaders face in managing both the existing core business (exploitation – efficiency, optimization, incremental improvement) and exploring new, potentially disruptive opportunities (exploration – innovation, experimentation, learning). Neglecting either can be detrimental long-term.
  • Portfolio Balancing: Introduce the concept of intentionally allocating resources (budget, capacity) across a portfolio of initiatives spanning core, adjacent, and transformational categories (e.g., using McKinsey's Three Horizons model as a framework for discussion).
  • Different Approaches Needed: Highlight that exploration initiatives often require different approaches than exploitation initiatives:
    • Funding: Metered funding based on validated learning vs. traditional business cases.
    • Metrics: Learning metrics vs. efficiency or revenue metrics.
    • Governance: More tolerance for ambiguity and failure in exploration.
    • Team Structure: Potentially dedicated innovation teams or allocated time.
  • Leader's Role: Discuss the leader's role in championing both exploration and exploitation, protecting innovation efforts, and ensuring the portfolio reflects a conscious balance aligned with strategic goals.

Outputs from Chapter 4:

• Coachee's reflections on current strategic planning processes and identification of potential areas for introducing more adaptive approaches (e.g., rolling-wave forecasting).
• A conceptual design or plan for visualizing the leader's strategic portfolio (e.g., Portfolio Kanban) and ideas for managing WIP.
• Identification of potential leading indicators for 1-2 key strategic initiatives the leader is involved in.
• A framework or set of criteria the leader can use for discussions on balancing exploration and exploitation investments.
• Notes on how the leader might foster more data-informed decision-making within their teams or peer group.

Chapter 5: Fostering an Agile Culture

Objective: To guide the leader in understanding their significant influence on organizational culture and equip them with strategies to intentionally shape an environment that supports and sustains agility. This involves modeling behaviors, adapting communication, reframing failure, and influencing systemic elements like performance management.

Key Activities & Content:

• 5.1. Understand and Leverage the "Shadow of the Leader":

  • Concept: Discuss how a leader's actions, priorities, decisions, and even informal comments cast a "shadow," profoundly influencing the perceived values and norms of the organization (what really matters). What leaders pay attention to, reward, and model signals the true culture far more effectively than stated values.
  • Self-Reflection: Encourage the leader to reflect: What behaviors am I currently modeling? Do my actions consistently align with the agile values and principles we discussed? Where might there be inconsistencies sending mixed signals?
  • Intentional Modeling: Focus on identifying 1-2 key agile behaviors (e.g., transparency, collaboration, customer focus, embracing feedback, disciplined prioritization) the leader will consciously practice and make visible to reinforce the desired culture. How can they demonstrate these behaviors in meetings, decisions, and daily interactions?

• 5.2. Implement Effective Agile Communication Strategies:

  • Beyond Top-Down: Discuss the need to move beyond infrequent, formal, top-down communication towards more frequent, transparent, and multi-directional approaches.
  • Key Strategies:
    • Transparency by Default: Sharing information (strategy updates, progress, challenges) openly and broadly, unless there's a strong reason for confidentiality.
    • Clarity of Vision & Intent: Consistently reinforcing the 'Why' behind strategic goals and initiatives.
    • Active Listening Tours: Making time to listen directly to people at different levels without a specific agenda, seeking to understand their realities and concerns.
    • Multiple Channels: Using a variety of channels (e.g., town halls with Q&A, regular blog posts/updates, informal "ask me anything" sessions, visual management boards) to reach different people and reinforce messages.
    • Feedback Mechanisms: Creating and promoting safe channels for upward feedback.
  • Application: What communication habits can the leader adopt or improve to foster greater transparency and dialogue?

• 5.3. Reframe Failure: Celebrate Learning & Experimentation:

  • Shifting the Narrative: Discuss how a fear of failure stifles innovation, risk-taking, and transparency. Explore how to shift the organizational narrative towards viewing certain types of failure as valuable learning opportunities.
  • Intelligent Failure: Introduce the concept of "intelligent failures" – those resulting from well-designed experiments aimed at testing assumptions in uncertain territory. Contrast these with preventable failures due to negligence or process breakdowns.
  • Fostering Experimentation: Encourage leaders to support a hypothesis-driven approach (Chapter 4) and create space for teams to run safe-to-fail experiments.
  • Blameless Learning: Promote blameless post-mortems or retrospectives when things go wrong, focusing on understanding the systemic causes and improving the process, rather than assigning individual blame.
  • Celebrating Learnings: Make learning (from both successes and failures) visible. Share stories of experiments, what was learned, and how it informed the next steps. Acknowledge the courage involved in trying new things.
  • Leader's Response: Coach the leader on how their personal reaction to setbacks and failures significantly impacts the culture of experimentation and psychological safety.

• 5.4. Influence Adaptation of Performance Management & Rewards:

  • Acknowledge Systemic Impact: Recognize that traditional performance management systems (annual reviews, forced ranking, individual-only metrics) often conflict with and undermine agile principles like team collaboration, intrinsic motivation, and adaptation.
  • Collaboration with HR: Emphasize that changing these systems requires close partnership with HR and is often a long-term effort. The leader's role may be to advocate for change and pilot new approaches within their sphere of influence.
  • Principles for Alignment: Discuss desirable shifts:
    • Focus on Team Outcomes: Incorporating team goals and collective achievements into performance evaluations.
    • Continuous Feedback: Encouraging regular, informal feedback conversations (manager-employee, peer-to-peer) throughout the year, rather than relying solely on an annual event.
    • Agile Behaviors: Including demonstration of agile values and collaborative behaviors as part of performance assessment, alongside results.
    • Development Focus: Shifting the primary purpose from evaluation/ranking towards employee growth and development.
    • Rethink Rewards: Exploring reward strategies that recognize team contributions and avoid inadvertently discouraging collaboration or risk-taking (e.g., skill development rewards, team bonuses, non-financial recognition).
  • Pilot Approaches: Could the leader experiment with alternative feedback methods or team-based objectives within their own department as a pilot?

Outputs from Chapter 5:

• Leader's explicit commitment to consciously model 1-2 specific agile behaviors consistently.
• An action plan for the leader to improve communication transparency and frequency within their area.
• A defined strategy or approach for how the leader will encourage experimentation and celebrate learning from a specific upcoming initiative or recent setback.
• An analysis of how the current performance management system potentially supports or hinders agility within the leader's area.
• Initial ideas or proposals for discussion with HR or peer leaders regarding potential adaptations to performance management or reward systems.

Chapter 6: Coaching Skills for Leaders

Objective: To develop the leader's practical coaching skills – particularly active listening, powerful questioning, and providing effective feedback – enabling them to better empower individuals, foster development in others, and facilitate more effective collaboration and decision-making within their teams and peer groups.

Key Activities & Content:

• 6.1. Develop Active Listening Skills:

  • Levels of Listening: Introduce models distinguishing different listening levels (e.g., Level 1: Internal Listening - focused on one's own thoughts; Level 2: Focused Listening - intense focus on the other person; Level 3: Global Listening - awareness of the speaker and the surrounding environment/energy). Aim for Level 2 and 3 in coaching conversations.
  • Techniques for Active Listening: Practice specific techniques:
    • Paying Full Attention: Minimizing distractions (phones, email), maintaining appropriate eye contact, using open body language.
    • Paraphrasing: Restating the speaker's message in one's own words to confirm understanding ("So, if I understand correctly, you're saying...").
    • Summarizing: Briefly outlining the main points of a longer discussion to ensure alignment.
    • Reflecting Feelings: Acknowledging the emotions behind the words ("It sounds like you felt frustrated when...").
    • Silence: Using pauses effectively to allow space for reflection.
  • Goal: Shift from listening to respond to listening to understand. Practice identifying listening levels in real conversations.

• 6.2. Master Powerful Questioning:

  • Purpose: Explain how powerful questions stimulate reflection, challenge assumptions, generate new possibilities, and empower individuals to find their own solutions, rather than providing answers.
  • Characteristics: Powerful questions are typically:
    • Open-ended: Starting with "What," "How," "Tell me about..." (avoiding "Why" which can sound judgmental, and closed questions answerable with yes/no).
    • Thought-provoking & Insightful: Encouraging deeper thinking.
    • Future-oriented & Action-focused: Helping move towards solutions or possibilities.
    • Concise & Clear.
  • Examples for Leaders:
    • To understand: "What's most important about this for you?" "What does success look like here?"
    • To explore options: "What possibilities haven't we considered yet?" "What would happen if we tried X?"
    • To challenge assumptions: "What assumptions are we making?" "What data supports that view?"
    • To create action: "What's the next small step you could take?" "What support do you need?"
  • Practice: Role-play scenarios where the leader practices asking powerful questions instead of offering advice or solutions.

• 6.3. Give and Receive Feedback Effectively:

  • Giving Constructive Feedback:
    • Models: Introduce simple, behavior-focused models like Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI): "In the [Situation], when you did [Behavior], the [Impact] was..." or STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
    • Principles: Emphasize being specific, focusing on observable behavior (not interpretation or personality), being timely, checking for understanding, and focusing on development. Deliver feedback privately where appropriate.
  • Seeking and Receiving Feedback:
    • Proactive Seeking: Encourage the leader to regularly ask for feedback on their own performance from their team, peers, and manager ("What's one thing I could do differently to better support you/the team?").
    • Constructive Receiving: Coach the leader on receiving feedback non-defensively: listen fully, ask clarifying questions to understand, acknowledge the feedback (doesn't necessarily mean agreeing), show appreciation, and reflect on it later. Model this behavior.

• 6.4. Differentiate Mentoring vs. Coaching:

  • Clarifying Roles: Discuss the key differences:
    • Mentoring: Sharing knowledge, experience, and advice based on the mentor's expertise. Often involves guidance and "telling." Useful for skill transfer or navigating specific organizational paths.
    • Coaching: Partnering in a thought-provoking process to help the coachee find their own answers and solutions. Relies on listening and questioning. Focuses on the coachee's agenda and potential.
  • Situational Appropriateness: Explore scenarios where mentoring might be suitable versus situations where a coaching approach is more empowering and developmental. Discuss how agile leaders often need to consciously choose a coaching stance more often than traditional managers might.
  • Self-Assessment: Help the leader reflect on their default style – are they more inclined to mentor/advise or coach/question?

• 6.5. Use Coaching Skills to Facilitate Decision-Making:

  • Leader as Facilitator: Frame the leader's role in key team or group decisions not just as the ultimate decider, but often as the facilitator of a robust decision-making process.
  • Applying Coaching Techniques:
    • Clarify: Use active listening and questions to ensure everyone understands the problem/decision context ("What decision are we actually trying to make here? What are the key criteria?").
    • Explore: Use powerful questions to generate diverse options and perspectives ("What other ways could we approach this? What are the potential risks/benefits of each option?").
    • Evaluate: Facilitate an objective discussion to weigh options against criteria.
    • Align & Commit: Use summarizing and clarifying questions to check for understanding, alignment, and commitment to the chosen path ("What are our agreed next steps? Who is responsible for what?").
    • Surface Conflict: Help the group constructively discuss differing viewpoints rather than avoiding them.

Outputs from Chapter 6:

• Leader's self-assessment of listening habits and a plan to practice specific active listening techniques.
• A personalized list of powerful questions the leader intends to use more frequently.
• Notes from practicing giving/receiving feedback using a chosen model (e.g., SBI).
• Clearer understanding and articulation of when to apply a mentoring vs. coaching stance in leadership situations.
• A plan for how the leader will apply coaching facilitation techniques to a specific upcoming team decision or discussion.

Chapter 7: Leading Change & Transformation

Objective: To equip the leader with the understanding and skills needed to effectively sponsor, lead, and navigate significant organizational change, particularly agile transformations. This involves understanding the dynamics of change, communicating effectively, managing resistance, and building resilience in themselves and their teams.

Key Activities & Content:

• 7.1. Understand and Embody the Role of Active Sponsor:

  • Beyond Passive Approval: Define active sponsorship as more than just authorizing a project. It requires visible, consistent participation and advocacy throughout the change lifecycle.
  • Key Sponsorship Activities (e.g., based on Prosci ADKAR - Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement):
    • Build Awareness & Desire: Personally communicate the 'Why' and the risks of inaction (see 7.2).
    • Champion the Change: Advocate for the change with peers and stakeholders, building a guiding coalition.
    • Provide Resources: Ensure the change initiative has the necessary funding, people, and tools.
    • Remove Obstacles: Use authority and influence to remove high-level organizational roadblocks (linking to Chapter 3).
    • Reinforce & Reward: Acknowledge progress, celebrate wins, and hold people accountable for adopting new ways of working (linking to Chapter 5).
    • Stay Engaged: Remain accessible and involved, monitoring progress and adapting as needed.
  • Self-Assessment: Help the leader assess their current sponsorship activities against best practices and identify areas for increased focus.

• 7.2. Communicate the Vision and 'Why' Persuasively:

  • The Power of Purpose: Reiterate the critical need for leaders to articulate a clear, compelling vision for the future state and explain why the change is necessary (connecting to business drivers, customer needs, market shifts).
  • Crafting the Change Narrative: Work with the leader to develop and refine their personal change story – making it authentic, relatable, and inspiring.
  • Consistency & Repetition: Stress that the 'Why' needs to be communicated repeatedly (often more than leaders think necessary) through multiple channels and tailored to different audiences.
  • Addressing WIIFM: Help the leader anticipate and address the "What's In It For Me?" question for various stakeholder groups. How will the change impact their work, roles, or opportunities?
  • Modeling Communication: Coach the leader on delivering the message effectively – demonstrating conviction, empathy, and openness to questions.

• 7.3. Develop Strategies for Navigating Resistance:

  • Resistance as Data: Frame resistance not just as opposition, but as potentially valuable data about misunderstandings, legitimate concerns, or the impact of the change.
  • Anticipate & Identify: Discuss common reasons for resistance (fear of the unknown, loss of control/status, lack of skills, disagreement with the solution, change fatigue) and how to identify its sources.
  • Leader's Role in Addressing Resistance:
    • Listen & Empathize: Engage directly with resistant individuals/groups. Use active listening (Chapter 6) to understand their perspective without judgment.
    • Clarify & Educate: Address misconceptions or lack of information. Reiterate the 'Why'.
    • Involve & Co-create: Where appropriate, involve resistors in shaping aspects of the solution or implementation to increase buy-in.
    • Leverage Champions: Mobilize supporters and early adopters to influence their peers.
    • Address Valid Concerns: Take legitimate issues seriously and work to mitigate negative impacts where possible.
    • Hold the Line: While empathetic, leaders must also be clear about non-negotiables and address persistent, unfounded opposition appropriately.

• 7.4. Build Resilience in Self and Others:

  • Acknowledge the Difficulty of Change: Recognize that change, even positive change, can be stressful and demanding for everyone involved, including the leader.
  • Leader Self-Care: Coach the leader on strategies for managing their own energy, stress, and emotional well-being during intense change periods (e.g., time management, delegation, seeking support, mindfulness practices).
  • Supporting Team Resilience: Discuss leadership actions that build team resilience:
    • Transparency & Predictability: Reducing uncertainty by communicating openly and providing as much predictability as possible about the process.
    • Acknowledging Emotions: Creating space for people to voice concerns and anxieties without judgment. Showing empathy.
    • Fostering Control/Autonomy: Giving people choices and involving them in decisions that affect them whenever feasible.
    • Celebrating Small Wins: Breaking down the change into manageable steps and acknowledging incremental progress and effort to maintain morale and momentum.
    • Promoting Optimism & Growth Mindset: Focusing on the opportunities presented by the change and expressing confidence in the team's ability to adapt and learn.

Outputs from Chapter 7:

• A defined action plan outlining specific, visible sponsorship activities the leader will undertake for a key change initiative.
• A refined "change narrative" or "Why story" that the leader can use in communications.
• Documented strategies for engaging with specific individuals or groups identified as resistant.
• A personal resilience plan identifying strategies the leader will use to manage their own well-being during change.
• A plan for how the leader will acknowledge team stress and celebrate small wins during a specific change process.

Chapter 8: Measuring Impact & Sustaining Growth

Objective: To conclude the formal coaching engagement by collaboratively reviewing progress against goals, assessing the impact of the coaching, acknowledging the leader's growth, and establishing a clear plan for their continued self-development and the sustainment of agile leadership practices.

Key Activities & Content:

• 8.1. Review Progress Against Coaching Goals:

  • Revisit Goals: Facilitate a structured review session with the coachee, revisiting the specific SMART goals established in Chapter 1.
  • Assess Progress: For each goal, discuss:
    • What specific progress has been made?
    • What concrete evidence (examples, behavioral changes, feedback received) supports this assessment?
    • What challenges were overcome or remain?
    • To what extent was the goal achieved (fully, partially, exceeded)? Did the goal itself evolve?
  • Coachee Self-Reflection: Encourage the leader to lead this assessment, reflecting on their own journey and achievements during the coaching period.

• 8.2. Gather Feedback & Assess Overall Impact:

  • Multiple Data Points (Optional & Agreed): Discuss and potentially implement methods agreed upon earlier for gathering summative feedback (always respecting confidentiality and coachee ownership):
    • Repeat Assessments: If a 360 or other assessment was used initially, repeating it can provide comparative data on perceived behavioral shifts. Debrief results focusing on changes and trends.
    • Stakeholder Check-ins: With the coachee's permission, conduct brief follow-up conversations with key stakeholders to gather qualitative feedback on observed changes in the leader's effectiveness, behavior, or impact.
    • Reviewing Business Outcomes: Where possible and relevant, discuss any observable links between the leader's behavioral shifts and relevant team or business metrics (acknowledging that causality is complex).
  • Synthesize Feedback: Integrate feedback from various sources (including the coachee's self-assessment and the coach's observations throughout the engagement) to create a holistic picture of the impact.

• 8.3. Identify & Acknowledge Behavioral & Mindset Shifts:

  • Consolidate Learnings: Facilitate a conversation summarizing the key themes and insights from the coaching journey.
  • Explicit Recognition: Work with the coachee to explicitly identify and articulate the most significant shifts they have made in their mindset, behaviors, or leadership approach (e.g., "I'm now more intentional about asking powerful questions before offering solutions," "I feel more comfortable delegating decisions to my team," "I'm more aware of my impact on psychological safety").
  • Celebrate Growth: Acknowledge the leader's commitment, effort, and vulnerability throughout the coaching process. Celebrate the progress made and the new capabilities developed.

• 8.4. Co-create a Plan for Continued Development & Sustaining Growth:

  • Future Focus: Shift the focus towards the future. Coaching provides momentum, but continued growth requires conscious effort.
  • Identify Ongoing Focus Areas: What 1-2 areas does the leader want to continue focusing on for their development beyond the formal coaching?
  • Define Sustaining Practices: What specific actions, habits, or practices will the leader put in place to maintain progress and continue learning? (e.g., scheduling regular reflection time, continuing to seek feedback, practicing specific communication techniques, reading relevant material).
  • Leverage Resources & Support Network: Identify internal/external resources (mentors, peer coaching groups, relevant communities of practice, books, courses) the leader can tap into for ongoing support and learning.
  • Personal Accountability: How will the leader hold themselves accountable for their continued development plan? (e.g., check-ins with a mentor, journaling, setting calendar reminders).

• 8.5. Formally Close the Coaching Engagement:

  • Review Coaching Journey: Briefly review the overall coaching process, key milestones, and learnings.
  • Acknowledge Partnership: Express appreciation for the coachee's commitment and openness during the engagement. Acknowledge the coach-coachee partnership.
  • Confirm Closure: Formally confirm the conclusion of the coaching agreement as per the initial contract.
  • Discuss Follow-up (If Applicable): Clarify any potential for future ad-hoc check-ins or re-engagement, if desired and appropriate.
  • Final Encouragement: Offer final words of encouragement for the leader's continued journey in agile leadership.

Outputs from Chapter 8:

• A documented summary reviewing progress against the initial coaching goals.
• A synthesis of feedback gathered regarding the impact of the coaching (if applicable).
• A list of key behavioral, mindset, or skill shifts achieved by the leader during the engagement.
• The coachee's personalized plan outlining focus areas and actions for continued self-development and sustaining growth.
• Formal confirmation of the closure of the coaching agreement. This completes the detailed chapter-by-chapter guide for Playbook 2: Leadership Agility & Executive Coaching. This playbook provides a framework for partnering with leaders to enhance their ability to navigate complexity, empower teams, and foster organizational agility. Remember to adapt the approach based on the specific needs and context of each leader.