Quick guide for HR professionals and Head-hunters to recruit Agile Coaches at the beginning of an organizational change process

Written by: 

• Giuseppina Cuccurullo, HR Business Partner, Agile and Digital HR expert.
• Alessandro Amelotti, Agile disruptor (or Senior Agile Coach) founder of Mumbleworld AB (Agile consultancy firm)

There is an increasing uncertainty in the HR, Recruitment and Head-Hunting community about when and why to select an Agile profile and often companies have no clear idea whether candidates match their needs.

This article is a reflection on this current trend and aims to give some clarity (shed some light on) and provide tools to allow recruiters and head-hunters (and managers involved in the process) to better understand the world of Agile professionalism.

Let's take Emma for example, she works as an HR business partner in a company that produces building components. Emma has been supporting the recruitment and organizational development for the last 3 years within a traditional setup and has never heard of Agile.

One day she is told that the top management urgently needs to find Agile positions because it seems that this approach is helping other companies to get better results. It is not clear what kind of budget is available and how to proceed to set up the needed change, so a sponsor is appointed and Emma is delegated to research and eventually identify internal resources to devote (without budget) to the project. 

After a few trials and weeks (or months) of research and attempting to succeed with internal resources Emma and the Sponsor discover the existence of Agile coaches who seem to be able to help to set up the needed change. Finally at this point Emma gets a small budget and then requests to launch a recruitment process. The role is new and the position before being disseminated/advertised is reviewed by the hiring manager, on paper it seems well described: 

“we are looking for an Agile coach with several years of proven experience in Agile transformation and change management, with the responsibility to manage teams and report to managers the state of change”.

What Emma may be unaware of is that:

• The term “Agile coach” refers to different professionals with very different backgrounds and experience
• The Job description contains some major misunderstandings e.g. the responsibility to manage teams
• The JD as it is published on one hand shows that the company is far from Agile knowledge and needs help with that, on the other hand will hardly attract the right candidates

Let’s break down the topic to help Emma recruit an Agile Coach.

The “Agile Approach”

Working in an Agile manner means to embrace a mindset of continuous improvement which requires an organizational and cultural shift to move away from the hero culture (individual based) and focuses on teams.

We leave the basic knowledge around Agile to other articles and tutorials since there is already lots of good material on the internet. As a reference, in the Agile Manifesto we discover the essence of the Agile methodology, there’s no need to be confused by the  IT related wording like “working software”, it was born in the IT environment but nowadays is applied almost anywhere. For a comprehensive guide to Agile and its frameworks Atlassian is a great place to start.

There is an ongoing discussion if you can define Agile as a way or working, approach, framework or technique, here we will use a wording that is easier to understand for everyone.

What does it mean to be more Agile and how long does it take to achieve?

Working with more Agility is as professional and useful as saying that one needs to eat less to lose weight, it’s not the only answer to the need. Often, when the choice is to go all out with that “strategy”, after months you will hear corridor chatter on its inefficacy.

When you want to set up a team, department or organization being Agile, you talk about implementation if it is a small scale (few teams or a small startup) or a transformation on a bigger scale. Time needed depends on size and complexity: 

• A newly formed startup/young company: can be set up immediately, performing a solid recruitment of people with strong Agile backgrounds or having high intensity training of young employees. One Agile Coach may be enough to support since the number of teams is limited and the organization hierarchy is quite flat.
• small enterprises: can become Agile within less than 2 years. One or few Agile Coaches may be enough since there are usually more than 2-3 teams involved and both on team and management level there might be intense support needed.
• medium to large organization: require more effort and supporting roles. Usually not less than 3-5 years. It has to do with training of the employees, recruitment of people with proven Agile mindset and top management committed to the long term change. Multiple Agile Coaches will be needed along the way.

The reality is that in Agile implementation or transformation the willingness to change has to come from within the organization while the knowledge and support to change needs to be found most of the time outside. That is why the role of an Agile coach is relevant and needed as a starting point.

What is and What is NOT an Agile COACH?

Often when entering the Agile topic you will hear different roles’ names: scrum master, product owner  and Agile coach are the most common. 

Let’s start with a clear statement: none of them is a Project Manager so the idea of taking project managers in the organization and calling them with new names does not count as a good step for a transformation.

Now, the Agile coach is often perceived as a person with many years of experience and ability to drive change on a management level, with additional deep technical knowledge and good emphatic and facilitation skills. Let’s clarify; It can be all of these but seldom all in one person alone.

Here is the main distinction that is well known in the Agile world:

• Agile coach aka Junior Agile coach aka Scrum Master aka Agile facilitator: this is the person that works directly with 2-3 teams and follows their path closely. She or he might have good technical skills because often she/he has an IT software developer background. She/he mainly facilitates events of the team and makes sure Agile practices are in place within their teams.
• Agile coach aka Senior Agile coach aka Enterprise Agile coach aka Agile disruptor: this is the person that deals at organizational or departmental level with management and teams to make sure the Agile practices are in place and the management is on board with the transformation.

A person that has been working as a scrum master for 8 years does not become a Senior Agile Coach,

that is why this definition of Senior and Junior creates confusion in the market. In reality we are talking about 2 separate professions, both of them focus on removing obstacles to enable the transformation but on different levels and with different focus: 

• Junior Agile Coach mainly looks at a few teams and their interactions with the rest of the environment
• Senior Agile coach looks at the whole environment and how it is facilitated by the management.

As you could probably foresee they work together and that is why often companies recruit more Agile Coaches when they get more mature or ahead in the transformation.

If you need to start we suggest bringing in a Senior Agile coach which will focus on educating the management and pilot selected teams

But, where to start with the recruitment process? 

First of all clarify if you are looking for a Junior Agile coach or Senior Agile Coach, then create a job description (hopefully this article can help to inspire you).

Finally here some key points for the selection of an Agile Coach, search for:

1. training background and planned/future learning
2. work experience
3. soft skills assessment (e.g. behavioral interview)

As a bonus step you might want to ask another Agile Coach to accompany you in the assessment of your candidate

1) Training Background

An Agile professional can be proved by the theoretical background earned through a course, or even better, through certification. There are many courses and certification you can use as a benchmark to check the level of Agile Know-How, but the most popular are:

• Certified Scrum Master (CSM) - Product owner (SSPO) - (CSD) by Scrum Alliance: requires a minimum numbers of credits, different according with the level of certification you are willing to go for
• Professional Scrum Master (PSM) - Product Owner (PSPO) - (PSD-1) by Scrum.org: requires “only” the SCRUM framework knowledge to access to the certification test
• Leading SAFe from Scaled Agile: requires 5 year experience in software development, testing, business analysis, product or project management, and so in SCRUM framework
• Agile Certified Practitioner by PMI: requires more than 2000 hours of practice to be accepted for the certified training course
• Last, but now least, ICAgile, was funded as a certification body to spread out the “agility mindset” including people from any background that is willing to learn more about the Agile approach. Certifications often don’t require previous hours of self-study and practice. So, if you have a candidate with this kind of certification, remember to go for a deep-interview on the experience side

2) Work Experience

Certifications give you the perception of the commitment the person has to their job, work experience on the other hand tells you if the knowledge has been put to the test in the field.

It’s very important that the candidate has practice in the Agile fundamentals and a minimum of 2 frameworks related to the Agile approach (e.g. the most famous Scrum and Kanban as well). As mentioned before a Scrum Master that has been working on its role for 5 or more years does not earn the role of Senior Agile Coach for that. Here are a few criteria to understand the background:

Junior Agile Coach or Scrum Master

• with less than a year of experience you can expect the person to have supported on a daily basis 1 or 2 teams up to 4 for a period of at least 3 months per team
• depending if the person is an external or internal the number of teams will be higher year after year or maybe lower meaning that the Agile Coach accompanied one or few teams for a longer time
• a Scrum Master needs to be able to give examples of how the metrics of a team improved and what was his role in that
• Senior Scrum Master (aka Junior Scrum Master with many years of experience) shows clear understanding of the dynamics of setting up a team bringing it to maturity level including the challenges to face with line managers and other stakeholders.

Senior Agile Coach or Enterprise Coach

• with less than a year experience you can expect the person to have been involved in a department or implementation of Agile, to organize teams and have experience with the complexity of stakeholder management
• 3-5 years experience in the same company at different department levels shows that the person has had the possibility to practice on the set up of departments (involving HR, facility and training)
• above 5 years you can expect the Senior Agile Coach to have a stronger driver into Top Management support and stakeholder management to enable the transformation.

3) Hard and Soft skills of an Agile Coach

In the recruitment process, a thorough process will always go for a behavioral interview to collect evidence of key soft and hard skills that your candidate should have to match the position.

The essential skills that every Agile role needs to have are:

• Good knowledge of Agile (as mentioned before)
• Servant leadership: this is one of the biggest changes brought in by the role of the Agile Coach. A servant leader promotes a collaborative approach within the team focusing on removing obstacles rather than steering or managing.
• Focusing on continuous learning 
• Active listening in order to understand and fulfill the team’s needs.
• Interpersonal communication skills:  empathy and  spirit of collaborative work.
• Customer Orientation and Focus:  each team member has an important role, and improving the team’s relationship with one another is essential to the achievement of  a common goal.
• Remote working skills: physical presence of the entire team in the same room as we know is still the best practice. Nevertheless 2020 has helped us to step out of our comfort zone and embrace digital and smart working practices. Since an Agile Coach has good facilitation skills he is able to perform and work properly in a virtual environment through remote working. 

It’s not necessary to have a management background, as an Agile Coach does not manage people.

How much do you want to invest for an Agile COACH?

Salary expectations might vary according to the type of contract you are willing to propose and according to whether an employee contract or an external partnership is on offer?

A) Employee Contract

For an internal Agile Coach, you can either go for an internal promotion or a newcomer. For the first case, you can look for people that have been working in the following areas:

• Coaching, Training, Mentoring
• Team Orientation and Development
• Business Awareness

It is possible to build an Agile Coach profile by supporting an employee with the above competencies through proper Agile training and an accredited certification, but most of all by creating the opportunity to practice inside and, if possible, outside the organization.

For the salary budget we use as a reference the range reported by Glassdoor in Germany which is €51-106.000 yearly. You need to consider that it includes both the roles (as distinguished before), meaning that an accurate split  is approximately 

• €51-75.000 for a Junior Agile coach or Scrum Master Position
• €75-106.000 for Senior Agile Coach.

Northern European countries have a slightly higher salary (in Sweden you can hire a Junior Agile Coach starting from 55-60.000€) and Central/Southern European countries have a slightly lower one (in Italy, you can hire a Junior Agile Coach starting from €40-45.000)

B) Consultants

If you are looking for a consultant or either a consultancy company to support your organization throughout a transformation to an Agile approach, start from your needs. 

According to the type of need you have in terms of complexity, you can find many freelancers in the market as well as consultancy agencies. Freelancers or small consultancy firms usually are more dedicated and come directly from previous experiences in companies where they grew and trained before choosing the freelancing path. Medium-big consultancy firms are both acquiring knowledge starting from a general change management know-how, hiring Agile experts or are born to be vertically expert in Agile consultancy.

Costs of the project might vary according to the complexity of the goal to be reached in terms of transformation as well as for the seniority of the Agile Coach consultant that will support you. 

Generally speaking, a good freelance Agile Coach should be cheaper than a medium-big consultancy firm. So, if you go for this kind of selection, take into consideration that the costs would start from a minimum of €65-85 per hour for a junior Agile coach or Scrum Master and about €85-150 per hour for a Senior Agile Coach.

Is it cheap, is it expensive?  This is the market benchmark, so remember that less doesn’t mean good, especially if you are working on a high complexity level or  long term project. 

TAKE AWAY

1. In Agile implementations or transformations the willingness to change has to come from within the organization while the knowledge and support to change needs to be found outside; 
2. If you need to start we suggest bringing in a Senior Agile coach which will focus on educating the management and pilot selected teams;
3. Under the common name of Agile coach there are 2 very different professional roles, Junior Agile coach aka Scrum Master aka Agile facilitator and Senior Agile coach aka Enterprise Agile coach aka Agile disruptor; 
4. Before starting any research, clarify with your organization the level of complexity to be transformed into Agile, in order to decide if you need a Junior or a Senior Agile Coach;
5. When you start a recruitment process, first of all build a basic knowledge on the Agile approach;
6. By selecting an Agile Coach, focus both on the learning background and the level of experience acquired.