Selected Chapters From Being an Effective Value Coach: Leading by Creating Value

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The Attitude of an Effective Coach. A cornerstone of being an effective coach is their attitude. In this chapter, we discuss taking an attitude of being a visionary, taking responsibility, being rationally optimistic, having humility, empathy, compassion, congruence, integrity, and authenticity, and taking a systems thinking approach.

Systems Thinking. In this section, we discuss the importance of systems thinking. Understanding the system in which organizational transformation occurs allows you to anticipate the effects of change. It helps you determine where best to start in a particular context. It also provides a more holistic approach where you consider the entire ecosystem, not just one part.

Systems thinking is the foundation of Flow, Lean, and the Theory of Constraints.

Using systems thinking to look to the system for our challenges and create psychological safety in the process.

Systems thinking tells us that the causes of most of our problems are due to the system. This means that we should look to blame people first, but to look to the system to improve instead. This summarizes a case study that illustrates how systems thinking can help us identify the true cause of a problem while also increasing psychological safety.

First Principles, Mental Models, and Values. The first principles of knowledge work are like the laws of what makes knowledge work efficient. First principles stand on their own. They are not defined but are discovered through observation and relentless evaluation. Violating them has consequences, typically creating waste and lost opportunities. They can be used to provide guidance as to what individuals, teams, and organizations should do or avoid. Those listed are Amplio’s best discernment of the most useful first principles.

Factors for Effective Value Streams. Factors for effective value streams provides list the primary aspects of what makes value streams effective. While theoretically, just knowing first principles could guide people, using them is a bit abstract for many people. The factors for effective value streams provide a concrete way to see?if the workflows in value streams are effective.?

How to Improve or Change a Practice. We can make better choices about what to do when we have a mental model about what is helping or hurting us. We do not need to live within the constraints of frameworks that do not take advantage of first principles. With these, we can focus on identifying challenges and seeing how to eliminate them. It provides the objective of each practice and a way to tell if a change will be beneficial.? When a particular practice doesn’t seem appropriate or is too hard to implement, you don’t abandon the objective of the practice; instead, you find another one that can meet the objective and is more appropriate and likely easier to implement. There is a reason (objective) for the roles, events, artifacts, and rules. While it may be advisable to change one, the new practice must achieve the original intended objective.

What's the difference between experts and those with less competence? The most significant difference between experts and those with less competence is what they attend to. Experts pay attention to certain things and ignore others. Less competent people are often unaware of what an expert considers significant and pays attention to what an expert ignores.

The Pick-up Sticks Model of Teaching Concepts. Teaching difficult concepts is a lot easier if you start where people are and take a stepwise path to getting to where you want them to be. It's like having a pile of pick-up sticks where you take the top one off one at a time until you get to the one you really want.

Why You Should Never Say "follow until you understand." It's tempting to tell people what to do. But it's not effective, creates resistance, and is disrespectful. It's possible to get an understanding from the beginning by taking advantage of their dormant knowledge.

Dealing With Resistance to Change. People often resist change, but it's important to remember that resistance is not always a bad thing. In fact, it may give us insights into how to proceed. Eli Goldratt once said, "A comfort zone has less to do with control and more to do with knowledge." This means that resistance may simply come from a lack of understanding. According to M. Wheatley and M. Kellner-Rogers, all systems insist on exercising their creativity and never accept imposed solutions.

We shouldn't presume resistance is both inevitable and undesirable. Keep the big picture in mind and know that resistance can be a valuable tool in achieving success.

Learning Path that explains why you need more than empiricism

1. Evidence Without Understanding Is Often Ignored. Empiricism alone is not enough. We need a theory to explain it or people will often ignore it. “Experience teaches nothing. There is no experience to record without theory. Without theory, there is no learning, and that is their downfall. People copy examples and then wonder what the trouble is. They look at examples, and without theory, they learn nothing.” Edwards Deming
2. Why You Need Theory as Well as Evidence to Enroll Management In Better Methods. We think that much of the challenge with enrolling stakeholders and management in Agile is that many Agilists don't present a model explaining why Agile works. It’s actually missing from much of Agile.?Explaining why, with validated theory, can bridge this gap.
3. Teaching With Theory. You truly learn something when you experience it. But that doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch when given a new concept. People have a lot of experience related to new concepts. They just need to connect the dots between a new concept and their experience. Theory can create this bridge.

The Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Lead Developer Should Be Working Together. The apparent conflict between product owners and Scrum Masters is a symptom of a deeper problem. This chapter discusses that and how to solve it.

It Is Better to Talk About Challenges Instead of Problems. Challenges and problems often seem to be the same thing. But they are not. Recognizing this difference is more than semantics. Challenges present the solution you are trying to achieve. Problems have you see what's in your way. Better to focus on the positive, not the negative. It opens up possibilities.

Trim Tabs. A concept by Buckminster Fuller describing small adjustments that can lead to significant changes in direction or behavior by changing the environment people work in, metaphorically used in coaching.

Manage work in process to remove delays in workflow and lower risk

The active coach can make everyone’s life better by encouraging people on a team to work together to focus on finishing work. This creates collaboration, creates comradery, eliminates wasted work and increases value being created.