Dear Agile Coach, you're not Elton John in Rocketman, drop those feathers 🪶
Dear Agile Coach, you're not Elton John in Rocketman, drop those feathers 🪶
Did you ever find yourself not knowing something, trying to hide it? Or feeling like an impostor who does not want to be revealed. Trying to be liked, ruffling the feathers🦚
Here are 5 things that will help you be more authentic while giving value to others based on two books:
📖 "Getting Naked" by Patrick Lancioni (PL)
📖 "Braving the Wilderness" by Brené Brown (BB)
These are a goldmine on being vulnerable, maintaining integrity and giving value to others. It's not easy, as Jerzy Gregorek once said:
"Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life."
Let’s go.
#1 Be ready to disappoint people 😡
“Do not think you can be brave with your life and your work and never disappoint anyone.” - BB
Great work requires courage. You are there to make a difference which involves doing things differently and breaking habits. People hate change.
#2 Stop being so serious and find play in your work 🥳
"I need a permission slip to stop being so serious and afraid. I need permission to have fun today." - BB
Acting from a place of fear kills creativity and gives ground to bad decision making.
Remaining playful removes the knives edge from many situations and shows you are a real person. It also helps to take a load of many tough encounters, keeps you alive.
Ask yourself, what permission slip do you need today?
#3 Don't be afraid to stand alone 👤
"Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance." - BB
People value authenticity over perfection. We won’t belong everywhere yet we won’t find those places right for us if we are afraid to show up.
#4 Enter the danger 🧨
"(...) having the courage to fearlessly deal with an issue that everyone else is afraid to address." - PL
Being able to address the elephant in the room is a superpower. People will be grateful, especially when it does not lead to conflict but a resolution.
Examples:
👉🏼 When somebody is always talking too much in meetings.
👉🏼 When we continue to discuss the same things on retrospectives and nothing changes.
👉🏼 When people don't listen to what the team is saying.
👉🏼 Talking with the person everyone are afraid to talk to.
In a nutshell, tackle situations others find hard or impossible to voice.
#5 Own your mistakes 🙌🏼
"Clients don't expect perfection from the service providers they hire, but they do expect honesty and transparency. There is no better way to demonstrate this than by acknowledging when a mistake has been made and humbly apologizing for it." - PL
It goes without saying that another step is doing everything in one’s power to fix the situation. I think fostering the mindset of a consultant, as Patrick Lancioni describes him, is something the world needs more of.
True courage, loyalty and honesty are always scarce on the market.
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🎈Share this post if you think it can help a fellow Scrum Master or an Agile Coach to change their focus to more empowering one.