Fluctuating markets, ferocious competition, and rising customer expectations, are increasing the urgency for financial organizations to prioritize and accelerate their digital transformation. In the second blog of our Agile at Scale series, we focus on the agents of acceleration - agile coaches. We provide insight into how agile coaches can impact an organization and examine their day-to-day actions to achieve that impact.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT GEAR AND STEPPING ON THE GAS 

While no two agile transformations are the same, they all affect the organization’s culture, structure and values. Agile coaches are typically involved in guiding and driving transformation initiatives across three levels:

I. Individual level: Empower and engage the workforce in new ways of working. If you want people to think, give intent, not instructions! 

Example actions:

• Educating individuals, such as product owners and scrum masters to sustainably increase delivering value to customers and the business
• Guiding teams to accelerate adoption and standardization of tools to bring transparency and alignment with the book of work 
• Fostering knowledge-sharing and growth by establishing relevant communities of practice.

II. Team level: Accelerate ‘organizing around value’ in order to remove silos and improve collaboration and communication between teams.

Example actions:

• Providing a fresh and unbiased perspective on identifying value streams and helping structure the organization into small and cross-functional teams that can continuously deliver value
• Introducing and supporting a cyclic business review and planning process as well as fostering a shared commitment to the goals
• Coaching teams and team leads on how to operate and execute in new ways of working.

III. Executive level: Accelerate the leadership’s understanding of new ways of working and support them in instituting the right culture.

Example actions:

• Supporting the leadership in leading the way and helping them understand what they as leaders must do differently to institute and steer the cultural transformation 

Figure 1. Overview of agile coaching objectives and actions at different levels in an organization 

While the impact of these actions is sure to spread beyond a single level and its objective, it is still beneficial to perform a grouping as shown in Figure 1. This allows coaches to better measure and understand how their efforts are helping the organization progress towards the objectives.

CONCLUSION

Agile coaches are the driving agents of any transformation, and they are also often in short supply and in high demand. That is why, to inject speed into a transformation program, it is important to identify the levels in the organization where they are most needed. 

At Capco, our certified Agile coaches possess a wealth of experience in guiding financial institutions through transformational journeys. We can help you accelerate your efforts so you can reap the rewards of your transformation sooner!

REFERENCES

State of Agile Coaching Report Scrum Alliance
How does Agile coaching help Agile Transformations?