When you google the term “Agile Coach(ing)” you will be bombarded with statements like:

“Agile Coaching is the process of helping individuals, teams, and organizations adopt and improve their agile practices.”

“A project management professional.”

“Helps scale Agile in Organisations.”

But Agile Coaching encompasses so much more than this.

I am a huge fan of Lyssa Adkins (she herself is a lean Agile practitioner, coach, trainer, mentor), in my second article I will use her Competency Framework to break down the role of the Agile Coach into more detail. But for now, this is what I think:

Agile Coaching and the role of the Agile coach, helps guide the individual and organisation through change, complexity and uncertainty to ultimately become more customer-centric, efficient, productive and satisfied.

Notice how I didn’t refer to any methodology, practice or tools? That’s because the Agile Coach is dealing with the people first. And in my opinion, people are always going to be your greatest complexity. But that’s just my opinion.

Why would you want to invest in an Agile Coach? What’s the alternative?

Organisations are continuously looking for better ways to grow, improve, be more efficient, be more customer-focused. They are looking for more and better ways to win.

Agile was introduced as a more effective way of working compared with more traditional approaches that are lengthy, costly and often fail at producing any real value. Agile allowed us to break down our work, deliver frequently, with feedback and to become more customer centric. It encourages autonomy, knowledge workers and investment in people. It focuses on value.

So imagine, a new way of working, new things to learn – but you want your staff, your organisation to keep working on what they are working on, they can’t just stop to learn new things?

Bring in the Agile Coaches!

An Agile Coach is there to serve, to bring knowledge and new ways of thinking to the team. They are capability builders – they are there to help create sustainability amongst teams and organisations.

For more information on how Lean Tree can help you visit our coaching page.

Master Professional Scrum

This article has unpacked what agile coaching really means and why it matters for organisations navigating change and complexity. At the heart of this work is the idea that effective agility starts with people, and that shared understanding and capability enables teams to thrive with clarity and confidence. If you want your organisation to move beyond theory and embed agile ways of working that stick, taking time to build core Scrum skills can make all the difference.

Lean Tree’s Scrum training is designed to help teams and leaders grow those skills and strengthen how they deliver value every day. Discover how this practical step can support your journey at leantree.co.uk/scrum-training.