Great coaching wisdom from Dennis Bergkamp (article from the guardian 2013). When you gloss over all the football (soccer) specifics, this paragraph stands out and we can all learn from the wisdom here.
“There are times not to coach,” he says. “You have to be balanced to know that. The urge is to step in and show how good you are as a coach and show you know everything and you can tell them. Sometimes it is better to let them make a mistake. Sometimes they learn more from that than being told what to do.”
In my current assignment as a Scrum Master, I try to be very conscious of when to step in and when to let the team make mistakes. It is a hard decision and as we are one of the first teams to ‘go agile’ and use Scrum as a process, we (as a Team) try to balance the line between educating, failing and showing success.
Getting the balance is hard, but thanks to my network of colleagues at Prowareness I am supported and challenged to focus on the most important thing of all as a Scrum Master (or Agile Coach):
Helping the team and organization by teaching the mindset of continuous improvement.
Keeping this goal clear in my mind helps me make choices and explain them to the people I’m working with. And it is also why I love my job!
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