Agile Coaching Essentials 
                     In the Driving Seat : Agile Coaching 
Essentials
A good coach is the one who shares ‘Your’ goals & works 
hard till ‘You’ achieve them!
 
My journey as a coach began in 2013. Frankly, speaking I 
wanted to work in agile space and found a job with the 
title Agile Coach. I googled what it meant and somehow it 
wasn’t such a popular concept then and since I fulfilled all 
the expectations for the role and also cleared interviews, I 
accidentally got into coaching.
 
What began as a namesake grew into something bigger 
and what a journey it has been – exciting and fulfilling. 
And definitely challenging. Managed multiple 
Agile Transformation Journeys, coached more than 150 
teams, consulted 50+ clients, trained 12000+, may be 
countless events and coached more than 100 potential 
Coaches, so far. 🙂
I am sharing the insights from my experience which has helped me throughout being 
successful in my coaching endeavors and hope you may find it helpful –
 
• 2 word mantra – ‘BE USEFUL’. Always.
• When you are on an assignment to train or transform, you 
must know the names of all the people. It’s fine if you 
have forgotten them once the assignment ends
• Always be on time. On time means 2 minutes before an 
event begins
• Neven go unprepared or under prepared. All eyes are on 
you even when they are not looking at you
• Intent is to get the problem solved and at times you may 
just need to listen and not speak
• If you can not create ‘ease to talk’ with your coachee, you 
have never begun
• It’s Ok to say, ‘I don’t know’ as there is no point in winning 
the conversation
• You are not the only wise one in the room. Be curious. Be 
attentive. Experience osmotic communication and let the 
energy guide you
• Do straight talks & stay away from pleasing business. 
Straight talk doesn’t mean rude. You are not allowed to be 
rude. No one is allowed to be rude.
• You are also not allowed to lose hope. They can and they 
will but you have to always bring them back on track and 
get moving
You need to be respectful, secret keeper and the emotional bin of all 
around you
•Practice detachment. It gets overwhelming when you need to listen 
but don’t  judge and still help them. Try taking breaks between 2 
assignments – to steam off.
•You may not be good in making ppt or excel pivots but you need to be 
great in articulation or storytelling
•They will forget the words you said but they will never forget the way 
you made them feel
•Each day is your last day at assignment. Make it the best day. Trust 
me, the news of one failed assignment cross-pollinates faster than 10 
successful assignments
•It is never about ‘bad’ students. It is always about ‘bad’ teachers. Find 
better ways.
•Continuous learning is a key. To learn, you may need to read, watch or 
listen to many things. Keep learning till you can write it in your 
language. And then share it with others and learn from their feedback. 
If you are not sharing what you know, it may in a way mean that you 
are not learning and you may be outdated and not useful.
There are of-course many other 
technical traits that you can imbibe 
but they are confined to specific 
subject area expertise, the above 
points transcend specific 
competencies and yet are very tough 
to adhere to. All the best for your 
coaching journey.
 
Anuj M Ojha