3x3 Basketball is one of the sports I enjoyed most during the Olympics in Paris. The Dutch won a golden medal 🥇in a nerve-wracking and spectacular manner. I highly enjoyed the pace, dynamics, and team play.
What stood out the most was that their coach couldn’t contact the team directly during the match. A coach can only watch the match, observe, and make notes. They cannot stand on the sidelines to give instructions, change tactics, or suggest substitutes. 🔄
In a post-match interview, the players shared that they liked this rule. In their experience, it improves team autonomy, responsibility, ownership, creativity, and teamwork.
My mind immediately shifted toward the coaching roles I’ve experienced:
The Scrum Master and Agile Coach.
As a Scrum Master, I was (literally) right in the middle of a team. I was fully aware of the team dynamics, problems, and challenges. Especially in the beginning, I participated in all Scrum events. I was present at the Daily Scrum, facilitated the Sprint Planning, prepared the Sprint Retrospective, etc.
It had advantages but also had a suffocating effect on the team. In addition, the more time I spent with the team, the less I became aware of what was happening in the broader organization. Resolving impediments with roots in its environment was, therefore, difficult. 😕
As an Agile Coach, I experienced the opposite. My place was outside of the team. I didn’t have a permanent place, so I wandered through the office building to understand what was happening. 🤷♀️
A common pitfall of Scrum Masters is spending too much time with the team, limiting autonomy, ownership, and teamwork, and neglecting the tougher impediments rooted deeper in the organization.
A common pitfall of Agile Coaches is not spending enough time with the teams, which results in missing the insights, experiences, and challenges they face while trying to do valuable work.
There’s no right or wrong here.
It depends on the purpose of your role and the impact you want on the team and the organization. As an Agile Coach, maybe your focus is primarily on supporting management and leadership. As a Scrum Master, maybe the team is inexperienced and benefits from your daily presence.
It is good to reflect on, however.
🤔 How would you describe your coaching distance?
🤔 How does it help you achieve your purpose and have the desired impact?
🤔 What is lost or won because of your coaching distance?
🤔 How does online work influence your coaching distance?
What’s your take on this? How would you answer these questions?
Our product, Columinity, allows teams to improve the quality of their teamwork based on scientific insights. Evidence-based feedback will enable them to assess their situation and define the next steps. In addition, they can mark the areas where support is needed. This allows coaches to effectively bridge the gap between the team and themselves while respecting the team's autonomy.