Courage
One of the principles of XP that appealed to me and that I have continously thought about since I started my career is courage. I have absolutely changed my opinion and view of what courage may mean professionally. Today I want to talk about what one aspect of courage may mean in a certain perspective relevant to our coaches and coaching.
The way I see it we hire adults. Even the most junior of our applicants. People who we can count upon to be responsible for their actions and behaviour. There is no other way about it.
There is no obligation for a coach to protect or to save one of our employees from making mistakes or speaking out. Not beyond the responsibility we all have to care for each other.
There is however an expectation on our coaches to encourage and not stand in the way. Of experimentation, asking questions, trying something new and unknown. Of speaking out in new settings or participating.
In a way a good coach or team member shows courage themselves by surrendering control to the team or a colleague. “You have to have courage in order to give it” - as one of my wise colleagues put it.
Along here usually comes a kind of “optimism” and “lust of experimentation”. Confidence if you will. I often hear our coaches say “let’s try (your idea) - see if it works”.
Let’s hit that wall together! It’ll be fun!