The joy I get in my job is through seeing other people flourish. This means that coaching is something that I am very passionate about. When I train or mentor ScrumMasters I teach them how they can coach themselves and others for success. The skills I learnt myself and teach have come from years of practice, reading the right books, knowing the right people and going on courses.
Whilst my job title is an Agile Coach and I am there to help an organisation evolve using my experience, a great part of what I actually end up doing is dealing with peoples behaviours. This is something that an Agile method wouldn’t teach you. So where do you get this?
I came across a new book recently as I saw the author speak at The Agile Coaching Exchange. I purchased this book but didn’t immediately read it as I wanted to save it for my holiday 
Coach's Casebook: Mastering The Twelve Traits That Trap Us – Geoff Watts & Kim Morgan
The book takes a look at 12 traits that as coaches we see every day. We most certainly will have some of these ourselves, I know I do!
The structure of the book lends itself to easy reading with each chapter kicking off with a true life dialogue between coach and client. What I love about this book is that you can clearly see the coach is in a learning role themselves, because they too have a coach who they share with and receive feedback from. This to me shows the authors vulnerability and authenticity.
Once the author has established the case study, plus their thought process. They explore different models and methods to help the client, which they later consolidate in fantastic matrix to help you to pull out the right tool for the right situation.
They then conclude with an interview with someone in the public eye, who also displays one or many of the traits and how they have got where they are today.
I literally read this book on my flight back from Croatia because it was an easy read and something that I was engrossed in.
Whilst the book is not agile, the content is most certainly relevant to what we do in our profession. So those that do not get the same opportunities to learn to coach like I have, should consider this a great place for them to get insight and techniques to use.
I have a reading list that my mentees tend to work though, this is most certainly one of them moving forwards.
A great and worthwhile read!
You can find out more about Geoff here http://inspectandadapt.com
.