Solution-Focused Coaching for Agile Teams

Veronika Jungwirth MC (fka Kotrba) has been working since 2006 independently and enthusiastically as a consultant in change processes, as a coach, mentor, trainer for solution-focused coaching, sparring partner in leadership issues and as a facilitator of team development processes in various industries. In doing so, she integrates her professional experience from education and business, as well as the exciting insights from solution-focused brief therapy, Viktor Frankl's theory of meaning, modern brain research and positive psychology. She is a co-founder of the Austrian Solution Circle and is internationally networked in both, the agile and solution-focused communities. Dr Ralph Miarka MSc works as an independent coach, consultant and trainer. He has been leading companies and their teams to a successful agile way of working for years. Previously, he worked for Siemens AG Austria as project manager, project consultant and department head in the support centre for project management. In his own projects he was able to convince himself and his customers of the advantages of agile working. Ralph is a trained business coach with a master's degree. He is thrilled to observe how a group of people changes into a team wanting to achieve a common goal. Ralph also enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with others at conferences, workshops and training sessions.Together they live in Vienna. As sinnvollFUEHREN they act under the sign of the penguin and want to support people in fulfilling their leadership work with ease and more effectiveness. Since 2012 they have been carrying the solution-focused approach into the agile community. They have appeared as speakers and workshop facilitators at numerous conferences and Agile Coach Camps. In addition, they have been and continue to be actively involved in the organisation of XP2013, EBTA 2015, Agile Coach Camps Austria since 2014, the Agile Tour Vienna since 2011 and the Host Leadership Gathering 2021 & 2023 as well as the SOLworld Conference 2021 & 2023.

"Highly practical. You'll find new ideas and applications about guiding and encouraging teams. You'll also find insights and recommendations for working with team members and leaders as individuals. You'll learn about handling team conflict and designing meetings. I predict this book will become one of those critical few resources that every coach recommends to their peers. Diana Larsen, co-author of Liftoff - Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams : "What got us to where we are won't get us to where we are going. So how do we, as leaders, grow and coach effective teams? We need guides! Veronkia Kotrba and Ralph Miarka are two of the best. In Solution-Focused Coaching for Agile Teams, they share the wisdom they've gained over years of coaching in many different settings. The practical guidance they provide within these pages will make this one of the most referenced books in your library. Buy it and read it. Read it again. And again. Your professional and personal life will improve as a result." : Richard Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller, Menlo Innovations, Author, Joy,Inc. - How We Built a Workplace People Love: "This book is pragmatic, full of useful approaches and techniques to help with coaching Agile teams - a valuable asset for anyone using or wishing to use Solution Focus as a team coaching or individual coaching resource. I highly recommend it." : John Brooker, author of Jump Now: Lead Solution Focus Collaboration to Accelerate Sustainable Results : "Leaders and project managers will get a very comprehensible impression of what agile principles and methods mean and how they work. For consultants and coaches, the book is a backup for their methodological toolbox. Anyone who wants to form or train agile teams will find here one of the best manuals currently available." Berliner Morgenpost : "Veronika Kotrba and Ralph Miarka are your ideal guides for combining Solution-Focused and Agile, two effective, pragmatic and iterative practices, into a powerful overall way not just to do work but to do it as well as possible in the most challenging of circumstances." : Dr Mark McKergow, author of The Next Generation of Solution Focused Practice

• Acknowledgements Preface Foreword by Diana Larsen Foreword by Mark McKergow 1.Introduction 1.1 Why this book and for whom? 1.2 What is this book about? 1.3 The structure 1.4 History of the solution-focused approach 1.5 Solution Focus and the Agile world 1.6 The Agile Team 1.7 The Agile Coach 1.8 Team coaching 2. Solution-focused coaching 2.1 Problem and solution 2.2 Six fundamental coaching attitudes and positions 2.3 Eight important principles 2.4 Attitudes and principles at a glance 2.5 Self-reflection 2.6 Experiments and exercises 3. Questions and more 3.1 Everyday questions 3.2 Coaching questions 3.3 More linguistic interventions 3.4 Self-reflection 3.5 Experiments and exercises 4. The Solution Pyramid 4.1 The ground - the topic 4.2 The first level - goals and impact 4.3 The second level - what works 4.4 The third level - the next steps 4.5 The fourth level - review of the results 4.6 Taking conversational needs into account 4.7 The follow-up conversation in the Solution Pyramid 4.8 Self-reflection 4.9 Experiments and exercises 5. Individual coaching - the team and its individuals 5.1 What needs to be considered in individual coaching 5.2 Feedback talks 5.3 Supporting further development 5.4 Self-reflection 5.5 Experiments and exercises 6.Team development 6.1 Goals of team development 6.2 Our R.E.S.U.L.T. model for team development 6.3 Tools for team development 6.4 Working with timelines in a solution-focused way 6.5 Developing a team vision 6.6 Team development with large groups 6.7 Self-reflection 6.8 Experiments and exercises 7.Dealing with Conflicts 7.1 The concept of conflict 7.2 The nine stages of conflict escalation 7.3 The benefits of conflicts 7.4 The comprehensible intention 7.5 The SCARF model 7.6 Solving conflicts in a solution-focused way 7.7 Conversational needs in the conflict 7.8 Self-reflection 7.9 Experiments and exercises 8. Solution-focused meeting design 8.1 Considerations for solution-focused meeting facilitation 8.2 Preparation for meetings 8.3 The planning meeting 8.4 Solution-focused Daily Stand-ups 8.5 The review meeting 8.6 The solution-focused retrospective 8.7 Facilitating Backlog Refinement Meetings 8.8 Follow-up to meetings 8.9 Self-reflection 8.10 Experiments and exercises 9. Tips for the coach 9.1 Your role(s) 9.2 When to act as a coach? 9.3 The coach as host 9.4 Setting and defending boundaries 9.5 The Scrum Master - a unique role 9.6 Self-reflection 9.7 Experiments and exercises Bibliography 259 Tool Index Index