Agile
Summary: The Agile Coaching DNA
This book was part of my professional development as an Agile coach. This book walks around the landscape of Agile coaching, why it exists, and whom it serves. It’s full of activities any coach can use, and is an excellent playbook.
Communication
Staying Mindful When You’re Working Remotely (via Harvard Business Review)
I don’t normally go in for articles about mindfulness, but this one is more focused on mindfulness for the sake of others rather than yourself. It’s a win-win to noticed when you’re distracted from conversations and listening only to find the gap for you to start talking.
Managers: What Do You Do When Your Teammate Shares Their Grief? (via Software Lead Weekly)
- Have a handy, simple response ready.
- Don’t hop into problem-solving mode, and don’t make this about you. Ask open questions instead.
- Mirror their energy, use affirming body language.
- Create lots of silence and space.
- Consider your role.
- Follow up.
Psychology
Where Mindfulness Falls Short (via Harvard Business Review)
Mindfulness training has been quite popular over the last decade. However, making people mindful of uncomfortable situations that they can’t change (e.g., an irate customer) doesn’t seem to help. Such situations are called surface acting, where you’re portraying emotions that don’t match your internal state. As a personal anecdote, I’ve found that mindfulness doesn’t help with stress relief because it only addresses the symptoms and not the cause of the stress itself.