The Agile Coaching Institute was founded by Lyssa Adkins and Michael K. Spayd in 2010. Its mission is to further the growth and development of Agile Coaches as agents of transformation through education, coaching, and mentoring. Look to us to provide a rich program of training and mentoring, as well as thought leadership, in the emerging profession of Agile Coaching.
Why us?
Lyssa’s book, Coaching Agile Teams, has set a new high water mark for the practice of Agile Coaching. Michael’s Agile Enterprise model has shifted the discussion to the broader organizational world of culture, change and leadership. Michael’s forthcoming book, Coaching the Agile Enterprise, will take the industry one giant step further. Both trained in the world of professional coaching, Lyssa and Michael have combined to help take the world of Agile Coaching to a new level of potential and professional rigor.
Lyssa Adkins
Since 2004, I have taught Scrum and Agile Coaching to well over a thousand students, coached many agile teams, and served as master coach to scores of apprentice coaches. In both one-on-one settings and small groups, I enjoy a front-row seat as remarkable agile coaches emerge and go on to entice the very best from the teams and organizations they coach. Prior to agile, I had more than fifteen years of expertise leading project teams and groups of project managers (I was even a PMO Director — twice!), yet nothing prepared me for the power of agile done simply and well.
I believe that agile is more than an alternate project management methodology and I am passionate about deepening the roles in agile – specifically agile coach and agile manager – to help agile move into its fullest expression.
I hold an alphabet soup of certifications: Certified Scrum Coach (CSC), Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), Project Management Professional (PMP), Six Sigma Green Belt (SSGB) and Organization and Relationship Systems Certified Coach (ORSCC). I am also a trained Co-Active Coach and Leader.
In 2010, I authored Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition.
Michael K. Spayd
In a word, my professional work is about transformation. I seem to be wired to help people–and systems–change. I am drawn to cutting edge ‘technologies’ for coaching and developing organizations, leaders and teams. I have worked as an organizational change coach and consultant for more than 20 years, working with Fortune 500, small businesses and non-profits. For 11 years I have specialized in large-scale Agile transformation efforts, working with numerous organizations, leaders, and over 75 teams in that time.
I was trained as a Team and Organizational Coach and hold a Masters degree in psychology, and I am trained in Co-Active leadership, executive coaching, and organizational behavior. I am a Certified Organization and Relationship Systems Coach (ORSCC), a Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF), and a Certified Scrum Master (CSM). I am currently writing a book in the Mike Cohn series called Coaching in the Agile Enterprise.
Our Partners
Cynthia Loy Darst
Named “One of the Top Ten Most Influential Coaches in the U.S.,” Cynthia Darst is playful and inspiring, working with all kinds of people to move them past limitations and into action. She was one of the first to gain the designation of Master Certified Coach (MCC) by the International Coach Federation (ICF), was a founding leader for The Center for Right Relationship and The Coaches Training Institute, as well as being one of the founders of the ICF. Darst maintains a full roster of private clients including entrepreneurs, entertainment industry executives and corporate executives at Boeing, American Express, Wells Fargo, and Ernst & Young, among others. Cynthia co-created The Coaching Stance course with ACI and lends her expertise to co-lead that course for ACI.
Marita Fridjhon
Marita is co-owner and CEO of CRR Global, and mentor to an ever-growing community of practitioners in the field of Relationship Systems work. She designs curriculum and operates training programs in Relationship Systems Work for coaches, executives and teams. She came to this work from an extensive background of Clinical Social Work, Community Development, Process Work, Family Systems Therapy, Business Consulting and Alternative Dispute Resolution. She has an international mentor coaching practice of individuals, partnerships and teams. Her primary focus in coaching is on systemic change, leveraging diversity, creative communication, deep democracy in conflict management, and the development of Learning Organizations. Marita is a co-creator and co-leader for the ACI course, Leading from The Next Level.
David Chilcott
David Chilcott has an unusual set of skills that encompasses both the deeply technical and the deeply human aspects of software development. In addition to his background as a system architect, software developer and agile coach, David holds a degree in group dynamics, and has completed formal training in creative problem solving, advanced facilitation, Innovation Games facilitation, non-violent communication (NVC), conflict resolution and Co-Active Coaching, and Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC). David is the founder of Outformations, a collaborative software design, development, and Agile consulting practice. He is a board member for the National Agile Leadership Network (ALN) and is the founder of the Bay Area ALN. David is a lead coach for ACI’s Coaching Circles.
David Darst
David Darst, PCC, has been on the leading edge of coaching for well over 10 yrs. He is one of the first to be certified in the field of Relationship Coaching by the Center for Right Relationship (CRR), as well as being a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CTI). As a Senior Faculty member of both CRR and CTI he has had the opportunity to train thousands of individual and relationship coaches. David’s primary focus in the field of coaching is relationship, whether that be relationship with self, relationship with others, or even relationship with a project. He also has a special knack for identifying and unleashing potential, which has led him to working with individuals, corporate leaders, and high performance teams and partnerships around the globe. We are pleased to have David with us as a co-leader of The Coaching Stance.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Lyssa and Michael,
I really like your website. It is very refreshing to find some people who are trying to establish a proper link between ICF-based Coaching and Agile. I am an Agile Project / Programme Manager / Coach with over 20 years experience working in IT and Finance in London and New York. That experience has taken me on a journey of both Waterfall and Agile projects. I am a passionate believer in Agile. In my view it is based on a simple premise that people drive technology and people need to feel motivated to do their job. If they are motivated they will deliver. I believe Agile provides the philosophy for that motivation but there is more to it. This is where Coaching comes in. I am currently training to be a qualified Life and Corporate Coach through a highly valued organisation called Coaching Development here in London. I am really enjoying this training. It is taking me on my own personal transformational journey which is exciting and energising. The training is teaching me about people and the power of the coaching and client relationship to motivate the client to achieve more fulfilment in the life. The combination of both Agile and true Coaching is extremely powerful. These are early days but certainly exciting times.
I will continue to visit your website as it is nice to see like minded people with similar goals and motivations to my own. If you come to the UK it would be great to meet up with you both.
Thank you again
Kind regards
Jon Sleeper
Glad to meet a like-minded professional, Jon! Thanks for the affirmation of our direction. We love this work and absolutely believe that it is what the world could really use.
Good to “meet” you,
Lyssa
(and Michael)
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