The Return on Investment of Agile Coaching

The Agile Coaching (and Scrum Master) profession is at a crucial point. Market circumstances in the US seem very challenging, and similar signals appear in Europe, where I’m based. Nowadays, even experienced, highly skilled, and knowledgeable coaches sometimes struggle to find a new job opportunity.

Various reasons led to this situation. I’ll be the last person claiming to know all of them. I have noticed a pattern in the conversations I’ve had with organizations that are rethinking the value of Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters:

👉 They’re unsure if the money spent on coaches is a good return on investment.

When money is abundant, it’s easier to assume that investing in Agile Coaches (and Scrum Masters, etc) pays off. When money becomes scarce, investing in coaching-related roles is reconsidered. 🤷‍♀️

To be clear: 
I consider Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters valuable. Of course, not everyone is a rockstar, but that’s the case in every profession.

I do believe that coaches can do way better in showing their ROI.

It’s surprising how many coaches don’t use data to show their value. They base decisions and progress mostly on intuition and gut feeling.

To quote a certain W. Edwards Deming:

“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”

Since most coaches add value, why not make it tangible? 🤷‍♂️

We developed Columinity to support teams in self-managing continuous improvement and to offer a companion for Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters. It allows you to use (multi-team) data, evidence-based feedback, and insights from scientific research to improve team and organizational effectiveness.

It supports coaches by… 
✅ Adopting a shared ‘language’ by using the same metrics
✅ Surfacing patterns for improvement across teams
✅ Defining a shared focus to make an organizational impact
✅ Bringing the Agile Coaches’ voice to the leadership table
✅ Using evidence-based feedback to show the value you deliver
✅ Supporting objective and unbiased decision-making 
✅ Providing real-time feedback and enabling quick adaptations due to the ongoing data collection

Coaches from organizations like the LEGO Group, Hapag-Lloyd AG, and the Nederlandse Spoorwegen have already embraced this approach. 😎

Why don’t you give it a try as well? Contact me to discuss the opportunities.

Contributions by community members

This post was also published on LinkedIn. Below, you’ll find a selection of valuable contributions by community members.

Johannes Schartau:

“It’s surprising how few Agile Coaches use data. It’s even more surprising that most Agile Coaches never engage in a conversation with the people around them about what “good Agile coaching” would look like to them and how they would know that they have received that value. This can then be contrasted with the agile coach’s view of the value they aim to provide and their self-assessment.

If your boss suddenly realizes that they can’t justify paying you, and this comes up when decisions must be made, don’t you think that’s a bit late? I urge anyone without this discussion to ask for it right now. Data can then fortify the results. But if you’ve never clarified the general purpose of your coaching, you probably won’t even know what to measure.”

Mario Huard:

“Your question about the Agile coach's return on investment (ROI) is very relevant. While Agile coaches must demonstrate their ROI, I also believe they must innovate their service offerings.

Agility has been around for a while, and in my opinion, it’s still relevant, but Agile practices need to be updated. Since 2001, the world has changed significantly: markets are fragmenting, the pace of change is accelerating, etc.

Organizations and people are struggling to keep up with these movements. Agility, like change management, must adapt to these developments. Without adaptation, our professions will die.

Your reflection on the need for Agile coaches to demonstrate their added value is crucial in the current context. Using data to quantify the impact of Agile coaching is a promising approach. However, I think we need to go even further. Agile coaches must prove their ROI and reinvent their role to address emerging challenges.

By innovating this way, Agile coaches can justify their ROI and position themselves as indispensable strategic partners for organizations seeking to thrive in a constantly evolving environment.”

Niels Malotaux:

The first line in my ‘conditions’ is:
“General concept: If it would cost, we shouldn’t do it. What we do should save at least twice as much as the cost.”
Usually, it takes about 10 minutes for a manager to see how easily we can save a lot. When I start coaching a team, we calculate the cost of one day of (unnecessary) delay, which they never did before, often about ten times my cost for a day.

A difference may be that I’m not an Agile Coach. Just a Result Coach. Of course, creating the result usually includes a lot of agility :-)

What do you think about the ROI of Agile Coaching❓Do you have any recommendations to increase the ROI or make it more visible❓

Feel free to share your ideas and thoughts!