The OSA experience is a designed experience. And an essential aspect of this design is the coaching function. The Coach (or Coaching team) is responsible for the following:
- Delivering guidance on specific practices (for example, Scrum, Kanban) and why these practices might be useful for a given team or context.
- Delivering specific services to teams, such as facilitation of meetings.
- Modeling what good patterns look like, via delivery of specific services to teams, such as facilitation.
- Identifying who is willing to learn new skills, and inviting all who are willing to learn to do so by entering into a mentored relationship that includes learning by watching, learning by doing, and learning via private conversations with the Coach on a day-by-day basis.
The coach never forces coaching or otherwise “inflicts help” on teams. Instead the Coach goes where they are invited by teams, to help them identify and implement practices that they have chosen and which they believe might be useful to them. This huge difference creates a sense of control and belonging inside the team as they choose what level of coaching they wish to have. (Recall that teams are experimenting with the set of all practices that align with the Agile Manifesto principles.)
Since the entire OSA process is based on Opt-In Participation which begins and ends with the opt-in (or opt-out) Open Space meeting, teams know they are choosing to be coached.
It is essential for the Coach to communicate clearly that Coaching Ends after OST-2. The Coach must at all times communicate the temporary nature of their role inside the organization.
As stated previously, OSA is a designed experience. This experience includes a change in the role of the Coach, after the 100 Days is over. This change punctuates the fact that the organization has in fact “leveled up” during the previous 100 days.