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--- what_kind_of_questions_should_we_ask_if_we_are_hiring_a_coach [2018/10/09 09:10] – [Want to Know More?] hpsamios
+++ what_kind_of_questions_should_we_ask_if_we_are_hiring_a_coach [2019/05/21 07:22] – Referenced existing page for quick fire round hpsamios
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 A lot of organizations I work with have a need to hire coaches to support their transformation. Generally I find this is a two-stage process where the first interview is basically a first pass filter aimed at just determining basic skills while the second interview is a more evaluative discussion. The question is "what approach should we use to drive this second conversation?"
-====== Some Questions ======
+The following sections talk about some questions I’ve used in the past to help me understand fit.
+====== What Questions Should We Ask Prospective Team Coaches? ======
 The approach I've found useful is to set a more "situational" discussion. The idea is to have a a series of driving questions where there really is no right or wrong answer, but that the discussion will help uncover the thinking process, the framework, the person you are talking to has.
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   * Bonus question: “What was the last book you read?” Coaches need to be constantly learning. Books, blogs, etc are an indicator of this.
+====== What Questions Should We Ask Prospective Transformational Coaches?======
-====== Transformational ======
 Sometimes you are at the beginning of a transformation for an organization and so the issues you are working with are more related to working the initial contacts with a leadership team. Here are some questions that you might ask in this situations:
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   * "Describe a situation where you are working with a leadership group that are at odds over something - perhaps there is a discussion about the future of the agile rollout and people in the room are trying to see 'where they will end up' which is effecting the decisions. How did you facilitate?" Looking for decision where facilitation lead to approach that people agreed to try. "How did you clarify next steps?" is a possible follow on question - trying to avoid different interpretations of "the decision".
   * "What was the last organizational / coaching experiment you ran and what was the result?" Looking for a degree of comfort in risk taking, and understanding of how an experiment works (PDCA applied to the subject at hand). You will sometimes see people take a while to answer this which implies that they have not really been thinking about their coaching in this way.
-  * "If you were to hire a coach, what would you look for?" Looking for discussion more about characteristics, personality and approach. For example, "someone who is comfortable working with the CIO in the morning, and a team in the afternoon."
+  * "If you were to hire a coach, what would you look for and how would you prioritize the skills / values". Looking for discussion more about characteristics, personality and approach. For example, "someone who is comfortable working with the CIO in the morning, and a team in the afternoon." Also looking for some specific discussion around ability to manage client expectations, approach to work yourself out of a job, ability to find where people are at in client organization and start from there, and so on. Values and philosophy are part of this - see [[coaching_values_and_principles|Coaches Values and Principles]] for some thinking.
   * "The organization you are working with has read a lot about agile and are working to form teams. They understand the idea of a "two pizza team" but are struggling to form these teams in all cases. How would you convince the organization that having large teams is OK?" (Looking for a "non-religious" discussion of a principle that a lot of people think is basic. Aim is to focus on what works for the business. Typically interested in more thought out approaches, than just following standard thinking. Note: this might not be what you want in your transformation - it has been important in some I've worked. And this might be a useful type of question to ask of all coaches).
   * "You are about to facilitate a leadership workshop, involving 20 people of the extended leadership team. If I were to walk into the room where you are facilitating, what would I see? How would you conduct a session like this?" Looking for an environment set up for collaboration and joint decision making. Walls marked of with things like "Meeting Objectives", "Working Agreements", "Parking Lot", "Retrospective", Kanban version marked "Agenda". Room set up so that it is collaborative, seating around tables for example rather than classroom style. Perhaps a mention of a co-facilitator to pair with. Perhaps a mention of preparation work required to get there. Perhaps a discussion about engaging people in activities as quickly as possible, minimal use of PowerPoint and so on.
+====== The “Quick Buzzer” Round ======
+Generally I’ve found that people I interview about Agile have sufficient information to be reasonably “buzz word compliant”. In other words, they know how to use buzzwords in a particular context. But sometimes I try to understand where people have enough detailed knowledge in an area. I’ve found a buzzer round helps me understand where people are. It also helps me understand how people deal with pressure, and what they do if they don’t know the answer to some things.
+The way it works is that you introduce the concept by saying “I want to understand where some of your expertise lies and rather than ask detailed questions about everything, will just do a quick buzzer round. The way this works is that I’ll say something like ‘what does USA stand for, and you’ll say ...” and hopefully they’ll say “United States of America”. “Good. Sometimes questions will be fill in the blank type questions. Ready?
+{{page>what_are_some_good_quick_fire_round_questions_we_can_ask_to_assess_agile_knowledge#Warm Up Questions&noindent&notags&noeditbutton&nouser&nomdate&nodate}}
+{{page>what_are_some_good_quick_fire_round_questions_we_can_ask_to_assess_agile_knowledge#Lean / Agile Questions&noindent&notags&noeditbutton&nouser&nomdate&nodate}}
+====== Some Notes on the Interview Process ======
+Over time I’ve found that some things really help as you work the interview process:
+  * Pair (or mob) interview: In general I’ve found it way better to at least pair when conducting an interview. What I find is that each person involved in the interview brings a different perspective to the session, and so improves the overall chance of find both good people and recognizing when there is a potential problem.
+  * Fist-of-five vote: Assuming you have multiple people involved in the interview process, do a fist of five on the person based on a key question. The key question I’ve used is “Would I go to bat for this person in order to bring them on?” but the question you use might be different based on your needs. The key point is to have people agree on this question before doing the interview so there is a common expected outcome. Other driving questions I’ve heard are “Would this person be able to hit the ground running?” or “Would I like to work with this person?”, or something more focused on organizational values like “Do I think this person will take responsibility for problems?”
+  * Prepare: Preparation means that the conversation will be more structured and so provides a better chance to cover what needs to be covered.
+  * Have a way to get to “no”: No matter what your approach to the interview, make sure you have identified things that would lead you to say no to a particular person. If your discussion does not allow clear differentiation between people you’d like to bring on board and those you wouldn’t, then you probably need to work the questions.
+  * Use video: Remote interviews are done with an audio call. Since most communication is not verbal, you are missing out a lot if you do not use video.
+  * Provide immediate feedback: I’ve found that sometimes I form an impression based on an initial response that was not intended by the person. I usually end up an interview (if it has not already been discussed) by asking “do you want to hear what I am thinking?” This gives people a chance to modify their response, but also to improve their future interviews. This is probably not a normal thing to do in an interview, but the coaching situation is often not so much about “knowledge” but rather about cultural fit. If you set the interview up with this in mind, then the feedback is not about a lack in the person, but rather about a perceived problem of fit.
 ====== Want to Know More? ======
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 {{tag>Consultant Tools Role Coach FAQ}}