Agile Lean Leadership Mentoring

The road to Agility is incremental, rarely smooth and arguably never complete, but there is always something that can be improved. 

The ALL mentoring program provides low-cost, short-term focus on specific obstacles on the agile path.

An ALH mentor will engage with you directly to define the issue(s) and offer remedies or solutions for the backlog.

After the initial consultation, the program consists of 10 x 45 min. online sessions, kept deliberately brief to bring acute focus and preserve everyone’s valuable time. 

 

The details of the program

According to the Business Dictionary, a mentor is a senior or more experienced person who is assigned to function as an advisor, counselor, or guide to a junior or trainee.

There is however an abundance of definitions of what this means in practice. In the Agile Lean Leadership Network, we have a lot of experience that can be used to assist people on their journeys toward agility. While there are many valuable forms of mentoring, we are offering a standardized service at a reasonable price, so that the Mentee can easily assess what they get for their investment in time and money.

Here is a broad description of the service:

1. We offer mentoring in the following topics:
   1. Creating an agile organization: value streams, processes and teams
   2. Working the agile way inside teams and across teams, using Scrum and other frameworks
   3. Working the agile way personally, interacting with other agile persons
   4. The agile mindset, what is it? Why is it valuable? And what is it not?
2. The process (called Mentor Engagement) consists of a series of sessions, each normally timeboxed to 45 minutes.
3. A minimum of 8 sessions is required. Sessions are held at an interval of 2, 3 or 4 weeks unless otherwise agreed.
4. The Mentee comes to the Mentor Engagement with a clear idea of a Main Objective. The Mentor facilitates and guides the mentee to fulfill as much of the objective as time allows.
5. The Mentee may also raise other life challenges in order to seek a solution in collaboration with the Mentor.
6. The sessions are framed somewhat like a Retrospective – facilitated by the Mentor. Here is a proposed starting framework. The Mentor and Mentee will typically meet online or in person if it is not cost-prohibitive.
   1. Normally the session starts with a short check-in and reflection on a key topic.
   2. Then a few moments are spent collecting and prioritizing items that should be addressed in this session – a sort of Mini Backlog.
   3. There is a review of the last period including any changes, experiments or assignments that the Mentee has accepted for the period.
   4. Then a series of short discussions of the prioritized Mini Backlog Items, leaving at least 20 min for the Main Objective.
   5. Then a concentrated discussion about what to do next to achieve the Main Objective. The parties may agree on some changes, experiments or assignments that the Mentee will undertake in the next period.
   6. Finally a short check-out and reflection on the mentoring process, and what can be improved. Is there anything the parties want to change in the format of the sessions?
7. Both parties may agree that the Mentor answers some questions offline during the period between two sessions, but unscheduled calls and discussions are normally not part of the agreement.

The first session is regarded as a trial where both parties try to establish enough trust and common goals to proceed with the Engagement. Both parties are free to stop after this session free of charge, they must both commit to continue.

Prices 

The standard price for mentoring a junior person (normally less than 10 years of experience) is EUR 800 excl. VAT for the 8 sessions, for seniors EUR 1200 excl. VAT and for executives EUR 1.800 excl VAT. There are provisions for people from non-profit organizations to get a reduced price. If travel is involved on the part of the Mentor, direct expenses are an additional charge.

Please contact us for more information at info@agileleanhouse.com