Change the dream of people you coach, change the dream of the world

LYSSA ADKINSFEBRUARY 28, 2011

This is my riff on an open letter to the first Co-Active Summit originally posted by Michael K. Spayd.

The 400 leaders and coaches of the first Co-Active Summit in Marco Island, Florida, representing 22 countries throughout the world, make known the following Promise to our Co-Active colleagues, to friends and loved ones, to our communities, and to the people of the world:

We believe the human community is at the critical time to change the dream of the world, a dream we have created together, a dream that leads to the destruction of the planet through overconsumption, the wasting of our human environment through social injustice, and the loss of spiritual fulfillment through disconnection and fear.

We believe that by uniting together, We can make the critical difference. We are committing ourselves to changing the dream to one that envisions a sustainable environment, spiritual fulfillment, and social justice for all people and beings. We hold that by taking this stand, our decision can provide the tipping point that the world needs now.

Each in our own way, we will help change the dream: in our selves, in our families, with our children, in front of our friends, inspiring our communities. Because we are leaders, we are coaches; because we act inside organizations, we are human activists. Our weapon is love in action.

We have less than four years to take decisive action and to change the dangerous trajectory we are on. And, four years is enough time.  To change our own life, to change our world, to change our collective dream, to alter the Earth’s destiny.  For the sake of our humanness, for the sake of our grandchildren’s grandchildren.

If not us, then who? If not now, then when?

We are the ones we have been waiting for. The time is now.

Four years…Go!

What does this have to do with agile coaching?

Agile coaches are in the best position to affect the course of human history at this critical moment.  We are inside the machines that run the system of overconsumption through the belief that more is better — these machines are our modern organizations.  This is the place where massive change can happen which will positively impact the course we are on.  How do we do it?

1. Live the agile values. As agile coaches, we simply live the agile values. Openness, feedback, courage, focus, respect. These create an interconnectedness and purpose between humans, and because of this, humans change the system. We let our courageous example show the way.
2. Focus on “for what?” We know that it’s not good enough to use agile to produce mediocre results faster because that’s not really progress. Instead, we help our teams and organizations focus on the “for what” of it all — for what are we creating this product? … this process? … this offer? What good will it do, not only for this organization, but for the communities and the world it serves? This is the beacon of business-value-driven-thinking, and we use it to light every situation we serve.
3. Unleash the untapped potential. Agile coaches know that the real fuel of the world is the untapped potential of every single person we encounter. We know that by untapping even a small part of this latent potential just lying around in modern organizations, we unleash a torrent of brilliant ingenuity and solutions which easily change the direction of the world. We take on the positive, uplifting and necessary work of untapping this great potential.

These are my promises to you, agile coaches, and to the organizations and people I serve.  Join me.

ps. At this summit, agile+design thinking was introduced to the professional coaches and leaders present and — guess what? — THEY LOVE IT and see it as an important piece to strengthen their own efforts inside organizations. Get ready to meet the professional coaches who will now join our agile community. We’ll all be better for it.