My Journey to CTC

Reflections on Part 1of the Certified Team Coach Application

It’s been a number of years, but I still remember how thrilled I was to find out on the 25th of September in 2017 that I passed Part 1 of my Scrum Alliance Certified Team Coach (CTC) application. It was by far the most challenging certification I have ever attempted to pass. As you can imagine, the fact that Part 1 was accepted gave me an energy boost to proceed with the second part of the application.

In this article, I share with you what CTC stands for. I will reveal my reasons behind applying for CTC, take you behind the scenes, disclose what my reviewer was looking for, and conclude with my takeaways.

What is CTC?

I think that Scrum Alliance’s website explains it best:

“A Certified Team Coach works with Scrum teams, stakeholders, and management to improve performance and outcomes. Organizations employ Certified Team Coaches to provide coaching, facilitation, training, mentoring, impediment management, and leadership in support of collaboration, development consistency, and value delivery across multiple teams and departments.

Unlike a Scrum Master, a Certified Team Coach works across multiple teams. And unlike a Certified Enterprise Coach, a Certified Team Coach focuses on a subset of an organization in a project or program, or across multiple teams.”

Please refer to this link for the prerequisites and to learn more about the CTC certification.

My reasons for seeking CTC

I am on a mission. I want to transform the way the Agile Coaching profession is being perceived; first in Romania, followed by the rest of Eastern Europe and eventually globally. I want to give back.

Here are some secondary reasons for applying, which helped me along the way:

Taking on the challenge of applying to CTC and the learning process itself
Creating an interest group that will enable CTC candidates to get feedback on their application
Exploring the opportunity to share presentations and blogs within the agile community
Validating the coaching work I have done since 2013
Realizing that, although CTC is not a prerequisite, this is a natural step towards a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) designation

What do reviewers look for in your application?

Overall, Scrum Alliance CTC reviewers seek to understand your progression within agile development, i.e., what was your path that helped you to reach where you are today and how will that journey continue. E.g., when were you a SM/PO/Developer and what did you do to fulfill your role? What are the reasons for becoming an Agile Coach? What does Agile Coach mean for you?

Moreover, you need to demonstrate that you have a coaching mindset and real-life experience coaching teams. Consequently, any reference to how you would solve the issues for the team, telling them what to do and offer consulting services is being strongly discouraged. Lastly, mind that coaching is not merely about facilitating workshops nor is it the same thing as providing training.

My takeaways

Read the prerequisites thoroughly; there are no shortcuts. Only real-life coaching experience counts! For more details, please refer to this link again.
Allow yourself to invest sufficient time. Part 1 of the application is quite rigorous and requires effort. A lot of effort. I started working on my application somewhere back in February 2017 since I wanted to ensure that my application is of the highest quality. Additionally, it was difficult to work on the application on a daily basis; I was working on it only during working hours. Each time I could, I dedicated 15-20 minutes maximum to stay focused.
Choose your approach. Firstly, I filled in all Part 1 sections at a very high level as it helped me to put in some structure. Next, I sliced Part 1 into smaller, manageable chunks and determined what would I like to achieve by the end of each week.
Talk about how you coached. Using a phrase such as, “I coached…” is far from being satisfactory. You must demonstrate your coaching mindset and avoid falling into the trap of consulting. Consulting and coaching are not the same.
Join a SIG (Special Interest Group). You are not alone! There are other candidates who go through a similar journey around the world and will be happy to support you. I am a proud team member of CTC SIG and we meet online every Saturday evening. Our servant leader, coach and mentor is Michael de la Maza.
Inspect and adapt. Review your application every weekend and look for opportunities to improve it. Seek feedback from anyone; your spouse, a colleague, or a coach from another industry. For instance, based on my CTC SIG team members’ valuable feedback, I had to entirely revise a section. And I am grateful for their support!
Discipline and focus. Sometimes you will find that completing Part 1 of the application is rather overwhelming. Pick up a structure that works best for you and create goals that are achievable. For instance, at the end of our CTC SIG meetings, we review homework from the past week and add/update homework for next week, all done in a highly transparent fashion.
Take advantage of word limits. If you are non-native English user, you are allowed to exceed word count limits by 25%. Use it to your advantage, yet at the same time, do not leave room for misinterpretations. In other words, write clearly and concisely. Otherwise, you risk a further delay in the approval process since you will probably need to clarify with your reviewer some points. Alternatively, your application may be deferred.
Do not rush to submit the application; it will show through. Instead, take your time and relax. Anticipate that at one point or another you will be blocked. When that happens, it is best to leave the application for a week or two and tackle it once you are more detached and fresh.
Make the application appealing. Think of your reviewer and try to fill in the application in such a way that will please him/her. Empathise with them and put yourself in their shoes. And don’t forget that quality is key and non-negotiable!

Disclaimer: The opinions and thoughts expressed in this article belong solely to the author and do not represent the Scrum Alliance.

The original article, which had been slightly modified, appeared on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/path-certified-team-coach-part-1-reflection-amir-peled/

You can replay Amir's session about his CTC journey from Agile Coaching Retreat Live Online below:

If you're interested in becoming a CTC, facilitation is an essential skill. To learn more about Scrum Alliance's upcoming Agile Coaching Skills - Certified Facilitator (ACS-CF) course, please fill out this interest form to get the latest updates.

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