My personal story is one that could inspire women in Agile to always move forward, chase their dreams and cause positive change in others! It tells about success factors that paved my way to becoming an Agile Coach even in quite a patriarchal society with gender stereotypes. It is also about my biggest professional learnings: the secret sauce of productivity during agile transformation at scale.

To start off, I would like to share 3 lifetime events that shaped who I am.

1. I became a refugee as a child at the age of 6. Going through socio-economic hardships, language barriers and bullying at school in a patriarchal society made me even stronger and helped pave my way forward as a professional. After getting a university degree as an educator and linguist I challenged the gender stereotype that a woman cannot combine a family and career, let alone take a leadership role, and started my journey in the international development sector. My motto: Resilience. Biggest success factor was working on self-awareness and self-development that shaped my individuality and boosted confidence. I was blessed to meet powerful mentors on my way of self-development who inspired me to explore my strengths via science-based personality assessments and solution-oriented coaching. I also loved engaging in volunteering and community service activities. It was always about passion for what I did and capitalizing on strengths in education and career choices no matter what the widespread social norms were. Another secret formula at this life stage was initiating educational mentoring programs for underprivileged girls living in remote regions of Armenia who were deprived from opportunities for growth and development. Actionable insights: Self-motivation is a choice. Choose to be a creator and do not depend on external factors. And finally, give more when you have less.

2. I made a decision to radically shift work industries after being in the international development sector, including in leadership roles for 15 years. Having gone through continuous education and international certification, I started off as a Scrum Master in an IT start-up in Armenia. I started it all from 0: new specialization, new environment, new people. I would like to mention that IT sector in Armenia is generally known for predominantly men engagement. My motto: Adaptiveness. Biggest success factor was realizing that remaining in the comfort zone and fear of failing is a growth stopper. It was my gut feeling telling me that being accomplished and acknowledged in one area does not any longer pose challenges and limits my growth. Going into the unknown was scary but I would never know what’s beyond that fear unless I went for it. This was the main reason that pushed me forward towards the unknown and uncertain, making me discover new aspects of my potential and starting off my agile journey. True to the passion of sharing knowledge, I started teaching agile management courses primarily engaging young women (80% women out of the total number of participants) who were eager to either start a new career journey or transitioning in their careers as I did. Actionable insights: Go to your highest fear, uncertainty and risk zone.

3. Later, after 4 years in IT I joined Ameriabank as an Agile Coach and became part of unprecedented Agile Transformation in one of the leading and largest enterprises of Armenia. My motto: no-stopping, always forward. Scaling agile in an enterprise vs in a start-up came in with different challenges. However, instead of focusing on differences, I would like to share what is cross-cutting and essential for success no matter whether it is a start-up or enterprise. My biggest professional takeaway and success factor was first and foremost working towards leadership buy-in for any agile transformation. Next, any transformation is about transformation of minds: no agile tool or process rollout will take you far unless there is intentional focus and commitment to invest in development of leadership competencies among management and teams. It comes with pain because no change is easy, but there is no growth without pain. Then comes driving change at all levels of the company (not only delivery teams) to promote agile mindset and best agile practices and behaviors (agile champion departments, teams, etc.). As an observation, women are more often than not champions of change.
This is what is in core of what I do now: apart from scaling data-driven agile business processes, I run leadership schools for management and teams focusing on building trust, motivation, effective feedback and self-organization. I also piloted a program offering tools tailored to specific stages of agile team development (per B. Tuckman). This would not be possible without strong leadership support where I have the space to further grow and create. Actionable insights: Investing in leadership development is at the core of any agile transformation. Transforming Minds and Hearts is a parallel process.

These 3 lifetime events taught me great lessons that shaped who I am. Throughout these years I have been nurturing, boosting and coaching in myself the invisible powers of self-motivation, giving, courage, lifetime learning and empathy. I strongly believe that we as Agile Coaches should first cultivate these qualities in ourselves so that we empower others to shine and achieve their goals! I invite all women in agile to this exciting journey to get inspired and never stop growing: coaching the invisible powers!