This is a book “review”, ok, more commentary of The Dojo Coach’s Pocket Guide by Jess Brock.
First, I put the word: review in quotations because I’m no true reviewer. I will share my opinions but they are strictly my opinions. I highly recommend always reading for yourself.
Second, I am biased when it comes to this book – really this author. I got a chance to really connect with Jess at the Craft conference in Budapest a few months ago. To say she is an impressive inspiring individual does not do it justice. I was eager to read what she had to say after this time together.
Now disclaimers aside, I enjoyed reading this book…here’s why:
- It truly is a pocket guide. I read it in a day. It was easy to digest. It was easy to navigate. It is a great resource that you can return to for specifics as you encounter challenges.
- Now I am not a dojo coach but I have always loved the concept of 6 week immersive learning by doing approach. This book covered all the basic questions I had around this type of engagement. It even has me pondering if this is something I want to experiment myself with. That’s always a great sign of a book.
- Jess had really amazing points that transcended dojo coaching throughout the book. For example, key points about SMART goals inviting concessions and gaming to prove the target versus the focus on outcomes and sustainable growth. Or that lasting change is behavioral based not specific metrics. Or meeting people where they are at and taking people on the journey together.
- I always love when I find new information that I want to add to my content. That was the case with her reference to Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience that reinforces learning by doing.
- I always love when I get challenged by something I read. In this case it was make content sharable. I don’t think about my marketing/content to be something that gets responses but is it memorable and impactful enough that compels people to share it too…probably not. I need to work on this.
- Wonderful references and examples throughout the book. Along with clearly seeing Jess’s ethics, personality and passion.
There was one spot in the FAQ section that makes me want to have a deeper conversation with Jess. The question was something like… isn’t Dojo coaching just coaching but timeboxed. The first bullet of the difference was repetitive practice made sense to me. The other bullets of using real work, full team collaboration, etc didn’t align with my engagements. I do those things and I’m not doing dojo coaching. So I don’t see them as difference. After reading the book, I would say the other key bullet is very focused coaching on specific learning during that 6 week time span, where I might address whatever comes up as it comes up. That said, my guess is many people don’t do those other things and that just makes me sad.
Thank you Jess for sharing this with the world!
I would recommend this book – bias or not.
