A Greater Sense of Purpose

I’ve been an agile coach and scrum trainer for the last 20 years, and a freelance one for the last 15 years. During that time I have trained many, many people just starting their agile journey and coached several organisations onto a more agile footing. Being self-employed has been great for me personally to set my own balance of work and personal time. It has given me the flexibility to be at home for my two kids during the most rewarding part of their upbringing – times and memories which I will never forget.

Over the last couple of years, as my kids have gotten older, I have been using that personal time for other pursuits, mainly centred around volunteering at my local rugby club, which I have found have given me an enormous sense of belonging and reward. Through these pursuits I have come to realise how much purpose to my work brings me joy.

Saying “Yes”

Those closest to me know that this has always been both a blessing and a curse for me. When I’m asked to do something or help with something, I find it very hard to say no. I think I am inherently a people-pleaser, so I don’t like letting others down and I am happy when others are also happy.

I fell into a coaching role at my local rugby club when both my children started playing the game at the age of 5. I was a regular player myself in the senior 2nd team back then, and have also had an affinity to the family-orientated ethos of grassroots rugby. As a dad with a pair of boots, I was quickly hooked into a regular Sunday morning session coaching and encouraging the youngsters to enjoy the benefits of the team sport that I love. Rugby was a nice release and escape from my work life, but the coaching aspects always resonated with me due to the close crossover.

I have stayed as a junior coach ever since – like many dads, I have followed my son’s age group through the seasons, and Owen is now playing in the Under 14s and I am head coach amongst a group of four other coaches. All told I have been amongst the junior section for around 10 years, and three years ago I was approached by the club chairman at the time and I was asked to “help out more” in a coordination role for Sunday mornings – the club’s busiest day when the entire junior section either trains or plays fixtures against other clubs.

Being the “yes” man that I am, of course I said yes. But in hindsight, I said yes for another reason – because I knew how important that role was to make other volunteers’ lives easier and more importantly, to allow hundreds of kids to get outdoors, keep fit, socialise and experience all the benefits of playing a team sport.

In doing that role for three seasons, it further cemented my place as a committed volunteer and found myself caring a lot more for the club and this type of volunteer role. I was then asked to join a group of club directors – those primarily responsible for the running and future of the rugby club. Saying “yes” to these things does create more work – but it’s work that I enjoy greatly. Volunteer-led organisations like my local rugby club provide a huge community benefit. Not just for children like my son, but for parents and guardians to watch their children play, rugby-loving local residents who can share a pint and a chat on a wintery Saturday afternoon in February. But also for the volunteers themselves – those people like me who have fostered a love for a club they call their own and who make time in their day to attend to the club needs and keep its doors open.

A Rugby Family

Over the years I joined other rugby club sub-groups, firstly Touch Rugby on a Wednesday night which is more of a social gathering of other dads who want some extra fitness during the week! I have grown very close with many players over some 15 years as a touch rugby player and some of my closest friends now are part of this group – many of which I have appeared on TV quiz shows with!

During my time as a volunteer I chose to visit the club frequently – sometimes almost daily – This can be as a junior coach to run training and matches for the youngsters, or sometimes to fix the router after the internet has gone down behind the bar! As a result I meet many other volunteers and club members regularly and have struck up relationships and solid friendships along the way. Friday mornings have turned into a regular coffee at 11am, whereby myself Phil, Neil and Danny take a timeout and sit down for a catch up and over a cuppa and a biscuit. I have found these informal meetups to be a great tonic for me personally, especially since the majority of my post-COVID work involves me working on my own from home. 

Across the globe, the rugby fraternity talk candidly about the “rugby family” as an unwritten part of the game, whereby players and club members feel part of a larger tribe – a family ethos that will help each other both on and off the pitch in times of need. This certainly echoes my own experiences as a player, coach and volunteer – the core rugby values (from the RFU) are centered around Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship. I find a real connection with those values and the core agile values that I still firmly believe in and advocate in all the work I do as both an agile coach and rugby club member.

Giving Something Back

As I’ve gotten a bit older (and maybe wiser) and reflect on what gives me joy in life and work, I know that I get a real buzz out of giving something back. That could be my time or my skills, but looking back over the years, I have always been part of some kind of club or movement which has had some kind of social or community benefit. I suppose that is why the Scrum framework has always suited me, and why I have put some much energy into my work as an agile coach. 

I find myself at an opportune point in my career where I am interested in putting all these seemingly random needs together into my next step in my journey. Being honest, working as an independent, spending a lot of time working in isolation, is wearing thin for me. I feel most productive in a people-rich (and predominantly in-person) environment where I’m working with a team who wants to achieve – and achieve something with purpose, something that solves a problem or creates an environment that a community will benefit from. I’m really interested in talking to anyone or any company who thinks they might be a good match for me. A simple chat over a coffee might lead to something bigger, and maybe even a long-term relationship! Who knows!