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Date: 12 July 2023
Feedback on Working with Willem as a Coach and Agile CoachTo Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to provide feedback on our experience working with Willem as a Coach, group facilitator, and Agile coach on Agile methodologies and practices, team dynamics, and awareness, among other areas of focus. I had the pleasure of collaborating with Willem on two separate occasions. Firstly, during his
tenure as an Agile Coach at Capitec Bank from 2018 to 2020, where I was also employed.Subsequently, after I transitioned to Dotxml Technologies in 2022, I had the opportunity to work with Willem again as a group facilitator, assisting our business in adopting Agile approaches and improving team cohesion and communication. Willem consistently demonstrated exceptional expertise and dedication in his role, contributing to fostering a culture of self-development, improving team dynamics, and increasing awareness within our organization. During the period of March to June 2023 (17 March, 31 March, 14 April, 19 May, 26 May, 12 June, 15 June, and 27 June), as well as during his time at Capitec, I witnessed the impact Willem had on our teams.
Willem’s work as a Coach and Agile Coach has brought numerous benefits to our team, including increased team awareness of communication styles, leading to improved communication, quicker turnarounds, and clearer exchanges of information. Our shared understanding has been enhanced, resulting in reduced rework and repetitive conversation. On an individual level, team members have gained awareness of their own communication styles, recognized their limitations, and acquired tools to improve their effectiveness.
Willem’s expertise has expanded our team’s knowledge of leadership and communication models, including the impactful “Impact/Dialogue” tool. Overall, our team now has a deeper understanding of coaching and facilitation, and we are more open to the benefits they bring. I believe that these benefits we’ve received are due to Willem’s unique skill and experience, and how he as an individual adds value to businesses. Willem has displayed an impressive knowledge base, consistently drawing upon relevant models and tools to address the various discussions and scenarios presented.
As a facilitator, he has shown exceptional skills by taking appropriate actions in each situation, whether it involves pausing, allowing silence, directing the discussion, or prompting individuals to speak. Willem ensures that our sessions are impactful, insightful, and action-based, guiding us to take actionable steps, commit to them, and establish support structures. His complete presence in our sessions is evident as he seamlessly incorporates previously discussed information and identifies the “golden thread” to connect common themes.
Moreover, his insightful assessments of the team, individuals, and dynamics have been instrumental in our debriefs, where he identifies and discusses patterns of behavior at both the group and individual levels. Overall, the program with Willem has had a profound and positive impact on our team’s development and growth.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to work alongside such a talented individual. Without hesitation, I highly recommend Willem as a Coach and Agile Coach to any organization seeking to improve team dynamics and achieve their goals.Should you require additional information or wish to discuss our experience further, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am more than happy to provide further insights into the positive impact Willem has made on our organization. Thank you for considering my feedback, and I look forward to the possibility of collaborating with Willem again in the future.
Sincerely,
Mr S. Redman
Chief Operations Officer
Dotxml Technologies
Joshua Adair
Lead Brand Manager
E: joshua.adair@patternmatched.com
P: +27 76 172 5329
Date, 15 July 2023To whom it may concern:
I have had the privilege to have 2 Individual coaching journeys with Willem Van Der Walt over the last year and a half and both have brought incredible value to my personal life and my professional life.I have experienced amazing growth in both of these journeys and reached many of my desired outcomes. As in sessions, Willem works with you to be able to unpack a topic and find the root course and work through it by finding understanding and the answers we already have within.Some of the befits I have been able to achieve from my catching session with Willem have been, finding solutions and understanding to difficult life challenges I have faced and being able to effectively work with these now.
Through Willem’s coaching techniques, and tool kits and by challenging myself out of my comfort zone as well as learning to be kinder to myself when working through challenges. I have been able to build my confidence and trust in myself which has been a major benefit that I have gotten out of coaching.
Two further befits that Willem coached me in was improving my effectiveness in the way I listen in a team and in a conversation, to really understand what is being said and being able to playback what I have heard. Then learning how to ask for help and support when needed and knowing now that it is okay to ask for help.Willem is incredible in the questions he asks and the way he positions these questions to help you find the answers and solutions to get to the desired outcomes. He has an amazing way of challenging your way of thinking and old mindsets to find better more effective ways of looking at and taking on something.
With every session, Willem brings great energy and just makes you feel so comfortable to get started with every session. He is always calm and professional in every session and offers incredible support on this journey, always ensuring you have what you need to get the most out of your session and beyond.I have yet to have a coaching session with Willem where I have not left feeling “Wow, I don’t know that about myself” or motivated and better equipped to take on that challenge I was facing. I would highly recommend coaching to anyone seeking to grow and working towards building the best version of themselves, and differently having Willem as your coach to see the best results!
Sincerely,
Joshua Adair
Lead Brand Manager
Pieter, Janse van Rensburg
I have benefited greatly in terms of how Willem prepares for and approaches team coaching, in that Willem has always supported the flow of any conversation, although there were clear rails created against which the team worked, and were guided towards based on what we contracted around for the various sessions. I
have experienced that in most cases it allowed us to step into and grow in the areas were we unsure of, the topics at hand, and the tools presented that we could learn and leverage, instead of being facilitated to such an extent that it is merely listening to, and asking, instead of learning by example.This approach allowed us to grow as individuals in the team, and as teammates, because we could struggle through some of the difficulties we faces, together, being reminded of what we have, and how best to apply it. Opportunities were created, in a facilitated manner, in which we could work as a team, as buddies and as individuals (where it was required to grow first) and that benefit has taught us how in future we could look for and create our own, or just use what is presented in the moment, to deliver the value we have formed the team for.
Willem, as a coach, always acted professionally, prepared and with a very keen sense of where we are and what we may need to contract around for us to move forward. His style and approach varied as we progressed, but always remained with the goal in sight, ensuring that our time together was never wasted
and always lead to some insight, learning or breakthrough.Pieter Janse van Rensburg
CTO
TTLM Barlow, Scaled Agile Specialist, Capitec Bank
I met Willem on a journey of self-discovery, both on a personal and career level, this was about 2019. I was a jnr Scrum Master with experience of looking after about 3 teams at most. Having him a Coach was an awesome experience that boosted how I viewed myself, problems around me and understood and used my strengths to my advantage. He is gifted creating focus, as I am often a bit all over the show.
He has an awesome memory retention and focus ability that helped came through and observes in how he guided all dimensions of conversations I would bring to the table to unpack and have you feeling heard and understood. I particularly benefited at learning how to navigate all that I initially categories as uncomfortable to confront as he taught me techniques for how to gain better and perspectives. His Agility knowledge blended with his excellent coaching abilities left me as an employee with more skills and better value to add within Capitec.
As a mentor I learned so much from Willem, from being able to Structure presentation content, numerous approaches to designing and delivering learning experiences, Coaching Techniques. I am today in a space when I can coach, train, and mentor Teams due to all the Coaching and Mentoring I’ve has had with Willem. My Favorite and most fond memories would be when I witnessed him Coach and Mentor Team, as I got to experience him in a similar environment I worked within, navigating problems and situations I would need navigate as well.
The first and most obvious thing that was affected by Willem’s Coaching was an increase in my self-confidence. His style of clarifying and navigating the layers and walk me through understanding and unlocking what would be at play left a long lasting effect of understanding self which resulted in deeper self-awareness, which can only lead to continues self-improvement and comfortability also in doing so. When you know yourself and understand your whys, that’s a good place to be.
Visibly and undeniably improved work performance, relationship management both personal and work and communication skills.
Thank you Willem.
I know words could never express my gratitude. I continue to spread the results of your awesome work and in doing as my way of paying it back.
Duration of work together (May 2020 – June 2022)
During the time that Will worked with the team, he enabled us to adapt our way of work when designing and developing leadership development organisational projects. There were numerous benefits for the team, ranging from a better awareness of other team members workload, leading to better prioritising of work coming into the system. For me personally we began to shift from a group of specialists that focussed on each of our projects. We became a team that collectively prioritised and then together completed high priority tasks.
Will coached the team from an informational and systems perspective, i.e. understanding the Agile methodology and the JIRA platform. His depth of knowledge and experience, coupled with his understanding of adult learning facilitated the success of the adoption of the Agile methodology. His approach to working with the team was also transformational, as he raised our awareness of practices and behaviours which we blind spots and habits formed over the years. This was a major contributor to the ongoing adoption of the new way of delivery of the project.
Warm regards,
Liezl Cromwell
Leadership Specialist | People Development | Professional Coach | Organisational Effectiveness
Herewith my feedback for our Journey as promised, I hope this helps you, as much as it has helped me:
I took into the journey the Desire to become an established senior developer within 5 years. I identified the following skills to acquire during my journey as I believe these would aid me in my journey.
From my journey I would like to unlock the following skillset within myself:
- The ability to identify when I am stuck and how to become unstuck.
- The ability to accurately estimate time certain tasks will take to complete (And how to improve on it).
- The ability to clearly communicate with and unite teammates and co-workers in working toward a common goal.
- When do I know that things are shifting for me, and how do I realign what has shifted to the goals and outcomes of my organization.
I believe with the above as a foundation, I will be able to further build and grow, with my organisations support, towards my goal!
I have also aligned my inputs into the journey into outcomes that aligns with myself as well as the organisation I belong to.
My inputs into outcomes.
- Achieve long term goals.
- Achieve short term goal based on small steps that speaks to long term goals.
- The Passion for my coding career.
The business needs/opportunities
- Touch as many lives as possible (through technology or not)
- Sharing knowledge and internal growth.
Below is a breakdown of each session I have had with Willem on an individual level:
Session No.1
An alignment session to identify what coaching is and how I can use it to achieve my goals.
Session No.2
Another alignment session to acquire tools to further investigate myself and find out what I need from my coaching journey
Session No.3
An alignment session on what the next steps are now that I have identified what I require from coaching, now that I have identified what my intended outcome from this journey is.
Session No.4
A session with Willem, and my sponsors to present and align my intended outcomes for my journey as well as invite their inputs and commitments for this journey.
Session No.5
What have I Learnt?
I have learnt a great deal of myself, I have learnt that I know the answers to the questions I ask, I just have to dig within myself to find them.
I have learnt that the gateway to my heart is the gut and that I should trust my gut more often.
I have learnt that my body has been telling what to do when I am stuck, and I need to listen to myself when I am stuck. My body has been telling me take action when I am stuck and that is how I will become unstuck.
What has shifted for me?
I realised that I value experience more than I value knowledge. My confidence stems from my experience in certain domains, and to gain experience I need to take action.
How I intend on using what has shifted for me?
I intend to take action when I realise I am stuck by listening to myself. I will take action and that in turn will increase my experience so that I can carry more confidence going forward!
Session No.6
What have I Learnt?
I have learnt a great deal of myself once again. I learnt that I should not be afraid of things shifting and find it within myself to not shoot myself down when things shift, and I fail at it.
What has shifted for me?
I realised that it is okay to sometimes fail at things, it is normal and part of the learning curve.
How I intend on using what has shifted for me?
I intend to take on more things when things start shifting for me, as well as take on more things even if nothing has shifted as taking on some more things might cause things to shift and that will be okay!
Session No.7
What have I Learnt?
I have learnt that the best and most thriving team is a team that self organizes. That I should not impose my strategy upon the team but rather allow the team to self-organize towards the goal!
I have also learnt how to position a request for assistance in a way that aligns the task with the greater good of the team.What has shifted for me?
I realized that it is okay for a team to self-organize and not have a single leader as in some situations certain leader qualities will show up in different individuals. This is actually the most efficient and effective way for the team to proceed.
How I intend on using what has shifted for me?
I will strive to set an example on how to implement this within the teams.
Session No.8 and 9
What have I Learnt?
I have learnt that it is not always possible to exactly estimate the time a given task will take me without lining up dependencies beforehand, the accuracy of the time taken on the actual work to be done can be gauged by experience as time progresses. I can improve the time an actual task takes me by intentionally reflecting on past experiences and identifying areas that need to be improved.
My reflection on session 4 is what led me to work with session 5 (How do I identify when past experiences are holding me back or limiting beliefs.) I have learnt that past experiences that do not feed in to my passion is what tends to hold me back!
What has shifted for me?
I have realized that estimating the exact time a task will take is not possible however a tolerance window can be deduced when task dependencies are aligned with the work. I have also learnt that past experiences that feed into my passion I should take with me
How I intend on using what has shifted for me?
I will use this to lessen the pressure on the team as well as myself when delivering estimates as I will be able to estimate the time a task might take with an acceptable tolerance and be able to identify when a system has the potential to hold me back!
In summary with every coaching session, I have learnt something about myself and how I can use what has shifted for me going forward, this in turn excelled me in not only my career but my personal life as well.
The journey for me went from me trying to identify steppingstones for my career into steppingstones for my life. It has immensely aided in my new way of Being.
Kind Regards
Edmundo October Software Engineer
Good morning Willem,
D.E, Elizabeth Rantie. From Pattern Matched Technologies.
The coaching journey has been one of the most fruitful experiences in my life. As someone who was experiencing this for the first time, I can confidently say that I am beyond blessed to have come across Willem as my coach, although the coaching journey was specific to my growth in the organisation, you provided a platform for me to be able to utilise this in my personal life overall.The person I have become and through your skills have molded me in knowing how to be accountable, be confident, focus and believe in myself and I cannot be any more grateful than I am to have been coached by you Willem. My work now shows those skills that I have learnt, I am able to show up and make a difference in my workplace.
I wish you nothing but the best in your career, please continue to make a difference in people’s lives like you have with mine.
M K Matshidiso Ntsie. From Pattern Matched Technologies
I had 15 sessions of coaching, each were 90min on the below dates:
1, 8, 15, 22, 29 March; 3, 12, 17, 24 April; 3, 10, 15, 24, 30 May; 5 June
The coaching that I have attended with Willem has been beneficial in both my home and work life.
We covered a vast number of topics, such as how to have a contrastive difficult conversation, how to lead with integrity, how to give constructive feedback based on a current situation, just to name a few. But I want to share the most influential topic, which to this day I implement and that
is being coached on being accountable.I have known what accountability was but what this coaching has taught me is HOW to be accountable. An accountable employee, an accountable leader, an accountable mother and wife. The ability to implement the 5 questions that teaches accountability has resulted in successful goal execution, there is actual order and a systematic way in ways of work. I will forever be grateful for all that Willem has done for me. I am a better person.
WHC, Warren Henry Clarke, Pattern Matched Technologies
Coaching has had a profound impact on me and how I see the world and how I analyses the interactions between various people and myself. Through coaching I have become more self-aware, I have learned a lot about myself and how to reliably deliver positive outcomes in various situations and how to engage people better by using strategies and techniques that I have learnt in coaching.I am able to explore and talk more openly about my feelings and actions and come to a better understanding on how to achieve a solution or pave a way forward in a difficult situation. Coaching has been extremely beneficial to me and to the organisation. I have enhanced my skill set, learnt new
things and become more resilient.Willem is awesome. He shows genuine care and concern for people which helped build a trust relationship for me. The deep level of listening and the way Willem can sense changes or shifts in people is extraordinary. This always made me believe that Willem was on the journey with me and 100% committed to getting to a better version of myself. Willem has the ability to connect with others in a way that’s free of judgment and to see the perspective of another person.
He asks a lot of probing and open-ended questions that make you think a great deal and helped me identify my strengths, open up, and share more. The way he encourages and give feedback was positive and motivating for me as well. I always left a session feeling confident about myself with a buzz in my stomach. Willem also communicates with clarity and transparency which gains the trust of others and ensures that everyone is clear on expectations. The regular check ins, reflections and feedback cycles are brilliant. I also have to mention the great stories, analogies and references that he uses.