Job Description

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Position Title Sr Agile Coach
Function/Group
Digital and Technology
Location
Mumbai
Shift Timing
General
Role Reports to
Sr D&T Manager - Transformation and Portfolio Management
Remote/Hybrid/in-Office
Hybrid
ABOUT GENERAL MILLS
We make food the world loves: 100 brands. In 100 countries. Across six continents. With iconic brands like Cheerios, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Nature Valley, and Haagen-Dazs, we've been serving up food the world loves for 155 years (and counting). Each of our brands has a unique story to tell.
How we make our food is as important as the food we make. Our values are baked into our legacy and continue to accelerate
us into the future as an innovative force for good. General Mills was founded in 1866 when Cadwallader Washburn boldly bought the largest flour mill west of the Mississippi. That pioneering spirit lives on today through our leadership team who upholds a vision of relentless innovation while being a force for good. For more details check out
General Mills India Center (GIC) is our global capability center in Mumbai that works as an extension of our global organization delivering business value, service excellence and growth, while standing for good for our planet and people.
With our team of 1800+ professionals, we deliver superior value across the areas of Supply chain (SC) , Digital & Technology (D&T) Innovation, Technology & Quality (ITQ), Consumer and Market Intelligence (CMI), Sales Strategy & Intelligence (SSI) , Global Shared Services (GSS) , Finance Shared Services (FSS) and Human Resources Shared Services (HRSS).For more details check out
We advocate for advancing equity and inclusion to create more equitable workplaces and a better tomorrow.
JOB OVERVIEW
Function Overview
The Digital and Technology team at General Mills stands as the largest and foremost unit, dedicated to exploring the latest trends and innovations in technology while leading the adoption of cutting-edge technologies across the organization. Collaborating closely with global business teams, the focus is on understanding business models and identifying opportunities to leverage technology for increased efficiency and disruption. The team's expertise spans a wide range of areas, including AI/ML, Data Science, IoT, NLP, Cloud, Infrastructure, RPA and Automation, Digital Transformation, Cyber Security, Blockchain, SAP S4 HANA and Enterprise Architecture. The MillsWorks initiative embodies an agile@scale delivery model, where business and technology teams operate cohesively in pods with a unified mission to deliver value for the company. Employees working on significant technology projects are recognized as Digital Transformation change agents.
The team places a strong emphasis on service partnerships and employee engagement with a commitment to advancing equity and supporting communities. In fostering an inclusive culture, the team values individuals passionate about learning and growing with technology, exemplified by the "Work with Heart" philosophy, emphasizing results over facetime. Those intrigued by the prospect of contributing to the digital transformation journey of a Fortune 500 company are encouraged to explore more details about the function through the provided
Purpose of the role
The Digital and Technology team at General Mills executes a portfolio of projects leveraging multiple methodologies ranging from traditional to agile product management. We are looking for an experienced, passionate, outcome-oriented senior Agile Coach to contribute to the Global Digital Transformation initiative at General Mills.
The Sr Agile Coach supports Product Groups and Pods in understanding, providing advisory on best practice and applying standardized Ways of Working within the Product and Platform Operating Model to deliver on their backlogs. This involves understanding stakeholder requirements, close collab with PO, value stream senior teams, conducting interviews, coaching and assisting the implementation of agile practices, facilitating ceremonies, identifying and removing impediments and shielding Pods from external distractions. Agile Coaches promote a culture of collaboration and continuous learning by working closely with individuals, teams, and leaders across the organization to identify and remove roadblocks, promote best practices, and ensure the effective implementation of agile principles.
Candidate must have demonstrated excellence in a diverse mix from the following areas: Agile Mindset & Value, Scrum, SAFE, product management, coaching, design thinking, user experience, product design, team building, Lean, customer experience, training, and/or facilitation. This role will not have direct reports but shall be responsible for execution of work through their matrix pods.
Agile Coaches need to sense and respond to group situations, requiring exceptional listening, discernment, experience design, and
written and verbal communication skills. Our ideal hire has a diverse and ever-expanding toolkit of methods to get groups to shared understanding, possibly including: Product definition, developing personas, story mapping, product and team chartering, forming working agreements, visualizing work, product definition/discovery, wicked problem solving, appreciative inquiry, innovation games, or others. We welcome a diverse range of professional and educational backgrounds. and a deep understanding Sr Agile Coach is required to participate in strategic discussions at Value Stream and cross-Value Stream levels and demonstrate executive presence with strategic thought, clear expression of value drivers and key parameters.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Develop partnership and be a trusted advisor for Product Owners, value stream stakeholders and the wider D&T teams to help define their product, define personas, use cases, prioritize their backlog among others.
• Serve as embedded coach/leader to Product teams to educate and influence the adoption and scaling of Agile Delivery Model.
• Support Product Group leadership and teams on drafting of impactful and clear OKRs.
• Demonstrate executive presence - across people, technology and processes; building trust, transparency and measurable progress on strategic outcomes.
• Lead discussions to assess current agile maturity, evolving questionnaires and other mechanisms and identifying areas for improvement.
• Drive industry best practice through demonstrated expertise and knowledge of current and emerging Agile best practices.
• Facilitate workshops and training sessions to educate teams on agile principles, practices, and tools.
• Guide teams on effectively using agile ceremonies, such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives; ready to lead by example.
• Foster a culture where teams adopt and adapt agile practices to their specific needs and context, balanced with adherence to required standard ways of working.
• Track key Agile maturity metrics; lead glidepath towards sustained and increased maturity.
• Assist in identifying and addressing roadblocks and impediments that hinder team progress.
• Promote a culture of collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Participate or lead internal initiatives within D&T, collaborating with Agile Coaches and Practitioners, sharing experience and best practices.
• Involve in shaping the forecasting of resourcing, succession planning, resource allocation
• Manage and evolve operating rhythms, ensure governance and effective capabilities of the team

• Candidate should have overall 15+ yrs of experience along with the most recent 3+ years of relevant, demonstrable experience running a complex transformation initiative or strategic outcome with strong domain knowledge.
• Clear understanding of key Agile Delivery metrics - Velocity, Lead time, Cycle time, Burndowns etc. Why they matter and how to coach the team through it.
• Prior experience working with or as a product owner - experiencing with distilling strategy, crafting roadmaps, managing multiple layers of stakeholder expectations as well as team understanding of where the product is going and why.
• Demonstrated exceptional critical thinking, strategic planning and process management skills
• Experience of being in agile@scale execution environment with strong foundation of agile practices, frameworks such as SAFe, LESS etc. having implemented best practices.
• Ability to influence decision makers by demonstrating a keen understanding of what success looks like (across budget, people, strategic parameters, technology and adoption).
• Demonstrated collaborative leadership thru influence by focusing on the growth and development of people.
• Ability to build trust and rapport with individuals at various levels of the organization. Specifically, should be able to have a seat on the table for strategic decision making.
• Demonstrate strong presentation, facilitation and communication skills
• Ability to identify opportunities and challenges and support in discussing and resolving them.
• Strategic problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Ability to self-manage multiple, competing priorities and deliverables and provide coaching/mentorship to team members.
• Ability to coach multiple pods ensuring synergy from a Value Stream perspective.
• Demonstrated drive to successfully deliver high impact, high value project/product outcomes within project constraints
• Demonstrated ability to independently take on ambitious initiatives to drive clarity and detailed plans to advance teams toward outcomes.
• Willingness to work flexible/extended hours in collaboration with multiple time zones.
• Experience and willingness to contribute as needed on evolving projects/outcomes using multiple methodologies ranging from traditional to iterative to agile.

• Experience in consumer food industry considered a plus, especially in Supply Chain or Commercial functions.
• Familiarity with specific workflow tools such as Jira, Microsoft Azure DevOps, Confluence, etc.
• Base knowledge of agile scaling frameworks such as SAFe, LeSS, DAD, etc.
• Relevant Agile@Scale Coaching certification, such as Certified Team Coach (CTC) or ICAgile Certified Professional - Agile coaching (ICP-ACC)
• Works well collaboratively across functional team boundaries
• Ability to undertake financial/budget management, value analysis.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, complex and transforming environment.
• Understanding of budgets and cost measurement.