• Agile Transformation

Do we actually need coaches and counselors in 2026?

In 2025, LinkedIn was full of blogs proclaiming that Agile is dead. Regardless of what I think about that and what I wrote about it before, including in our campaign What is your next level? I noticed something else. More and more I was getting signals that not only organizations, but also organizational consultants need to reinvent themselves. What needs to change in 2026 to remain a valuable agile coach advisor even in this brand new year?

The common thread in many of these conversations is clear: the consultant may be more transparent, take more of a position and fall less into “you ask, we turn. Yes, you can solve problems quickly as a consultant, but the real question is whether you are thereby increasing the organization’s ability to learn.

That is exactly where it chafes. Models and standard approaches often take center stage, while the unruly reality of the organization becomes secondary. A program is rolled out that is correct in theory, but fails to land adequately in practice. This raises an uncomfortable question: do organizational consultants and Agile Coaches still add value, or are we mainly maintaining our own profession?

Dirty nag

Recently I heard entrepreneur and sustainability ambassador Ruud Koornstra dissect the word advisor into “dirty” and “nag. A play on words, but a sharp one. Through his glasses, I see a sharp mirror for our profession. Too often we get stuck in analysis, process and nuance, while these times call for direction, guts and real choices. Not yet another model, session or report, but ownership for impact: what do we actually solve today and what do we consciously not dare to do anymore? This requires us to step out of the safe role of facilitator and commit to results that matter. Sustainable, social and visible. Less talk about change, more show what you yourself stand for.

In this regard, organizational consulting is allowed to be quite abrasive. Indeed, it is strange if it does not. People have to let go, try new ways of working, sometimes something fails or the pace turns out to be too fast. Meanwhile, the store remains open during renovations, finances may be under pressure and there is little room for practice. That is precisely where craftsmanship shows itself: not by smoothing it out, but by making it manageable together.

The gold of the coach advisor

Finally, and this applies to coaches, consultants and really any professional: keep developing yourself. That is your gold. You can’t keep raking in what you once learned or what worked before. Renew yourself. I do that myself by making a conscious decision every year to choose a training or coaching program. With two adolescents at home and a company that is transforming from a training agency to an organizational consulting firm, there is always plenty to learn. And besides: I am still very young.

On to a year in which agility really lives and organizational consulting is where it’s meant to be: independent, focused on increasing learning capacity and of value in daily work to improve, renew and ease. How are you going to tackle 2026? And what will you develop? I would love to hear from you.