Karen Bruns, PCC

Karen Bruns is CEO of Monarch Coaching & Training, LLC, serving organizations with professional coaching and training in both the public and private sectors. She is currently serving as a professional coach and trainer for IT Solutions, has professional coaching clients, and leads a coaching community of excellence for her clients.

Karen has a rich history working in Agile and has been called a Rebel Evangelist for inviting, rather than mandating, Agile. She has a natural passion for Agile and the power of transformation the journey can hold. Transformation is not a destination; it truly is a journey and we are all continuously evolving. Karen is a practitioner of servant leadership, not servant beatership©. This mindset blended very well when Karen's professional coach training began. She has been heralded for inviting clients to grow in ways suitable for them.

Karen has devoted her career to building cohesive teams by using Belbin Assessments and the Oz Principles of Accountability for her Scrum teams.

Volunteer Experience:

Organizing Committee Team Member for Agile Games West
Organizing Committee Team Member for Agile Open NorCal Conference
Emergent Agile Retreats
Scrum Alliance Program Advisory Team & Review Section Co-Leader of both Scrum Mastering and Coaching tracks for the Denver Global Gathering

History:

Served as a Scrum Master, Mentor of Scrum Masters, Product Owner, Mentor of Product Owners, Scrum Coach, Agile Coach, and Corporate Trainer of Agile Scrum, Kanban, and Scaled Agile practices for multiple California government agencies
Coached middle and executive leadership groups
Instructed HR Team Coaches to become Agile HR Organizations

Certifications:

International Coach Federation (Level 2 PCC Professional Certified Coach)
Scrum Alliance Certified Agile Coach (Level CTC)
Scrum Alliance Certified Agile Leader 1 (CAL1)
Certified ICAgile Instructor
Certified Trainer of Training from the BACK of the Room (both in person and virtual)
Certified Scrum Professional (CSP)
Scrum Alliance Advanced-Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO)
Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Advanced-Certified Scrum Master (A-CSM)
Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
ICAgile Agile Certified Coach (ICP-ACC)
ICAgile Certified Agile Team Facilitator (ICP-ATF)
ICAgile Certified Agile Human Resources (ICP-AHR)
ICAgile Certified Agility in the Enterprise (ICP-ENT)
Certified Facilitator of Open Space Technologies

Guest Speaker Appearances:

Global Scrum gatherings for Scrum Alliance (Barcelona, Vienna)
Fidelity Investment's Westlake Agilists
Silicon Valley Agile Meetup
Sac Valley Agile Meetup
Bay Area Agile Leadership Network
Agile Games West
Open Space Forums
Agile Camp Dallas
Scrum Alliance's Scrum Mastery Conference
Romania Scrum User Group
Aginext/London
Denver Global Gathering Scrum Alliance Agile Games

Robert Lessenger

Robert Lessenger started with Monarch Coaching & Training, LLC first as a Scrum Master, and is now a co-trainer of our Human Resources in an Agile Organization course. He provides an empathic, thought-provoking approach to meeting people where they are. Robert believes that everyone is whole and complete. He is passionate about helping people reconnect with themselves in creative and positive ways. Robert enjoys giving back to the communities he is involved in and places heavy importance on serving the BIPOC community

Volunteer Experience:

Organizing Committee Member for Agile for Humanity Conference 2022
Agile Games West
Emergent Agile Retreats

History:

Served as a Scrum Master
Is an Agile Certified Coach

Certifications:

In progress - International Coach Federation (Level ACC)
Certified ICAgile Instructor
Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
ICAgile Agile Certified Coach (ICP-ACC)
ICAgile Certified Agile Team Facilitator (ICP-ATF)
ICAgile Certified Agile Human Resources (ICP-AHR)
Kanban Team Practitioner

Our Story

“Instead of putting people onto a performance and improvement plan because they don't meet our expectations, instead, let's spend time finding out what is keeping people from reaching their full potential and help them get there.”

~Karen Bruns

Monarch Coaching & Training believes in empowering organizations to approach people and work in non-traditional ways.

Understanding how important people are in an organization, was the impetus for founding Monarch Agile. Understanding that coaching people involves systems, was the reason for rebranding to Monarch Coaching & Training. Our company loves Agile, but we are more about the people's growth because we have found that individual and team growth results in the growth of a company.

The journey to becoming an Agile organization is a game. With a group of professional Agile Coaches and Agile Trainers dedicated to invitational Agile and Open Space Agility, Monarch guides organizations by inviting teams to begin, or restart, the journey that makes sense for people. When the journey belongs to the people, then the adoption that is right for them is the one that is right for the organization; and when allowed to play the game, adoption comes naturally.

If we do not consider what happens to the human as we consider what happens to the process, then the organization is missing out on amazing evolution.

At Monarch, we make sure that people are cared for, that they co-create the rules of the game, and all are invited to play.

Karen Bruns, PCC

Robert Lessenger

Our Story

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