TO DO
Mr. Yamazaki is a muay thai coach. He used to fight as a pro. Now he works at a gym in Tokyo for amateur and semi-pro fighters. Several times a week, Mr. Yamazaki welcomes new joiners to the gym and gives them their first lesson, 1 on 1.
Mr. Yamazaki's goal? That his students get closer to theirs.
How he knows he's doing a good job? He checks who's coming back.
Mr. Yamazaki always starts the lesson with a warm-up. If he did not do that, students may get hurt. Mr. Yamazaki has noticed that students who get hurt on their first lesson don't come back.
Then, he goes on to teaching some basic moves. The students first exercise in front of the mirror, then they hit the pads he holds for them. If he started with difficult moves, students would fail at replicating them. Mr. Yamazaki has noticed that students who fail at replicating moves on their first day don't come back.
Whenever they do something remotely well, Mr. Yamazaki congratulates them. As for all those things they don't do well; he does not picks them up - yet. Mr. Yamazaki has noticed that students who don't think they have what it takes to be somewhat good at muay thai some day don't come back.
Mr. Yamazaki has also noticed that bored students don't come back. So if a student is particularly fit, coordinated or demonstrates the grit of a future national champion, he increases the level of difficulty.
Mr. Yamazaki smiles almost the whole time. He also cracks a joke every now and then to make sure the lesson keeps a light touch. Mr. Yamazaki has noticed that students who are not having a good time while at the gym don't come back.
While the new joiners are having their first private lesson with Mr. Yamazaki, the more experienced fighters are nearby, hitting the sandbags, sparring, or lifting heavy weights. During breaks, the new joiners are watching. Mr. Yamazaki has noticed that students who cannot formulate what their goal is don't come back. Watching more accomplished athletes help them do just that.
Mr. Yamazaki has welcomed hundreds of new students to his gym over the years. Nowadays, the vast majority of his students come back to his gym after the first lesson.
Just like Mr. Yamazaki, we have to create meaningful, engaging, fun and safe First-Time Agile Practitioner Experiences. These will be very different depending on your mentees' needs, on whether you're dealing with "innovators" (e.g the very first team at a big old-school corp) or laggards, etc. But this usually includes: