A couple was traveling on a long flight with their 14-week-old twins. At home before the flight, knowing that some passengers react negatively to crying babies, the couple wrote a little letter asking forgiveness from the babies' point of view and made a few dozen copies. They attached each copy of the letter to a bag of candy and handed one out to every passenger on the flight. The couple even brought enough earplugs for all passengers in case the babies decided to cry. This couple was thoughtful enough to consider those around them, preemptively identifying the potential negative reactions of the other passengers and creatively coming up with a way to soften the harshness of reaction to crying and wailing. Writing this note, as if it came from the babies, was also a great way of personalizing the situation, creating an image of little babies who just want to be nice to you. I found this story to be a great example of everyday...
What is everyday leadership? It's a person's day-to-day attitude, communication style, and actions that influence others. You can lead others little by little, bit by bit—sometimes without them realizing you are leading them at all. As an everyday leader, you are in tune with yourself, calling on unique talents and traits to lead your team. Your leadership style will be different from mine, which will be different from all of our colleagues and so on. You can create your own unique ScrumMaster leadership style by practicing and focusing on self-improvement. You influence others by building great teams, and sometimes by flexing your corporate muscle.
So much has been written about the ideal leader—his characteristics, behavior, how he must imprint upon us the desire and passion for success. We hear stories about Jack Welch, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs, and Ronald Reagan, who touch us with their words and inspire us to be better, do better, surpass...
I've met people in my career I can instantly classify into a certain personality type: she's a bulldozer, he's a cloud-thinker, she's an emotional vampire, he goes for shock value, and so on. We categorize others automatically, sometimes without even knowing it as it helps shape our response and communication. Ever notice the shift in communication styles and personalities when the CEO walks into the team room; people sit up a little straighter, talk with more meaning and direction, and appear busier all of a sudden. Effective leaders recognize personality styles in others, as well as in themselves, and use this information to shape the ways in which they interact and lead.
I'm sure you've seen the Myers-Briggs and Jung, and Kiersey models that focus on some aspect of extraversion/introversion, sense/intuition, think/feel, and judge/perceive. A basic knowledge of your type can help you figure out why you may react a certain way in certain circumstances...
As a ScrumMaster, you must show that you support experimentation and learning. To do this, you must approach a team with an attitude of trust. Let the team try. Give them everything they need to be successful. Protect them from the rest of the organization so that they can experience the motivating result of finishing features in a sprint. Run interference for them in case of interruptions by someone from outside the team. Show them that you can be trusted by not causing injury—that is, protect the team and demonstrate that you are protecting them, either by removing obstacles or stopping interruption in its tracks. Say no. Speak up, especially if the team members cannot. Make the work you do to resolve issues for the team visible to the team. They will soon learn that you are in their corner.
I've heard from time to time that a ScrumMaster is just a facilitator, or just a coach. I disagree; rather, I feel that the ScrumMaster must have business sense, communication skills, tact, and political savvy in order to have the slightest chance at a successful transition.
The perfect ScrumMaster would probably have advanced degrees in engineering, business, sociology, education, and in psychology, and have worked as change agent and manager of projects with different degrees of uncertainty in different industries and sectors, and would have the energy of a teenager, the spirit of a sport champion and the wisdom of a crowd of experts.
– Dr. Rafael E. Landaeta, Old Dominion University
By now you understand the scope of the ScrumMasters's responsibilities as Ken and Jeff intended. This might be overwhelming, so first realize that not all changes are revolutions. You can implement change in baby steps simply by implementing...
A ScrumMaster must speak and listen effectively, and all of us have a communication style. Let's examine a few communication styles and explore the potential impact to your team.
Are you the person in the room with the loudest mouth? You know the type: a big belly laugh or a loud "What the ?!" lets you know when you're in the middle of an overpowering, loud communicator. Everything about this person is at maximum decibels and in your face; she makes sure that you hear her. While effective in that everyone can hear what she has to say, the trouble is that not everyone knows if they're being heard in return. This can cause people to shut down and just let the loud communicator run the show.
Perhaps you're at the other extreme: the team can barely hear you in a meeting. You talk with your head down, hand covering your mouth, mumbling something. Everyone leans in to hear what you're saying. Eventually, you become invisible; the meeting runs off the rails...
Maybe we're very proactive, and the team knows that they can count on us. Maybe we're not very knowledgeable about a topic and thus lose credibility. Let's explore some additional attributes that will help you develop your ScrumMaster style and become a better everyday leader.
Proactivity means that you think ahead in order to plan an approach or anticipate a response or set of actions. Proactivity was wonderfully displayed in the note that the twin babies on the plane wrote in order to gain sensitivity and an overall better experience for everyone. A team will know when you're proactive: maybe the sprint planning meeting was exquisitely set up so that all the team members had to do was think and do their very best at planning. Perhaps it is Pratesh's birthday next week, so you reserve a table at the restaurant down the street for the whole team. Maybe you research some Agile testing tools to bring up at the retrospective for team...
I put together the following ScrumMaster personas as a way for you to think about the strengths and weaknesses of each. Maybe you can identify with one of them. Think about the advantages and disadvantages of each style; perhaps by doing so you'll find some items to add to your personal improvement backlog.
Techie Taj has dual responsibilities: he is the lead Java engineer and has also been asked to play the role of the ScrumMaster. He is very smart and loves to speak his mind and give his opinion. As he is busy with technical tasks, Taj rarely gets to work on the impediment backlog for the team, which is full of organizational issues because the company is new at doing Scrum. Other managers often interrupt the team and they aren't doing too well at meeting their sprint commitments as a result. Taj tries to correct this by telling them how to implement the features and to work later hours. His aggressive, schedule-crashing ways are causing the...
As ScrumMaster, you must possess self-awareness and an understanding of how others perceive you. This feedback, coupled with a relentless pursuit of improvement, will ensure that you'll find your own ScrumMaster leadership style to become an effective everyday leader.
You must have a laser-sharp focus on how you communicate, cultivate trust, and display courage and honesty. Every meeting or interaction with a team or a group of stakeholders provides an opportunity for you to grow. You first task is to create a strong team. A strong team with success stories can greatly influence the rest of the organization, as we will discuss in the next chapter.
Ben-Shahar, Tal. Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. 2007, McGraw-Hill.
Bolton, Robert. People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts. 1979, Simon and Schuster.
Covey, Stephen M.R. The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything. 2006, Free Press.
De Bono, Edward. The Six Thinking Hats. MICA Management Resources, Inc. 1985, 1999.
Weeks, Dudley. The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution. 1992, Putnam.
Some great leadership frameworks here: http://www.mindtools.com.
Learn more about Myers-Briggs at http://www.myersbriggs.org.
Difference between vanity and ego: http://geniuscatalyst.com/tipofthedaydb_print.php.
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