Scrum Master’s Exposé, or how not to start working with a team
Recall or imagine the following situation: you are a member of the team in which a new boss, coordinator, manager or consultant is appointed — the person who will influence your work on a daily basis. What would you like to hear from her/him at the first meeting? What would you like to feel after it ends? What are you afraid of as a team member in such a situation?
I have gone through this process many times myself and I have had many discussions about it, and in almost all cases I have heard one set of responses:
- I’d like to hear that he/she won’t interfere with the way I work.
- I’d like to be sure that there will be no revolution.
- I’m afraid that I will be judged on the way I work.
If you agree with those statements, while being on the other side, why do you assume that the best solution is to show power, control over everything, or approach “Now I’m in charge here and I’ll show you how to do it”?
“I know better” — entering the team with this approach may evoke thoughts “well, now he will probably try to tell us how to work”. Instead, I suggest that you tell the team, “You are specialists and you know what you are doing. I hope I can help you.”
“Everything has to be changed” — it will cause fear and panic of the coming revolution. A revolution is a sudden and enormous change, and yet we are supposed to introduce stabilization and be an agent of change, but through evolution. Evolutionary Change is slow, thoughtful and measurable. Therefore, I suggest: “You have your own ways of working and I will not interfere. I hope I will be able to help.”
“What matters to me is…” — it causes fear of being judged by new criteria. It makes people afraid that the new set of rules and expectations will be difficult to meet. Fear is not good because it always leads to destabilization. Again, I propose to assure the team with the words “I would like to know the rules that prevail here and I am not going to change them. If something is not working as it should, we will slowly fix it. I hope that I will be able to help.”
Remember that the phrases like “It is important to me…”, “I will especially appreciate…” or “I will pay most attention to…” are read like an evaluation and measures. Such measures affect the behavior and are useful, but not when joining a new organization or a team. We don’t know what’s going on inside it and there is a better chance of breaking something than fixing.
To sum up, I have 4 hints for you:
- You can only make a good first impression once, so don’t underestimate it and make an exposé as a separate meeting. This is an important moment.
- Get ready! Write a script, record your speech to correct it, prepare flashcards — whatever works. It is very risky to approach this speech without a plan.
- Check how you would feel as a team member before and after such an exposé. Peaceful? That’s good.
- The change of Scrum Master/leader/manager/coordinator itself is stressful enough. The exposé is to calm down the team — there will be time later to introduce changes.
