It has been 4 weeks since I undertook this role of being a full-time Scrum Master for a Product team, technically 2 weeks since I have officially stepped into the role facilitating the Scrum events, and my mind has been running the “how to be a better Scrum Master/how to leas my team well” process asynchronously since lol. Also like a sponge of ideas that takes in cues from what I read and what I see in my environment, connecting the dots from what I have learned in the past. Lightbulbs here and there. A happy problem to have I guess! And yes I am not complaining at all. In fact I have dreamed of passion and work colliding, and I believe I have finally found that sweet spot. (I hope I can say the same in the months and years to come!)
That said, allow me to share my first round of insights as I reflected on my experience the past weeks. Especially the beautiful paradox of the no-inherent-authority-servant-leadership aspect of being a Scrum Master. Also the beautiful story of hope and grace embedded into Scrum, if I were to romanticize it. (Will expound on this in a separate post)
At the heart of being a Scrum Master is servant leadership, among others. For other positions in management, one can probably get away without practicing this kind of leadership, but for the Scrum Master, it’s a MUST. See, the Scrum Master does not have inherent authority or power at all. Not by position or authority at least. Which means by default, to become a great Scrum Master one has to lead by influence, no other way. In John Maxwell’s Levels of Leadership, this puts you automatically in Level 2: Relationship-based Leadership, since you cannot rely on your title/positional power to lead. (Actually between Level 2 and Level 4 Empowerment-Based Leadership even!) In Jim Collins’ Levels of Leadership, this becomes a big leap to Level 4, Level 5 even! (Now that I think about it, the Level 5 leadership qualities that Jim Collins’ mention can also be said to be qualities of a great Scrum Master)
By virtue of this alone, one can see why Scrum will not work in the typical mold of command-and-control type of management, or why not letting go of this authoritarian style will keep an organization from reaping the best of Scrum. The beauty and challenge for a Scrum Master is that you have to steer the team to be self-managing—to undergo a major paradigm shift from being told what to do, to autonomously do things themselves, experiment and evolve as people and professionals.
Here we can see why Scrum Master in some ways require not just servant leadership but transformational leadership, especially for an organization and team which has been so used to traditional ways and still need guidance to be able to break free so to speak. And yes I know this is not easy, not at all. This can be scary for most people where command-and-control is a safety net, both for leaders and members alike.
If you ask me though, I believe there is no better way to adapt in this fast-changing business landscape but to evolve this way—to tap into the core strengths of each individual and unleash their full potential and the organization as well. Yes it is going to be one heck of a challenging ride, this job I am in, and I know it might take years before we even see the fruit of our efforts. But I know too that it is going to be rewarding in the long run, seeing people come out of their shell and shine, step out of themselves and become a great team. Since I believe that this is best way to move forward, that we are in the right direction, I can have unwavering faith in the endgame despite the brutal facts, quoting Jim Collins’ Stockdale Paradox.
Quoting from Amy Edmondson’s “Teaming” book, “Whereas industrialization essentially infantilized workers, the knowledge-
based economy only works well when it restores workers on all levels to self-respecting, self-determining adulthood.” This, I believe is the power of Scrum, and the heart of a Scrum Master.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
Hebrews 11:1
