The Scrum Master as the Leader of the Future
The role of the Scrum Master is frequently unappreciated. In this article, I argue that in the Scrum Master we get a glimpse of the leader of the future
I recently had a discussion with my Scrum Team about what the Scrum Master actually does. The discussion started when, after months of trying to get the point across, I rather more forcefully than usual explained that no, Scrum Masters are not there to remove impediments, and no, facilitating a meeting does not mean functioning like an extended computer mouse and keyboard to manage Jira during the Scrum events.
“What are you here for, then?”, someone asked.
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I had done a workshop with them a few weeks earlier where I used the “8 stances of the Scrum Master”, from Barry Overeem’s famous article:
During the workshop, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the team quoted sections of the Scrum Guide at me. For example, those describing the role of the Scrum Master. I interpreted the blank faces I got when I introduced the 8 stances as a reaction to how obvious they are.
But standing there weeks later, thinking about the strangeness of the question “What are you here for, then?”, I realised that those blank faces had been expressions of perplexity. The 8 stances were simply too much for them to handle and the information just didn’t register.
I had encountered this kind of reaction before, but usually outside the team. My way of dealing with it had always been to focus on the challenge of growing teams into high-performance teams. I always thought the results would shine as a beacon of light to motivate the doubters to join in. It would carry us over the threshold, if not into an Agile utopia, at least a shared understanding of the potentials of Agile. What person would not want to be fully motivated in their work? What manager would not want to have their people delivering “twice the work in half the time”?
A huge miscalculation on my part, as time and again I would run into an inexplicable and impassable wall and my Agile ambitions would fail miserably. I would try increasingly elaborate ways to present my case: statistics, historical analysis, hard evidence, questionnaires, anything I could find. All very rational and to me, utterly convincing. But I would eventually always run into those blank faces of impregnable perplexity.
It took me a while to realise that people across an organisation, including those highest in the hierarchy, often suffer from the same fear of change and the unknown as the people in the teams. In fact, often more so, having had the experience of command and control from the commanding side.
And that fear is tricky to spot. Blank faces and silence are some of the things to look out for. They are like a defence mechanism, comparable to the ostrich sticking its head in the sand.
This has led me to conclude that the success of any Agile transition depends on not only getting our leaders on board, but more importantly, helping the whole organisation realise how fundamental the change involved is.
In essence, leadership has to realise that you cannot create Agile using the tools of our current systems. You cannot buy Agile. You cannot design it. You cannot create a process for it. The only way to achieve it is to get fully involved and help shape it, guide it, encourage it. You have to use the new Agile tools of values and principles, shared vision, servant leadership and a growth mindset.
This brings me back to the 8 stances of a Scrum Master. I would say that they summarise very well the qualities necessary to wield the new Agile tools. And this logically leads me to entertain a bold conclusion: that it is those undervalued and often unnoticed Scrum Masters who are actually the fittest to become the new kind of leaders we are looking for. By the very definition of their work, Scrum Masters are the natural leaders of Agile. Even the Scrum Guide indicates this:
Scrum Masters are true leaders who serve the Scrum Team and the larger organization.
Think about the way Scrum Masters operate:
They do not leave any stone unturned to support their teams.
They are usually multiskilled, often moving into the role of Scrum Master from other professions linked to the teams they work with.
They excel in the people skills which are essential for Agile.
They are active at all levels of the organisation and are continuously tested at getting things done.
They are usually not driven by ambition to become managers but by the idea of helping their teams.
Because of their lack of authority, they are experts at using real leadership skills to achieve results.
Because change takes time, they have huge amounts of patience.
Because change takes time, they are also masters of the long-term strategic vision. They see things over longer timespans, both backwards and forwards in time.
Because of the systemic nature of working with Scrum, they are experienced in analysing deep causes and keeping a broad outlook.
Need I continue? It seems obvious that in our Scrum Masters we have a growing pool of perfectly qualified people, gradually accumulating skills and experience and ready to take up the challenge.
What are they waiting for, you may ask? I think that may be the wrong thing to ask. Scrum Masters are already being the best Agile leaders they can be. It is just that in our current organisations their full potential is simply not recognised. They often remain sequestered to the team.
The way it usually works is that if you are ambitious you become a manager and rise up the hierarchy. The higher you get the more authority you get to make change possible. However, the downside is you also lose touch with what is going on.
I think consultancy illustrates this. This is the one avenue Scrum Masters have to further their careers. But in that role, consultants find themselves limited to the higher levels of the hierarchy and lose their impact at the team level.
Putting it bluntly, Scrum Masters are tremendously ambitious, but their ambition is not to become managers, to replace our current leaders. No, we want to change the way we work, the way the system works. And we do that at the place where it matters, the work floor, the teams, where value is created. It is my opinion that it is at the team level that all Agile transitions succeed or fail.
So maybe what Scrum Masters are really waiting for is the recognition of our value, an invitation to break out of the teams and deploy that value at all levels of the organisation. Give us the mandate, and we will happily coach our managers to become Agile leaders too!
Speaking for myself, the pleasure I get from seeing my colleagues bloom in their work, really enjoy their work, is something I wish for anyone. Being able to help my managers to realise the same ideal is all the motivation I would need.
That is the Agile way. Being a Scrum Master is not just a job, it is a conviction that stands above established ways of working. Our purpose is to see the growth mindset bloom in all our colleagues, including managers. We are here to change the world!