Discovering the “Servant” in Yourself"

Badri N Srinivasan, Agile CoachGreg Hutchings, Agile Coach

"

Jun 2012

Agenda"

v  Key Roles/Responsibilities of the ScrumMaster

v  Servant Leadership – Origin and Definition

v  Dimensions of Servant Leadership

v  Ten Characteristics of a Servant Leader

v  Servant Leadership - Checklist

Servant Leader

Scrum Master - Key Roles and Responsibilities"

Ò  What a ScrumMaster Does v  Ensure the team meets its sprint goal commitment through --

v  Facilitating the various sprint ceremonies v  Removing obstacles to team progress v  Helping the team understand what it means to self-organize around the work v  Try to keep everyone on the team fully engaged and productive v  Protect the team from outside influences v  Track the team’s progress v  Assist the team in getting from sprint planning to sprint retrospective

Ò  What a ScrumMaster Does Not Do v  No authority over the members of the Scrum team v  Does not function as the team’s manager

Ò  Relationship Between the ScrumMaster and the Team v  He leads with the team’s consent, who acts in the best interests of the team, and has an honest and real desire to

see the team succeed – Performs the role of a Servant Leader v  The team depends on the ScrumMaster to maintain focus on their commitments, shield them from outside

distractions, help them to self-organize and collaborate, and facilitate the resolution of disagreements that might arise among team members or with stakeholders.

v  ScrumMasters may not necessarily work on items in the sprint backlog. v  They serve the team, but also know that they must sometimes push the team beyond its comfort level in order

for the team to grow.

Ò  Source – Scrumpedia.com

Scrum Master - Role"

Ò The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted.

Ò Scrum Masters do this by ensuring that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum theory, practices and rules.

Ò The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team.

Source - Scrum Guide, Pg 6, Oct 2011

Scrum Master - Role"Ò  Scrum Master Service to the Development Team

Ò  The Scrum Master serves the Development Team in several ways, including:

v  Coaching the Development Team in self-organization and cross-functionality;

v  Teaching and leading the Development Team to create high-value products;

v  Removing impediments to the Development Team’s progress;

v  Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed; and,

v  Coaching the Development Team in organizational environments in which Scrum is not yet fully adopted and understood.

Source - Scrum Guide, Pg 7, Oct 2011

Servant Leadership - Origins"

375 B.C. Chanakya’s Arthashastra The [leader] shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects. The king [leader] shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects [followers]”. “The king [leader] is a paid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people.”

First Century A.D., Jesus of Nazareth But the greatest among you shall be your servant (Matthew 23:11); The one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. (Luke 22:26). Here I am among you as one who serves (Luke 22:27)

1970’s Robert K. Greenleaf The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.

600 B.C. Lao Tzu The greatest leader forgets himself and attends to the development of others. A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

Source – Ben Lichtenwalner

Servant Leadership - Definition"

Robert K Greenleaf never specifically defined Servant Leadership but based on the writ ings of Greenleaf and others, it can still be defined as – A management philosophy w h i c h i m p l i e s a comprehensive view of the quality of the People, work and community spirit Source: 1. Wikipedia 2. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness 25th Anniversary Edition, 2002 – Robert K Greenleaf

Servant Leadership - Dimensions"

Servant Leader (servant first)

Leader Servant (leader first)

Managerial Grid Model – Robert R Blake and Jane Mouton"

Servant Leader Model – James C Hunter"

Servant Leader – Ten Characteristics"

v Listening v Empathy v Healing v Awareness v Persuasion v Conceptualization v Foresight v Stewardship v Commitment to the Growth of

People v Building Community

Servant Leader Characteristics - Listening"

Scenario – Team Velocity - What is the velocity for your team

Listening Scrum Master Focus Communication Skills and the competence to make decisions Very Important attribute for the role Verbal Retrospectives Daily Scrum (Daily Standup) Listen actively to subordinates and support them in identifying decisions Body Language Pay attention to what remains unspoken in the management setting Information Radiators Are you ignoring what your velocity is telling you Is the whiteboard showing a water-scrum-fall project Does the task board tell you what you need to know (track acceptance of story points during the iteration)

Servant Leader Characteristics – Listening (Key Points)"

Servant Leader Characteristics - Empathy"

Scenario – Complexity and Hours 1 Story Point = 2 hrs, 5 Story Points = 10 hrs

Servant Leader Characteristics – Empathy (Key Points)"

Empathy Scrum Master Focus Attempt to understand and empathize with others People need to be respected and focus on their personal development

"The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.“ - John Buchan

Scenario – The team took about 3 days to build a simple UI screen. How do we discuss this issue…..

Servant Leader Characteristics - Healing"

Healing Scrum Master Focus Ability to heal one’s self and others One of the most difficult attributes of the Role Typically seen as a Line Managers Job If the issue is handled, then escalation may not be required to the superior authority Help people solve their problems and conflicts in relationships Encourage and support the personal development of individuals Outcome Business Culture that is fun, dynamic and free from the fear of failure

Servant Leader Characteristics – Healing (Key Points)"

Scenario – The team is focused on doing only its work and it is not focused on what the other project(s) are doing (with which it is integrating some components)….

Servant Leader Characteristics - Awareness"

Awareness Scrum Master Focus View situations from an integrated and holistic position Based on - Improve General Awareness Improve Self Awareness Leads to – Improved understanding of ethics and Values Outcome - Aim to increase the awareness at all levels of the project so that the awareness among the team members is increased

Servant Leader Characteristics – Awareness (Key Points)"

Scenario – Team – Why should we meet daily for the “Daily Scrum”

Servant Leader Characteristics - Persuasion"

Servant Leader Characteristics – Persuasion (Key Points)"

Persuasion Scrum Master Focus Focus on convincing rather than coercion Based on - v  Trust v  Honesty v  Knowledge Not based on – v  Emotions v  Hierarchy in the Organization v  Power (Coercing compliance)

"People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.“ - Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt

Scenario – We are crunched for time. Skip unit tests. It will take more time and we can write the tests later.

Servant Leader Characteristics - Conceptualization"

Servant Leader Characteristics – Conceptualization (Key Points)"

Conceptualization Scrum Master Focus Thinking beyond day-to-day realities and focus on the long term goals v  The agile journey the Scrum Master

would like the team to follow and how he views the agile journey (Personal Vision)

v  Focus on the current process and eliminate unnecessary steps and derive specific goals and implementation strategies (e.g. using continuous integration to reduce integration issues and unit tests to improve the quality of the code being written for building a quality product)

Scenario – This story is big but we can do it. We sized it and we know how big it is.

Servant Leader Characteristics - Foresight"

Servant Leader Characteristics – Foresight (Key Points)"

Foresight Scrum Master Focus Ability to foresee the likely outcome of a situation Based on – v  Knowledge v  Insight v  Experience v  Ability to identify patterns

Leads to - v  Learning about the past to

understand the current reality

v  Identifying consequences about the future

v  Translat ing patterns to achieve outcomes

Servant Leader Characteristics - Stewardship"

Scenario – I will protect the team from impediments if the team listens to me and does what I say….

Servant Leader Characteristics – Stewardship (Key Points)"

Stewardship Scrum Master Focus v  Serving the Needs of the Team members v  Answers the Why of Servant Leadership v  The responsible overseeing and

protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving

v  Focus on Developing People

v  Focus on Trust v  Obligation to help and serve others v  Openness and Persuasion are more

important than control

“The first step to leadership is servant hood.“ - Robert Maxwell

Scenario – Create special interest groups in the organization, industry that lead to communities focusing on specific areas and which leads to overall growth…

Servant Leader Characteristics – Building Community"

Building Community Scrum Master Focus v  B u i l d i n g a s t r o n g

c o m m u n i t y i n t h e organization

v  D e v e l o p a t r u e community among the business (industry)

Leads to - v  Sustainable Growth v  Lays the foundation for

the future growth

Servant Leader Characteristics – Building Community (Key Points)"

Servant Leadership - Checklist"

v  Do team members believe that you want to hear their ideas and will value them? v  Does your team believe that you have a strong awareness of what is going on and

why? v  Does everyone follow your direction because they want to, as opposed to because

they “have to”? v  Do others on your team communicate their ideas and vision for the organization

when you are around? v  Do people believe that you are committed to helping them develop and grow? v  Do people come to you when the chips are down, or when something traumatic has

happened in their lives? v  Does everyone have confidence in your ability to anticipate the future and its

consequences? v  Does the team believe you are leading the organization to make a real difference in

the world? v  Do people believe that you are willing to sacrifice your own self-interest for the good

of the team? v  Does everyone feel a strong sense of community in the company you lead? Source - http://blog.startupprofessionals.com/2010/07/many-great-entrepreneurs-use-servant.html

Questions ??

badri.srinivasan@valtech.co.in greg.hutchings@valtech.fr

http://www.valtech.co.in http://www.valtech.fr