The Scrum Master's Guide to Effective Influence

TL;DR

If you want to increase your influence on your team, stop pushing your 'products' (ideas, methods, solutions) onto your 'customers' (your team).

Instead, understand their needs, tailor your approach to suit those needs, and, most importantly, grow your skills to provide the right guidance and support.

Today’s topic is sales related.

Sales???

Yes, that’s a big part of the Scrum Master role.

I want to show the difference between traditional sales tactics to an empathetic, client-centric approach and how it relates to the Scrum Master role.

The Hard-Sellers

As a Scrum Master, you can easily fall into the trap of behaving like traditional salespeople. And who likes those guys, right?

Traditional salespeople tend to 'hard sell' their ideas, forcefully pushing them onto their clients.

This approach can quickly morph a Scrum Master into an imposing figure rather than an enabling one.

The focus shifts from team development to asserting the Scrum Master's ideas, which is not the essence of Agile methodology.

The motivation for this behavior is simple:

that scary feeling that I as a Scrum Master don’t produce enough positive change - the very reason I was hired for.

Simply put:

I focus on my goal achievement and forget about the team's needs.

Just like the traditional sales approach might produce short-term results but is unlikely to foster a healthy, creative, and open team environment in the long run.

Your team members might feel unheard, their ideas suppressed, and their problems overlooked.

Consequently, this could lead to a decline in team performance and morale over time.

The Magic Pill - You Don’t Need

Imagine walking into a pharmacy feeling under the weather. The pharmacist rushes over to you, not giving you a moment to speak.

"You need this flu medicine," he exclaims, waving a box of medication in front of your face. "It's the best in the market. I've sold it to hundreds of customers this week!"

Before you have a chance to protest, the pharmacist is off again, now holding a high-priced bottle of vitamins.

"While you're at it, you should add these vitamins to your diet! They're excellent for boosting your immune system and preventing you from getting sick!"

Still trying to get a word in, you attempt to explain that you're just having allergies, not the flu, and you already have a trusted brand of vitamins. But the pharmacist is already onto the next hard sell - a premium brand of cough syrup that you don't need.

This scene sounds absurd, right? That's because it is!

A good pharmacist, like a good Scrum Master, listens before they prescribe.

They can't provide the right medicine without understanding the symptoms first.

Have you encountered someone that resembles our 'hard-sell' pharmacist? How has that impacted your relationship with that person?

The Magic Pill - Your Team Doesn’t Need

Suppose a Scrum Master, like the overzealous pharmacist, tries to hard sell a new software tool to the team.

"It's the best on the market!" he says, "All the leading tech firms are using it! It will solve all our problems!"

However, he hasn't considered whether this tool is relevant to the team's project or even compatible with the current systems.

Next, he brings in a new Agile methodology, let's say "Mob Programming".

"It will revolutionize our workflow," he assures the team.

Yet, he hasn't taken the time to understand whether this style of programming will suit the team's dynamic, or if it will disrupt and slow down their existing processes.

Lastly, the Scrum Master decides to rearrange the team's workspace in an 'open office' style, ignoring the team's concerns about noise, distractions, and lack of privacy.

He insists that "it will encourage collaboration!" while overlooking the potential drawbacks.

In each of these cases, the Scrum Master is acting like the pharmacist trying to sell cough syrup to someone with an allergy. He is pushing solutions without fully understanding the team's needs and issues, leading to potentially unsuitable or irrelevant changes.

These two scenes illustrate how absurd a hard-sell approach can be when empathy and understanding are needed.

The Impactful Scrum Master

Now, envision a Scrum Master taking the role of a pharmacist – an expert who focuses on understanding the needs and issues of their customers.

This Scrum Master first asks, "How do you feel?" and "What do you need?".

She focuses on comprehending the team's pain points, challenges, and needs before suggesting any solutions.

This approach is centered around active listening and empathy.

A Scrum Master, much like a pharmacist, is a provider who fosters an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their concerns, issues, and ideas. And at the same time, she has a lot of potential solutions in the back.

When we adopt this approach, we focus on nurturing the team's growth and development.

We don't merely enforce our ideas but, instead, provide solutions tailored to the team's specific needs.

We recognize that if we lack the necessary solution, it's time to upskill and seek further training.

So, before you bring out the cough syrup, make sure your team isn't just dealing with an allergy!

Mastering the Art of Persuasion and Positive Influence

To truly influence a team positively, a Scrum Master needs to understand the art of persuasion.

Persuasion isn't about convincing others to accept your ideas but creating a dialogue that leads to the best possible solution.

It's about fostering a culture of open conversation and mutual learning.

Your chances to influence increase by:

1. Listening Actively:
   It is crucial to understand the team's needs, challenges, and perspectives. Active listening helps in building trust and rapport with the team.
   

2. Being Empathetic:
   Empathy helps in understanding the underlying emotions and motivations of the team. It helps to relate to the team's perspective and provide suitable solutions.
   

3. Communicating Effectively:
   What resonates most with the team? Communicating ideas clearly and persuasively ensures that the team understands the rationale and the benefits for them. And it takes them out of negative interpretations of yet another crazy Scrum Master idea.
   

4. Encouraging Feedback:
   Foster an environment where feedback is encouraged and valued. It helps in improving processes and creating a healthy team culture.
   

5. Continuously Learning:
   A continuous learning mindset is contagious. What the team witnesses from you, they are much more likely to adopt for themselves. So show that you invest in your own growth and that you also want to learn from the team.

By mastering these skills, you will transition from a traditional sales approach to a more consultative and empathetic approach, improving your effectiveness and fostering a more harmonious team environment.