Self-organising teams is one of the keys to Agile success but experienced developers who are used to working in a ‘command and control’ environment may find it difficult to adopt this Agile practice; they are used to being told what to do and sometime how to do it.

Instead of asking the Project Manager (PM) what to next, a developer needs to look at the Team Board and choose what to do next; instead of asking the PM how to do something, he/she should consult their peers on the development team; if no one knows, that is an impediment and the Team should discuss how to resolve the issue.  The Scrum Master, as the Risks and Issues Manager, can help the team decide how to resolve the problem but should not be expected to solve it for them.

The main coaching techniques that a Scrum Master can use to help the team become more self-organising are

• Powerful Questions – are used by a coach to extract more details about a problem or situation; making the inquirers articulate their answer often organises their thoughts so that they start to answer their own questions.

Powerful Questions are open questions ie they cannot have a yes or no answer; they usually start with ‘who’, ‘why’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘how’ or ‘where’; they may also start with statements such as ‘Tell me about …’.

Reflecting a statement back to an individual can help prompt further exploration; for example, “You said you were worried about the quality of the product so far … tell me more”. 

For more information about Powerful Questions, SEE Coaching with NLP.

• Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose – One way for a Scrum Master to help with self-organisation is to look at the Team members’ motivation.  People who rely on outside influences for their motivation, so-called extrinsic motivation, are far less effective than those that are self-motivating, so-called intrinsic motivation.

To foster the intrinsic motivation, we need to examine the following aspects of individuals and the Team:

• Autonomy – We all have an INNER-drive to satisfy our psychological needs; if what we are told what to do is not satisfying our inner drive, then we become demotivated.

Giving individuals and teams more control of what to do, when and how to do it, motivates them more.

Also, if individual Team members identify with their team (their tribe) the team becomes more autonomous and self-directing.

• Mastery – Do not expect individuals or Teams to master Scrum straight out of the training course.  Mastery comes from small steps from what they know now to the goal of Mastery; you possibly know of the problems associated with ‘big-bang’ implementations; the same is true with ‘big-bang’ Mastery.

As a Scrum Master you should discover what the Team members know now and ask them to have a go at something small but significant in Scrum and give them the space and time to experiment on their own to work out how to do it.

Most people want to do better; by helping individuals and Teams toward Mastery leads to greater Team self-organisation.

• Purpose – People and Teams who understand and buy-in to why they are doing their work are much more motivated than those who come to work just to pay the bills and do not care about the work.

Whenever possible, involve the Team in the early stages of product development; let them hear the discussions about forming the Product Vision and Objectives; let them have an input to the Product Backlog ordering.

For more about Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose see Drive by David Pink and Intrinsic Motivation by Richard Ryan and EDWARD Deci

• Active Listening – To help you gain trust with individuals and Teams, as a Scrum Master you need to use Active Listening techniques to show that you care, understand and are prepared to help them.  The following are the techniques that some coaches use; there are others:

Pay Attention

Give the speaker your undivided attention and show that you are hearing the message; your non-verbal communication, body language, can help the speaker feel comfortable.

• Look directly at the speaker
• Do not be distracted by other thoughts
• Do not mentally prepare a response to one thing the speaker has said; you will not be listening to what he/she is saying now
• Observe your own and the speaker's body language
•  Show That You're Listening

Use your own body language and gestures to show that you are engaged.

• Nod occasionally
• Smile
• Make your posture open and interested
• Encourage the speaker to continue with small verbal comments like yes and OK
• Provide Feedback

Your own assumptions, judgments, and beliefs can ‘distort’ what you hear.  As a LISTENER, your role is to understand what is being said; this may that you have to ask questions to clarify what is being said.

• Paraphrase what has been said; for example, "What I'm hearing is... " or "Sounds like you are saying... "

• Ask questions to clarify certain points; for example, "What do you mean when you say... " or "Is this what you mean?"
• Summarize the speaker's comments periodically.

•  Defer Judgement

• Interrupting a speaker is a waste of time; it is frustrating for the speaker and reduces understanding of the message.

• Ask the speaker if he/she has finished a point and if it is OK to ask a question at this time Respond Appropriately

• Do not ‘attack’ the speaker; show respect and understanding of the speaker’s position. You are gaining information and perspective. 

• Be candid, open and honest in your response

• Assert your opinions respectfully.