Reblogged with permission from Jem D'jelal, the original author of this content, as a contributor to blogagility.com. Originally published on LinkedIn April 15, 2017.
Jem D’jelal Coaching individuals & teams to find “better” ways of working.
I know how difficult your role can be, trying to help people find better ways of working.
After all, it’s likely you took on this role because you believe in the potential & positive intent of humans.
Cultivating the workplace with the “right” conditions can bring out the best in individuals & teams.
This is one of your beliefs.
Yet time & time again, this belief is being challenged.
Dysfunction after dysfunction is reflected back to the team.
And you’re sure that people are having those special “aha” moments.
Collaborating before we implement work helps reduce the chances of building the wrong thing.
Considering bottle necks before we pull in new work helps our partially done work at the end of the sprint.
Sharing all of the work we do, planned & unplanned helps us empirically understand where we’re spending our effort.
Yet when you come to the end of the sprint, the old behaviours come back out to play.
Multiply this experience a few times & frustration begins to build & your belief that every human has the potential to be great is questioned.
So where are you right now?
How would you say you perceive a team or a certain individual today in the workplace?
Would you say you’re in a useful mental space or has your frustration got in the way?
Got Relapse expectation?
Your frustration will be stronger if you expect people to not fall back into their reflexes.
No matter how compelling the dysfunction maybe, helping people change their habits is a complex thing, people, will at times; revert back to what they know.
“What if backsliding is a natural & necessary part of the change process?” Glenda Eoyang
If you can remember anything you’ve tried to change for yourself, quitting a bad habit, taking up a new “good” one – you may remember relapsing?
Did you find the people who were supportive – without shaming you or questioning your personal character – to be useful, did it help you try again?
So often ScrumMasters may allow their frustration to get the better of them & may make the mistake of writing an individual off.
“Dave’s just an idiot, the guy knows why he shouldn’t be pulling in cards but keeps doing it “.
“That Lisa is really p*ssing me off by telling Rich to take in cards which are not part of the sprint”.
“We said we was pairing on these cards but she’s gone away & done them all herself, so selfish”.
Resilience.
To be able to spring back up after something goes wrong, to be able to stay mindful of your thoughts when someone has p*ssed you off – no matter how “good” your advice was – the antidote to frustration is resilience.
A great ScrumMaster is able to keep perspective & conscious of their own feelings when people inevitably fall back into old habits.
It would be crazy to think that we can’t let bad thoughts come to our head, the question is how do we respond (as opposed to reacting) to these thoughts?
It begins with creating awareness of your thoughts & feelings – to be able to see the thought coming in & then make a conscious decision as to how you decide to act on the thought.
Mindfulness is one practice I’ve used to develop the skill of seeing thoughts when they pop up in situations where people have fallen back into old habits.
One trick I was taught was to add the pre-fix of “my mind said” to the thought which arrives in. This allows me to see the thought separate to myself, it allows me to observe it & see it which in turn helps me ground myself & become more useful in my approach to the challenge.
Responding & not reacting is what I believe to be important to developing greater resilience.
The aim is to keep springing back up without hurting people in the process.
Springing back up is to remain useful, supportive & willing to try again.
Because like you, I believe that people, when given the right conditions & are supported well enough – they can reach their potential.
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