As a Scrum Master, a significant part of your task is to manage the emotional state of your team, remove barriers in the current sprint, anticipate upcoming challenges and get resources lined up to tackle them, and keep the Agile Ceremonies moving. All of this is critical to maintain proper flow and to keep up the morale of the team. But there are plenty of things that can present as barriers to the cheer and calm of the Scrum Master.
Not all companies are large enough (or committed to Agile enough) to have dedicated Agile teams. Team members go from their work on Agile teams to supporting operational tasks and even working on multiple other projects. Each time these individuals leave, they can return with attitudes or behaviors that do not support the team. In fact, where the organizational culture is counter-Agile, team members can be downright disruptive within your team. As the scrum master, you will spend a lot of your energy to foster productive sharing and open communications, and there will be individuals who need to be guided and re-guided with each sprint (especially where the individual has been absent from the team for a spell). It will be extremely frustrating to feel as if your work is being undone over and over and over. But here is where it is key to the team’s success that you find ways to manage your own emotional state.
Learn from the old masters. You don’t have to become a Buddhist or a yoga master, but take a peek at what has made these folks so successfully relaxed and calm. Most libraries have audio books and other free sources of meditation, mindfullness and yoga practice guides. These practices are adaptive to your level and require little or no space. Their techniques have been proven over the centuries. Exercise, breathing techniques, meditation and stretching are all fabulously energizing and will build your tolerance of difficult situations by helping you manage your physiological reaction to stress.
In addition to remaining calm, you will want to build your repertoire of stress and conflict-management tools. Mindfullness practices (and psychological therapeutic techniques, etc) can help you to adjust your perspective. You may look anew at the situation with more empathy, more silence (calmly listening instead of attempting to quickly interject your influence), and more understanding. Communities can help you to keep your perspective optimized for the betterment of your team. Good coaches, Agile forums, extracurricular groups, sporting diversions, or time with good friends can all provide you with a refreshing change and a fresh start when you return to work.
Build your support network, be creative in your problem-solving within the team, and take comfort in doing the best job you can. Do your homework. Read industry white papers, attend discussions with other Agile professionals, get all of the help and information you can. Take courses on logic, conflict management, communication, etc. The more insights you arm yourself with, the better you will be able to help your team.
Not all situations are manageable. When the situation becomes one where your behaviors no longer have any impact and it’s spiraling out of control, make sure that you prioritize your health and find a better environment to work. All organizations involve people, and we are a challenging bunch. If you learn to love a challenge and you allow yourself the time to learn from challenges, then the scrum master role may be just what you are looking for. Enjoy it. Relish that you can help people to achieve so much more than would otherwise have been possible!
Keep breathing (Slowly. A count of 4 in, 4 out. Repeat)
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For a reference to a person I’ve found to be meditative and calming, try looking up Pema Chödrön. Not all of her teaching will suit those who (like myself) don’t follow the full sweep of the Buddhist teachings. But her calming tone, her thoughtful recommendations, peaceful demeanor and quirky sense of humor is entertaining and somewhat addictive. Also of interest to those who enjoy self-help courses: try “A life of Happiness and Fulfillment” (find it on coursera.org). The ALOHAF course runs a few times each year. When I participated, the class size was around 75,000 students, and it was among the top MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses) available.
If you have found any great resources, let me know. I’d love to hear about them.