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Does anyone have any tips on working in scrum teams which are multicultural?

Last post 01:00 pm July 7, 2022 by Chuck Suscheck
3 replies
12:32 pm July 6, 2022

We have a large team with different cultures/backgrounds so have several cultural differences and work styles. Does anyone have any tips on how as a scrum master we can support and help the team to find commonalities and build trust? I have tried running working agreement sessions but still coming across some barriers and of course it takes time. 

Thanks all

 


04:00 pm July 6, 2022

Hello Katherine,

In my opinion, this is not necesarily a "scrum" issue but I can understand how it can impact a scrum team. I think your best ally is the company's culture and mindset. As a scrum master, you should try to stay neutral to this and always put the common ground forward (the project, its scope, teamwork, etc...) and provide tools to facilitate their work. As a crum master, it's also your responsibility to cause change in behaviors that do not benefit the team or the project.

You can find helpful tips here :

https://www.scrum.org/forum/scrum-forum/41207/when-one-development-team-member-not-getting-along-other-development-team#:~:text=Scrum%20Forum-,When%20one%20development%20team%20member%20is%20not%20getting,the%20other%20development%20team%20members&text=In%20Scrum%2C%20team%20members%20are,the%20necessary%20changes%20in%20behavior.


04:15 pm July 6, 2022

Where are they in regard to having joint Sprint commitments?


01:00 pm July 7, 2022

Transparency is your friend, but a tough friend.  If you can carefully craft a way to put this issue at the feet of the team and have them be open and helpful - that's your best bet.  Hold them responsible for solving the problem but, as a "crum" master, your responsibility is making issues visible to them that they can solve and solving issues that are out of their control (generally).

BTW I like the typo crum master.  Maybe we should all be crumb masters that give people crumbs of solutions rather than solving issues and use a bread trail of crumbs to point north.


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