How can team performance be improved?
Many Scrum Masters only scratch the surface here. They introduce Sprint Plannings and Retrospectives, but it doesn't seem to have a real impact on the team's performance.
But what has a demonstrably positive impact on better team performance? What are the levers we can pull as Scrum Masters that actually work? And when I say "actually," I mean scientifically proven. Today, I want to introduce three of these levers to you. I have formulated them into three concrete tips so that you can use them immediately.
Let's get started:
Tip 1: Prevent Team Conflicts
Do conflicts promote team performance?
Source Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash
I remember several refinement sessions. In these, the developers pleaded more than just passionately for preferring their solution over another. Therefore, I long held the view that a small conflict could be an engine to promote performance or perhaps even innovation in the team. I am not alone in this opinion. A look at the literature of the last 25 years shows that the assumption has increasingly taken hold that relationship conflicts harm team effectiveness. Task conflicts—meaning differences regarding the subject matter — can, however, be quite beneficial for team efficiency.
I was all the more surprised by this study: The organizational psychologists De Dreu from the University of Amsterdam and Weingart from Carnegie Mellon University examined the influence of task and relationship conflicts on team performance and satisfaction in their meta-analysis. The result astonished them as well. Their work shows that both task and relationship conflicts have negative effects on team performance and satisfaction. With this, they refuted the common opinion that task conflicts in the work of teams could be helpful.
How do we handle this insight as Scrum Masters?
Conflicts can only be prevented if we recognize them early. Once accusations and angry words start flying, it is almost inevitable that the team will break apart. And that ends up costing companies dearly. Employees want to leave teams, call in sick, or leave the company entirely. All of this ultimately causes costs for the company that could have been avoided. That much is certain.
That is why I try to identify conflicts early. A helpful model for this is Friedrich Glasl’s stages of conflict escalation:
- Stage 1: Hardening
- Stage 2: Debate and Polarization
- Stage 3: Actions instead of Words
- Stage 4: Concern for Image
- Stage 5: Loss of Face
- Stage 6: Threat Strategies
- Stage 7: Limited Destructive Blows
- Stage 8: Fragmentation
- Stage 9: Together into the Abyss
Every single stage is accompanied by a decreasing possibility of self-control — and the conflict escalates further and further.
Do you want to improve team performance?
Pay close attention to whether arguments are constantly repeated. Also watch for discussions becoming increasingly emotional and individual team members noticeably distancing themselves from one another. Crossed arms, avoiding eye contact, sighing, or a slightly irritated tone of voice can also be indicators. If you recognize these signs, you are called upon as a Scrum Master.
Tip 2: Promote Autonomy
Self-management is often ridiculed outside the Scrum community.
As Scrum Masters, however, we should not let this deter us in our work. Because this way of working has been proven to represent a lever for better team performance.
The occupational and organizational psychologists Buvik and Tkalich published a study on this in 2021. Based on survey data from 236 team members from 43 software development teams in Norway, the study shows that autonomy promotes psychological safety in teams, which in turn has positive effects on team reflexivity and team performance.
In the study, autonomy is defined as follows: The team can freely decide how it wants to do the work. This definition aligns with the definition of self-management in the Scrum Guide:
„Scrum Teams are cross-functional, meaning the members have all the skills necessary to create value each Sprint. They are also self-managing, meaning they internally decide who does what, when, and how."
Here are some examples of what you can look out for if you want to promote self-management in the team:
- In Sprint Planning, the Developers select the items from the Product Backlog. No one fills the Sprint Backlog before Sprint Planning. Not the Product Owner. Not the Scrum Master. No one.
- The Sprint Backlog is in the hands of the Developers. Only the Developers are allowed to create, change, or delete tasks.
- The separation of responsibility between Product Owner and Developers helps to make decisions faster. This responsibility should be understood by everyone.
Do you want to promote team performance?
Then help the team to manage the work themselves. This degree of autonomy can have long-term positive effects on team performance.
Tip 3: Promote an Agile Mindset
Last year, I interviewed the organizational psychologist Dr. Karen Eilers. Karen researches the agile mindset, whereby the agile mindset describes a person's positive attitude regarding:
- Learning orientation
- Collaborative exchange
- Customer co-creation
- Self-leadership
In the interview, Karen revealed to me: She was able to prove that the agile mindset does not only exist. She could also confirm that it has a positive effect on productivity. This means: The more agile the mindset of individual team members is, the more productive the Scrum Team is. Promoting an agile mindset in the team is therefore worthwhile for Scrum Masters who want to improve team performance.
How can we as Scrum Masters promote the agile mindset?
I asked Karen this question as well, and the answer astonished me. At first, it even sounds paradoxical. Karen advised me: If I want to develop the agile mindset in others, I can only do so by developing my own agile mindset and—here comes the decisive insight—making my personal development observable in the process.
Specifically, she gave me this tip: Make your personal development visible through regular reflection. For example, by asking the team to give you feedback on the four areas that make up the agile mindset. And then you share with the team which improvements were easy for you and what you are still struggling with.
By doing this, I promote the agile mindset in the team and actively help as a Scrum Master to improve the team's performance.
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