Why is Coaching Beneficial for Scrum Teams?

Knowledge workers, particularly Scrum Teams, who are constantly navigating change and being challenged to innovate, can often benefit from the guidance of an external, professional coach.

Scrum Masters often take the role of a coach with their teams. However any member of the Scrum Team can use coaching skills informally or organically to help the team improve its effectiveness.  Examples include:

• Using coaching skills during the Scrum Events - any team member can use coaching skills to help the team use their knowledge and experience to determine next steps
  • Sprint Planning - ask powerful questions to help the team determine how the work for the Sprint is going to be done.  
  • Daily Scrum - use active listening to uncover what challenges may not be expressly articulated during the Daily
  • Sprint Retrospective - use normalizing when the team is facing challenges in working together. It may be important for them to understand that they are not the only team to face these challenges. 
  • Sprint Review - use reframing to encourage stakeholders to consider a new perspective 
• Using a combination of coaching skills to manage the complexity around collaborating or communicating within and outside of the team, particularly with building relationships with stakeholders