Scrum Master, adopt your leadership.

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done and his aim is fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher

Abstract illustration representing leadership in an agile environment

The leadership of a Scrum Master is unique compared to traditional management roles. A Scrum Master uses servant leadership rather than command and control to guide and facilitate.

The role of the Scrum Master has different facets. For further details, I invite you to refer to the Scrum Guide. Below, you will find a non-exhaustive list of principles and responsibilities:

• Relay the product owner’s vision of the product

• Recentre activities and decisions on added value for the customer

• Animate, support, and protect the team

• Remove obstacles and create trust

• Optimise communication

• Promote the autonomy, responsibility, adaptation, and learning of team members

• Manage interfaces with other actors in the organisation

This leadership and availability promote innovation. The Scrum Master influences, stimulates and generates creativity, allowing team members to have ideas and make proposals in a protective framework.

In short, a Scrum Master’s leadership is less about hierarchical authority and more about encouraging and empowering the team to be effective and autonomous.

I remember when I had my first leadership role for a small team. During their annual appraisals, I was very anxious about remembering all that had happened during the year. To keep track of everyone’s progress, I used a notepad and made a red mark whenever I thought something was not good enough and a green mark when I thought it was extraordinary.

That was not the most human way to behave, and fortunately, I have changed since, and I would give direct, fair feedback rather than wait for the appraisal.

For a Scrum Master looking to self-assess their leadership style, the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum is a fitting and freely available tool. This model helps leaders determine how much autonomy they give their teams and how directive or participative they are in their leadership approach.

The Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum is a model of leadership styles that demonstrates a range of roles a leader can take in decision-making, from authoritarian to democratic. Developed by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt in 1958, this model proposes that the leadership style is contingent upon various factors, including the manager’s personal background, the qualities of subordinates, and the organisational environment.

Here is a breakdown of the Continuum:

1. **Manager Makes the Decision and Announces It**: This is the most autocratic style on the Continuum. The leader makes decisions unilaterally without seeking input from team members.

2. **Manager “Sells” the Decision**: The leader still makes the decision alone but attempts to gain commitment by persuading team members that the decision is to their advantage.

3. **Manager Presents Ideas and Invites Questions**: The leader presents a decision or a plan and invites questions and discussion, which helps team members understand the rationale behind the decision.

4. **Manager presents a Tentative Decision Subject to Change**: Here, the leader still needs to finalise the decision and remains open to suggestions and feedback from the team.

5. **Manager Presents the Problem, Gets Suggestions, Then Makes the Decision**: The leader outlines the problem, gets input from the team, and then makes the decision based on this feedback.

6. **Manager Defines Limits; Asks Group to Make Decision**: The leader sets the parameters and boundaries within which the team must operate and leaves the decision-making process up to the team.

7. **Manager Permits Subordinates to Function within Limits Defined by a Superior**: This is the most democratic style on the Continuum. The leader allows the team to operate autonomously and make decisions within the confines of a broader strategic framework.

This Continuum shows that leadership style can be fluid and adaptable, and influential leaders can move along this Continuum as per the situation's needs, the task at hand, and the maturity and capability of their team members. In the context of Agile and Scrum, a Scrum Master might lean towards the more democratic end of the Continuum, promoting team autonomy and self-organisation while also providing guidance and boundaries as needed.

The Continuum ranges from authoritarian (the manager makes all decisions) to democratic (the team makes decisions within prescribed limits), with varying degrees of delegated freedom. It aligns well with the Scrum Master role, which requires balancing guidance with team autonomy.

While the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum itself is a conceptual model and does not come with a ready-to-use questionnaire, you can reflect on the following questions to assess where you might fall on the Continuum:

1. When a decision is needed, do I tend to make it on my own, or do I seek the team’s input?
2. How comfortable am I with allowing the team to make decisions related to their work?
3. Do I often find myself telling the team what to do, or do I facilitate discussions that lead to the team coming up with their solutions?
4. When the team faces obstacles, is my first instinct to step in and solve the problem, or do I encourage the team to find a resolution?
5. In times of high pressure, do I take control or trust the team to perform?
6. How do I react when the team makes a decision that I disagree with? Do I intervene, or do I respect their autonomy?

Reflecting on these questions gives you a sense of where you fall on the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Leadership Continuum.

For a more structured self-assessment, Agile-specific tools and quizzes are available online to assess leadership style within the context of Agile and Scrum principles. A quick search with terms like “Agile leadership style quiz” or “Scrum Master self-assessment” in your preferred search engine should yield some free options to explore. These tools assess your alignment with Agile values and principles, which is critical for a Scrum Master.

Remember, the goal of such an assessment is to provide insights into your leadership tendencies and to help you become more adaptable and responsive to the needs of your team and the demands of the Agile environment.