Scrum Masters are supposed to be devoid of office politics. Our job is to leverage team potential and provide value to the stakeholders but it’s a big swamp, just teaming with alligators. A Harvard Business Review study indicates, that avoiding hiring a toxic employee can save your company an average of $12,489. Why are we so ineffective at removing them? Unless they present cause for termination, a Scrum Master has very few options. You can try coaching, and hopefully, they will self-correct. Everyone loves a bad boy until you have to work with them.
Author: Mark Haynes, https://dmarkhaynesconsulting.godaddysites.com/
When coaching fails, you may need a direct approach. Here is a cast of bad boys and girls and a few thoughts on how to play with them.
Scenario: Sneaky Pete
The manager’s favorite Scrum Master has stolen your idea. Your creative idea is shot down at a staff meeting. Due to group consensus, implementing it is not politically expedient. After a few months, it was repackaged and presented as his own.
The Harvester
There are many varieties of Harvesters: casual, opportunistic feeders, sanctioned ones, or managers. Ideas are commodities, and stealing is part of the cost of doing business. These are parasites who feed off of a collaborative work environment. Why share ideas only to be stolen by others? People will attend to their self-interest as the team transitions back to a group of individuals.
Some convince themselves it was their idea. That’s called cryptomnesia and is done subconsciously. Remind them who the originator was. If done by a manager, discuss the impact of this anti-pattern, or maybe stop providing ideas. Is this Standard Operating Procedure for your Manager? Consider your response.
Tactical Response:
One: Just let it go. The easiest way to implement an idea is to not worry about who gets the credit. You had your moment in the sun, but now it’s gone.
Two: Vigorously defend your brain-child, only to watch it die. When resurrected, did you sabotage it out of spite or neglect? You can always take credit for it on your resume.
Three: Never present partially thought-out ideas to this group. You know how they are. Prepare an elevator pitch in writing. Brand it as your own. Stealing it is now called plagiarism. Be prepared to defend it. You have one shot to sell it. Make it good.
Take away:
Trust is vital for a collaborative work environment. Scrum Masters need to build a safe space for their team. Stealing ideas is common practice, but this behavior will fracture your team.
Do you have a Team Working Agreement? Consider adding, “We as a team will not engage in disparaging comments when discussing alternatives and recognize the originator of new solutions.” This helps build a climate of fairness and trust.
Scenario: I’m here to help
The project is well established. The team has brainstormed complex issues and has achieved a group consensus. A middle manager from another group enters stage left, throws the fire bomb, and leaves shortly after the arguments, and finger-pointing starts.
The Fire Starter
The Fire Starter is an agent of Chaos. “Get Smart”, you need to neutralize them quickly. Arsonists love starting fires because chaos presents opportunities. Did that firebomb come with a side order of agenda or only the precarious thrill of leaving a path of destruction?
It’s devasting when done by someone of influence. Do they feel justified in helping the team consider overlooked issues? Ones already considered. Or was the lesson “always consult with them first?” More cynically, was it to observe the fall-out as the team disintegrated? Maybe it was born out of ego, or to destroy your team’s productivity.
Motivations don’t matter. Unchecked, it will crash the Sprint, destroy the team’s velocity, and demoralize the team. Why bother committing to finishing User Stories when it’s a meaningless gesture?
Tactical Response:
One: Do nothing. Watch the Sprint crash as people rehash all their old arguments with their favorite alternative solutions.
Two: Isolate the significant issues and focus the conversation on resolving those. Your velocity will take a big hit. Is your Product Owner on board with completely realigning the Sprint?
Three: Salvage the Sprint. You have a set of prioritized User Stories established by the Product Owner the team has committed to. Ignore their concern and bring it up during the next Sprint. Take the political fallout if things don’t run smoothly.
Take away
This is a well-used tactic for disrupting the workflow. Does your Team Working Agreement address crashing a Sprint midstream? Coach the casual Chaos agent on the impact of this anti-pattern. Try channeling their hostility or jealousy to more productive approaches.
With a direct assault on the team’s velocity consider your tactics carefully. If you write a memo detailing every transgression and why it’s inappropriate, don’t send it. Vent to the forest, never to the team or a co-worker. Consider a diplomatic rewrite before sending.
When the chaos bomb is thrown, discuss the importance of completing the committed User Stories. Refer the issue to the Product Owner for consideration during the next Planning session.
Scenario: The Whisper Campaign
A rival Scrum Master or your Product Owner is spreading rumors about you. It’s causing doubt about your competency and tarnishes your reputation.
The Careless Whisperer
The Whisperer is another agent of Chaos. Anarchists love destruction for its own sake, but sometimes there’s a method to their madness. It’s a grassfire that can turn into a firestorm? Is it only gossip, or is there a purpose, maybe designed to destroy someone’s reputation?
Tactical Response:
One: Do nothing. You’re creating an effective Scrum team, whose reputation speaks for itself. As the stories spread throughout the organization, even your closest associates will repeat them as truth. The whole point was to neutralize you as a threat.
Two: Isolate each issue and address them directly. Spend increasing amounts of time putting out fires. It will consume your available bandwidth. They can’t stop you but can slow you down.
Three: Every organization has information nodes – people dispensing gossip. Identify and realign them to your cause. Isolate or remove them as a source of information. Turn the whisper campaign into a counter-whisper campaign. Playing politics will consume your bandwidth, but people will start paying attention. They will be less inclined to mess with you. Was that your point?
Take away
Grassfires start small and eventually consume everything in their path. You may say. “I don’t care. I’m here to work.” Just remember. This isn’t some High School version of “Mean Girls vs the Geek Girl”. It’s designed to stop you from accomplishing your goals. You need to learn and counter their tactics.
Rumors repeated often enough and by different people become a defacto truth. They become almost impossible to counter. Political rumors often get repeated as history.
Scenario: Look ma, no hands
You have paired two team members on a project. One is cruising, letting the other do all the work. He is the IT Director’s son, who got him the job, and the team knows it. The end game is to get half the credit with none of the work.
Momma’s Boy and Daddies Little Princess
The Golden Child skates through life on their good looks, charm, and ability to navigate any social situation. They started practicing being cute around two and perfected it in their teens. They never worry about making mistakes because if you’re pretty, all is forgiven. They were at the top of the food chain in High School. Why stop now?
A good Scrum Master leverages the potential of every team member. On paper, they look good, just devoid of job skills and no desire to acquire any. How do you motivate, when training, mentoring, and coaching are a wasted effort?
Working around them may not be easy. Especially in a critical role, like Product Owner? They’re not shy about telling you about their connections, Ivy League school credentials, or “Trust Baby” status. For them connections trump work ethic every time.
Tactical Response:
One: Do nothing. You know who their benefactor is. Watch your team slowly disintegrate with veiled hints of favoritism, and excuses for declining velocity. The traditional approach is to promote or transfer them.
Two: Become their buddy, and capitalize on their special status. Remember, Mommy has only one favorite, and it’s not you.
Three: Complain bitterly to their manager and get yourself sent to the “How to deal with difficult people” workshop.
Four: Try to mentor them on their job. It didn’t work before, but is worth a shot. Assign them easy User Stories. Increase complexity as they step up to the challenge. Engage in shared programming and rotate them between team members. Share the pain or find them a willing partner.
Five: Isolate them on risky projects. Let them crash and burn with minimal blame to the rest of the team. Their patron may have to sacrifice the Golden Child to save themselves.
Take Away
They are a protected class. Any action taken against them is also taken against their patron. Favoritism and entitled workers cripple morale. When the team’s carrying an empty suit in a no-show job, why put in the extra effort?
Capitalizing on one’s good looks is a fact of life. How do you out cute, cute? It could be worse. They could be brilliant, and beautiful while aging gracefully in a long successful career. Life isn’t fair.
Scenario: Project Meltdown
As Scrum Master, you have spent months creating a working relationship with a sister group. They are constantly annoying your lead programmer to do their job for them. Your Team Lead is on the call and starts screaming at them. All those months of bridge building are now bridge burning. This is the modern version of the Kobayashi Maru?
Wonder Woman/Superman
The Wonder Woman complex is the “I am a goddess, worship me and despair” approach to work. They are highly proficient, rising above and beyond mere mortal technicians. They feel unappreciated, even though they carry the world on their shoulders. Their current Herculean assignment weighs heavy on them.
They live in a code-till-you-drop world, compelled to work on every high-priority assignment, obtain every mission-critical skill, and consume all the oxygen in the room. Their meltdown will be spectacular, public, and with maximum collateral damage. Like a drowning man, they will claw their way on top, to survive. It’s always someone else’s fault.
Tactical Response:
One: Stay out of the way and watch the show. Avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
Two: Coach the team on the importance of interpersonal skills and explain the positive advantages of bridge building. Listen patiently as Wonder Woman/Superman argues against this lame approach and why screaming at idiots is the only effective solution.
Three: Recommend removal as a team leader and limit their interaction with external groups. This will cause resentment but may save their career.
Four: Support your people. Limit your programmer’s time spent on non-Sprint activities. Transition the Technical lead to less stressful work, where the team can use their expertise. Extra points for salvaging the relationship with the other team?
Take A Way:
Address the root cause and avoid the path of destruction. Help your lead programmer and salvage your tech lead. These are your most productive people. Being a glory hound is a destructive anti-pattern to team cohesion.
Hyenas Gotta Eat
We are social creatures. Politics are inevitable. A Scrum Master trying to protect their team can be compromised when keeping the wolves at bay. Consider how your tactics might get you tarred with the same brush. Office politics is risky, and not getting badly burned may be the best you can do. Think of it as dabbling with dark forces. There is always a cost.
You might say. Most people aren’t like this, or anti-patterns can be modified with coaching. That’s very true. This isn’t about those people. This is about bad actors who consider the impact on the team as collateral damage for their agendas. It only takes one to break down team cohesion and cause havoc.
References
Holland, Roberta. (2016, January 18). The Harvard Business School, Hazard Warning: The Unacceptable Cost of Toxic Workers. https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/hazard-warning-the-unacceptable-cost-of-toxic-workers
Whitbourne, Susan Krauss PhD. ABPP. (2020, August 9). Psychology Today. 6 Ways to Stop People Who Steal Your Ideas. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/202208/6-ways-to-stop-people-who- steal-your-ideas
Gorvett, Zaria. (2016, June 10). Why your colleagues can’t help stealing your ideas. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20160504-why-your-colleagues-cant-help-stealing-your-ideas
Staff Writer. Leaderonomics. (2016, April 18). 5 Easy Steps to Deal With Workplace Firestarters.
5 Easy Steps To Deal With Workplace Firestarters | Leaderonomics
About the Author
I am a renaissance man trapped in a specialist’s body. I started as a biologist and that’s why I became an IT guy. I love science, but it doesn’t pay the bills. I have been an IT professional for many years. I used to be a software developer with an elegant language for a more civilized age. I became a Quality Assurance guy because it’s better to give than receive. I have been a process improvement specialist because it’s easier to negotiate with a terrorist than a Methodologist. But lately, I’ve been working as a Scrum Master and Agile Coach. I have drunk the Kool-Aid and it tastes good. Agile is a philosophy, not a methodology. In interviews, people often ask how long you’ve been Agile. My answer is always. I just didn’t know what it was called before.