“If we do it the way you suggested, it will be a car crash!”

This got me fired up. 

I want to talk a little bit about trust. Trust can be such a powerful tool for people. It can help to build confidence & respect, encourage ownership, create safety -  it can empower people. When we show trust in others, to do a task for example, we demonstrate our belief in their ability to succeed, and this can help them develop a sense of confidence and self-efficacy. As a parent and in my profession, I’ve seen how trust can empower people to be more independent, build up their self-confidence and achieve really cool things.

This isn’t always easy though, right? Showing trust to someone can be challenging. They may have let you down in the past, there might be a lack of communication or achievement which causes distrust, there could be behavioural barriers that make you think twice - the list is endless. 

Let’s take my kids for example. When Jasmine was 2-3 years old, she developed this desire to help us cook. She’d want to go to the fridge and get the eggs, the six-pint milk carton, the glass cooking dish with leftovers… Now I know what you’re thinking, I didn’t really let my 2-3 year old carry the glass cooking dish, filled with beautiful lasagne all by herself… you would be right! It was too heavy - but I did let Jasmine carry the eggs. What happened? She dropped and cracked an egg. Jasmine was upset, Roshni gave me THAT look… and I just sighed because I had something to mop up. 

Over the next few weeks a similar pattern emerged when Jasmine wanted to help with the cooking. Jasmine cracked an egg, dropped a plate, and spilled some milk. She was upset each time it happened, but equally as happy and excited at the opportunity to do it next time. What happened after a few more attempts? She was able to help with the cooking without making such a mess. Sure, mistakes happened every now and again, but she was becoming more confident in her ability to help with the cooking.

I think this is a simple example, but a powerful experience. By giving her a ‘big girl job’ to do (as she liked to call it) and trusting her to complete it, we sent out a message that we believed in her ability. Which I hope filled her with confidence.

I believe the same principle applies in the workplace too. As leaders, managers, change agents - building an environment where there is trust is essential in creating high performing teams. Teams where people have a sense of ownership and autonomy. When we give people space, time and empowerment to think for themselves and make decisions, I’ve found that they become more invested in their work - they feel more accountable.

⚠️ Incoming car crash ⚠️

As a Scrum Master, I am accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide and for the Scrum Team's effectiveness. This isn’t an easy or straightforward thing to achieve, it needs time, patience and trust - from the Scrum Team and management. One facet of Scrum is self-management - the Scrum Team deciding who does what, when and how… sounds scary to some of you right? For a team to be high-performing, there needs to be a high level of self-management - as a Scrum Master, I am accountable for coaching the team in self-management, to improve their effectiveness. So, how do you do that then? 

One small step, is by helping the developers (coders & non-coders) of the Scrum Team to facilitate the Daily Scrum for themselves. Often it is the case that Scrum Masters will always facilitate each and every Scrum Event. There are arguments for and against this, but I won’t go into that here. The Daily Scrum is a short session for the developers, to inspect their progress towards the sprint goal and to create an actionable plan for that day. This session can be structured and run in whichever way best suits the developers. 

I had been facilitating the Daily Scrum for quite a few sprints now, with some of the developers within the Scrum Team stepping in once or twice a week occasionally (which was great). I thought the next step was for the developers to facilitate this session by themselves for an entire sprint (2 weeks in our case). I felt there would be many benefits to this, such as allowing them to take responsibility for their progress and actions, providing them with more freedom, developing their focus and of course, self-management.

“If you do it the way you’ve suggested, it will be a car crash!”

A colleague told me. Now, I fully respect this man, his thoughts & opinions etc but this fired me up. Why did he think it would be a car crash? Perhaps from previous experiences? Perhaps the behaviours of individuals in the past caused this reaction? What he was getting at was that the conversation will not flow smoothly, that the progress will not be clearly articulated and understood, it will be a silent 15 minutes or so… Not quite sure, I was just riled up with the certainty at which he made the statement.  Sure, it might not go swimmingly, there might be mistakes, people might not be as comfortable speaking or facilitating - but, I knew I wanted them to give this a go. Remember, this team has had some experience of facilitation in the past, so my view was that they will only get better, with practice. 

With some prompts, the team alternated who facilitated every few days, each having their own approach. Some people walked the Kanban board by User Stories, some by Epics. Some people preferred to just go around the room and some just asked if people were blocked on achieving Sprint Goals. There were some quiet moments, some stutters, some conversations went on a tangent, more quiet moments - but everyone spoke, everyone contributed, most people had facilitated, we spoke about the progress towards the goals and made a plan most of the time  - some people even enjoyed it. 

It wasn’t perfect, but that’s what made it perfect. We all learned, the developers were more focused and from feedback, they felt more invested and accountable. Experiments do not always work out for the better, but on this occasion it did. The real benefits will only be realised longer term, if we are consistent with the approach, but for now it was a step in the right direction in my eyes.

What's the takeaway?

Showing trust to others is a powerful way to build confidence, self-management and empowerment. Whether it is trusting your child to complete a task, or trusting your team to own their own progress - showing trust can have such a positive impact on people's sense of self-worth and motivation. As parents, managers, and leaders we have the opportunity to empower those around us.