The role of Master Scrum can be one of the most challenging roles for anyone. As a Scrum Master, you should wear several hats simultaneously, including the facilitator, teacher, coach, and mentor. Scrum Master play a critical role in fostering an environment that allows the team to be as productive to deliver value to stakeholders. Ensure that all team members are aware of the values and principles of Scrum is Scrum Master primary focus. Many Scrum implementations fail not because Scrum is suitable for the company but because they lack basic knowledge about the Scrum mindset. A successful Scrum Master is well aware of when he should wear the teacher, facilitator, coach, and mentor.
My career journey has put me on a continuous learning path where I have played several roles (e.g., software developer, project coordinator, and Scrum Master) to deliver the best results for companies in different parts of the world. I have spent the best part of my career as a Scrum master in various companies, which has helped me gain valuable experience. One of the most beautiful aspects of being a Scrum master, in my opinion, is mentoring. That was the key motivation for writing this post.
Definition of Mentoring
As Eric Parsloe says [1], “Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.”. Based on the definition of mentoring, although there is a lot of overlap between mentoring and coaching, mentoring is not coaching.
Scrum Master as a Mentor
In my opinion, the mentor has in-depth knowledge and experience that he provides to those (mentee) who want to improve their knowledge and/or skills. The purpose of mentoring is to assist team members in becoming self-managing. Referring to Adkins, L [2], “Mentoring transfers your Agile knowledge and experience to the team as that specific knowledge becomes relevant to what’s happening with them.”. This can be done on a one-on-one or group basis when issues arise. The purpose of this is to assist each other in growing. While mentoring the mentee, the Scrum Master will continue to grow and learn. Mentoring enables Scrum Master to respond to various situations in a variety of ways.
Reference:
- Bilesanmi, B. (2011). Mentoring: an emerging trend in the forefront of HRM: chapter 7. IFE PsychologIA: An International Journal, 2011(si-1), 92-103.
- Adkins, L. (2010). Coaching agile teams: a companion for ScrumMasters, agile coaches, and project managers in transition. Pearson Education India.
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