You dont listen guyz
hi
heres a quick question.
im working in a team very interested about Agile... and we can be very punk when we are talking together. We interrupt each others, we are rude, sometimes we joke very trashy... we had a training about “active liste ing” but thats a fact we are just bad listeners and passionate talkers... our scrum master is more “quiet” guy and he s very far for the team. And when he comes to a meeting with us, he complains about our way to communicate.
I suggested him to do timekeeper or manage his meeting but he says to me : its not my role.
im a bit surprise. When team have a bad way to communicate, cant it be the role of the scrum master to help team to be better by giving tips, be an active time keeper and bring tools to have better talk ?
I know team should be autonomous but communication is so hard, that u can t complain without to take an active part in solving the problem ?
Please give me your advice ! How should we deal with that ? How should we shut our frenchy mouthes and be active listeners ?
Thanks guyz
renaud
That sounds like quite an issue. I haven't experienced this in the past, but could you suggest having one person speak at a time?
Something I've seen in the past (usually during Daily Standups so not sure how it applies to other meetings) is having some object that the speaker holds. Only the person with the object can speak. Once they are done they pass the object to someone else. This can be a plush toy or a ball or something.
I don't know if/how well this would work in other meetings though.
im a bit surprise. When team have a bad way to communicate, cant it be the role of the scrum master to help team to be better by giving tips, be an active time keeper and bring tools to have better talk ?
I know team should be autonomous but communication is so hard, that u can t complain without to take an active part in solving the problem ?
Please give me your advice ! How should we deal with that ? How should we shut our frenchy mouthes and be active listeners ?
Suppose there was an expert Scrum Master with all sorts of tips and advice to give. Would the team listen?
What problems are actually caused by the team's bad communication skills? What impact, if any, does it have on the delivery of value, and are the team accountable to anyone for the consequences?
Please give me your advice ! How should we deal with that ? How should we shut our frenchy mouthes and be active listeners ?
Hi Renaud - Not being snarky here, but did you ask these questions to your teammates?
Perhaps take a look at the Scrum values: Respect, Focus, Courage, Openness and Commitment. Those values are in the Scrum guide for a reason. Share it with your teammates?
I suggested him to do timekeeper or manage his meeting
Are your Scrum events going past the time-boxes?
All the best
Hi thanks for’answers
so, yes... our scrum events respects time box. And yes dev team and i very often and try to improve ourselves.
But u re right we should retalk about values and maybe everybody should tell what he s waiting below each values.
Tx
Hi Renaud,
Keep in mind that this is not something you change overnight - try thinking in small steps and improvements the team sees. Try to identify the underlying issue and solve that - this seems more like a cultural thing than a skills thing.
Niels
Have you worked with team agreements, written these down and putten them on the team rooms wall?
This is a handy way to keep the agreements in sight and constantly be reminded of what we as a team value.
If someone doesn't respect the agreements, the other teammembers can point the agreements out. This way, we old eachother accountable for the process.
I've had a single team member who likes to dominate the conversation in a lot of meetings. To fix that issue, we had to time box conversation topics to 5mins for a while. I've also had to bring up the issue to their manager if it continued to make sure they were aware what they were doing. It took a while, but the individual has become more self-aware of the issue they were causing and tries to stop when they realize what they're doing.
What others have suggested about putting team agreements on the wall is also very helpful. It's in their face and something you can point to when things get a little out of hand.
If you have situations where people don't know how to interrupt a conversation, maybe have them raise a hand or card to signal that they want to chime in their opinion. Try some of these things out and always get feedback on what people liked/didn't like and why. I would definitely do a retrospective about this topic about communicating in your meetings and how it affects the team, individuals, and the productivity of the meeting.