As a Scrum Master, I know that serving Development Team, Product Owner and Organization to adopt Scrum is not easy. It takes time (and a lot of time) and patience. During that long journey, I recognize the importance of continuous improvement. I need to "make up my mind" every day, keep myself up to date along with continuous learning. By doing so, I can adapt myself and find better ways to support the Scrum Team and Organization to maximize values with Scrum.
Most of the challenges when working as a Scrum Master was not facing with problem keep coming up in a typical working day, but it was the heaviness from my old mind. I feel it’s really hard to accept new things. I feel I start to judge more than listen and understand. Every time I feel like that, I remember one of the Scrum Values - Openness.
"Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve." - John Wooden -
Why Openness is needed for continuous learning?
When we were kids, we had no difficulty learning new things. It was easy to accept the new information, just like a piece of white paper. But when we get older and know more, we start to have the natural filter in our mind. And this filter automatically judges the information we listen to. We become less open as we get older.
A closed-mind will limit the Scrum Master to learn new skills. It can stop you from looking for root cause but make it easy to judge based on experience rather than real data. Most importantly, as a Scrum Master, you need to keep the Openness (and other Scrum Values) living in Scrum Team. You lead by example, not only keep open to learning but also to listen, the way of working, facing problems, adapting/ changing in an uncertain and complex environment. From that, it will help your Scrum Team to keep and improve the Openness.
Keep yourself fresh! and stay humble.
"The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize the less I know." - Michel Legrand -
Every time I find I start to judge rather than listen and observe, I know I am not open. Therefore, I always remind myself need to stay humble by understanding that I don’t know everything and everybody has something I need to learn from. I also share that to the team, ask them to kick me off once I start to be less open. By doing so we build the Trust within the team and help them to understand the importance of Openness.