Scrum Master as a Coach

My method is to focus on the team as a whole instead of individuals. If there is a need for individual coaching I do it in relation to the team as a whole and not individually. I coach individuals on how their interactions either help or hinder the team dynamic.  I have found that by focusing everything on the team, the other members of the team start to positively help individuals on the team.

One thing to keep in mind.  Improvements are best done incrementally.  Approach this with the team in the same way that the team would do a new feature.  Remind everyone that anything you try is an experiment and will be inspected and adapted as you go. 

Couple things to check out on motivation:

• Management 3.0 Moving Motivators: https://management30.com/practice/moving-motivators/
• Dan Pink (author of Drive): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Moving Motivators is something you can play with your team, so they can have conversations as a team about what motivates them (and what changes impact motivation). Your job as Scrum Master is to facilitate and observe the exercise.

One last thing. Does you Product Owner have a vision, and is it clear to everyone on the team? Does the Product Owner get the team excited about the vision? Do they set a Sprint Goal every Sprint, which could also be a catalyst to get excited about?

How can I motivate each individual since they have different problems? Everyone is different and I have to mentor or coach team to keep their highest values.

Each team member brings their own hopes and fears, and their own strengths and weaknesses. I think you are correct in suggesting that the best approach may be to focus on the team.

as a scrum master coaching and mentoring is very hard for me. I do not know how can I behave or talk about the pessimist ones ans situations.

What can you do to reinforce behaviors and situations that lend themselves more towards optimism?

Interesting feedback Ian.

Hi

Thanks all! In retrospective meeting we will play moving motivators. also today I have realised that -maybe- team just lost their focus on their commitment. I will also want to facilitate everyone's help with finishing the sprint goal.

Thank you so much

Daniel Wilhite Your wisdom, I appreciate so. The only way I have been able to sustain some positive improvements in the long term is by what you describe. It must be a perfect part of my life rather than my punishment. 

Better discipline remains a skill that takes a long time to learn (on the magnitude of years). It's all right to have bad days or even bad weeks as long as you are usually on the right road.

You must also encourage yourself occasionally to screw up. I just watched the Koreanovela two weeks ago, 3 days ago. No preparation, no coding and almost no eating (only the minimum calories to survive hehe.) But I know in the long term that I have been effective about 80% of all the days of the year. So, yes. I'm very confident and self motivated that at some point Einstein or Steve Jobs or Michael Jordan whoever you are had a rough day, but they're bouncing back anyway.

Training, mentoring and coaching require different skill sets.

Of these, coaching is the most difficult one to acquire since it requires proper training, credentialing and practice. So it depends on what you're trying to accomplish with the individual.

Coaching is hard for everybody because most people who go around calling themselves coaches (like Agile "Coaches") don't have the training or the credential to call themselves a "coach." They are trainers, and maybe mentors.

If you're serious about coaching, you would need to go down the ICF or BCC credentialing process.

As far as training and mentoring are concerned, I've found that it's best to focus on building the individual rather than building the team.