Scrum Master Choices – Professionalising the Teacher Stance, Part 4
Prior to reading this blog, please read the introduction to this series here.
There’s an unspoken that if you know a lot about Professional Scrum, you can teach it. For anyone who has ever gone through a trainer, teacher, or coach assessment, you know that content mastery is only a part of the puzzle. For many Scrum Masters, this is where the teacher stance stops. But Professional Teaching doesn’t work like that. It isn’t a fixed skillset. It is a discipline in its own right. One that requires ongoing refinement, re-evaluation, and deliberate personal development.
In this post I'm going to explore Continued Development, the third competency in this series about Professionalising the Teacher stance. If Intention (#1) is about starting in the right place and Evaluation (#2) is about checking the learning has landed, then Continued Development (#3) is what ensures you do it better next time. The mindset of continued growth is at the heart of all professional practice. In teaching, it is essential.
A Professional Teacher does not rely solely on what they already know. They do not assume that experience and content-mastery guarantees proficiency in this stance. Instead, they treat their own development as part of the learning environment they create. This means maintaining up-to-date content knowledge, improving how that knowledge is taught (called pedagogy), and regularly reflecting on their own performance. This is what moves teaching from a helpful activity into a professional commitment. For Scrum Masters, this matters because we are often expected to help others understand complex ideas clearly and with context. That includes not just the mechanics of Scrum, but also broader themes like iterative delivery, product thinking, team dynamics, and organisational change (I could even add marketing, strategy, conflict resolution etc. to this list). If we want to support others to improve, we have to continue improving ourselves.
Continued development in this sense is not about being constantly busy or gathering certifications. It is a structured and purposeful approach to personal growth. This is achieved through three key commitments:
1. Pursuing Skill Mastery
Skill mastery involves both deepening subject knowledge and improving how that knowledge is communicated. For Scrum Masters, this means going beyond familiarity with the Scrum Guide (did I even need to say this?). It means studying how principles like empiricism apply in complex organisations. It also includes developing confidence in learning design, facilitation strategies, and learning theory. If you really want to dive into pedagogical theory, take a look at the separate theories of Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, Humanism and Connectivism (you'll find your favourite; personally, I'm in the Constructivism camp).
This is not about chasing the latest trend. It is about staying relevant, and ensuring that what you teach reflects both practical experience and theory. A Professional Teacher invests in mastering the craft of explanation. They reflect on what engages learners and what does not. They try new things, compare approaches, and refine their delivery based on what helps people understand and apply the ideas. One final point on this topic is that reading blogs, watching videos and creating internal learning content are all forms of pursuing skill mastery; your employer should recognise and value these actions.
2. Seeking Peer Evaluation and Feedback
Professional Teachers understand that they cannot grow in isolation. They invite feedback from colleagues and the teams they work with, and they treat that feedback seriously. In education, structured peer observation is common (it's called being learning walked).. It provides opportunities to reflect on how content is delivered, not just what is said. Scrum Masters can adopt a similar approach. Invite another Scrum Master to sit in on a teaching session. Ask them to observe with a specific lens. Was the goal of the session clear? Did the learners stay engaged? Were ideas introduced at the right depth and pace? Which techniques could have achieved my outcomes more effectively?
This kind of evaluation moves the conversation beyond whether the workshop went well. It focuses instead on whether the outcomes were supported. Regular, structured feedback challenges assumptions and provides a more accurate picture of what you need to improve/add to your toolkit.
3. Performing Action Research and Contributing to Community
In formal education, action research refers to the process of identifying a challenge, trying a new approach, observing its effects, and sharing the findings. This cycle helps teaching practices evolve in real contexts. In Scrum terms, this is empiricism in action. For a Scrum Master, this might mean experimenting with how Product Backlog refinement is facilitated. One Sprint, you explain was a good PBI looks like. The next, you co-create some dynamically with the team. Next, maybe it's working with them to refine a User Story Map? You observe what sticks. You reflect on the impact. Then, you share what you’ve learned.
Sharing is important because continued development is not just a personal responsibility. It is also a contribution to your wider professional community. Whether through blogs, workshops, or informal conversations, Professional Teachers support others by making their learning visible. That process brings clarity to your own thinking and invites new perspectives in return.
Continued Development Is Part of the Accountability
Everything described in this blog is part of the teacher stance that Scrum Masters should be comfortable using. It is not an optional extra or a side project. If we ask teams to inspect and adapt their work, we must be willing to do the same with our teaching. Growth becomes part of how we lead. When Scrum Masters treat their own development as a professional responsibility, they model the kind of thinking we want to see in product teams. A learning mindset. A willingness to be wrong and improve. An openness to challenge. This raises the credibility of the teacher and deepens the impact of the work.
Continued development is not about keeping up. It is about staying useful.
Evaluation Criteria
As the Scrum Master:
I invest time in developing both my knowledge and my teaching toolkit.
I invite structured feedback and reflect on it critically.
I regularly test and adapt new teaching strategies in response to need.
I share insights and ideas with others in my professional community.
As the Scrum Team:
We see our Scrum Master adapting and improving how they teach.
We are asked to give feedback on how well we understood and applied what was shared.
We are frequently introduced to new ideas and practices.
We feel like our growth is valued and intentionally supported by our Scrum Master and our organisation.
As the Organisation:
They make space and time for the continued development of Scrum Masters.
They value professional teaching as a practice that supports product outcomes.
They encourage reflective practice and visible learning among delivery professionals.
Actionable Ideas
Teaching Log – Keep a short record of every team facilitation session or learning interaction. Write down what worked, what didn’t, and what you might change next time. This includes your pre/post interaction efforts.
Peer Review Rounds – Set up observation sessions with another Scrum Master or coach. Provide each other with structured, objective feedback.
New Topic Challenge – Pick one topic you’ve never formally taught. Create a 20-minute session, test it with your team, and reflect on the results.
Community Reflection – Write a short post, join a discussion group, or present an insight. Making your thinking public helps you grow and brings others into the conversation.
Professional Teaching is not static. If we are not evolving, our teaching becomes stale and disconnected. Continued development ensures that we remain responsive and credible. It signals to our teams that learning is not something we promote for them alone. It is something we expect of ourselves.
In the next and final post in this series, we’ll turn our focus to Professional Standards. This is where the commitment to ethical, inclusive, and principled teaching practice comes into focus. Because when we step into the teacher stance, we carry more than content.
We carry... accountability.