Being a Scrum Master can be a thankless job depending on where you work. For those who are transitioning to become a coach in a new organization, the story is not much different, especially if the organization has not been vetted properly. Simon Sinek is someone who really inspires me. In the video below, I asked him about how long should one work on people who don’t want to change. The truth about it is, they might have a fixed mindset and expect others to have a fixed mindset as well. While in the midst of all the work being slung their way, they don’t stop to think or believe that the work can be done in a different way. It’s always good to know why we do what we do. Simon Sinek has written a book on this topic called “Start With Why”, I highly recommend it.
It is good to help organizations change, but only join organizations where people are ready and willing to change. In the situation where you end up in a place where there are people who are complacent about the change, take a moment to really understand where their concerns are, and instead of saying this new way will fix everything, be clear about how it will fix things. As you make strides in the right direction, broadcast the empirical data to show how things can be if others chose to follow. A good book I read is, “Switch: How to change things when change is hard” – by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The stories are interesting and go well into how some tribes change because the change comes from within, while in other situations, the people are already aware of certain ways not working right and allow for the visiting change agent to learn the hard way.