Could a Scrum Master fire someone ?

“ What do you do when someone in your team provokes serious issues ?”

That was one of the questions asked to me in my last live class. It can be seen as pointless if you take the Scrum Guide to the book. The Scrum Master is accountable to remove any impediments which could block the team or their work. Seems simple in most situations because it usually does not involve individuals which is, (a useful reminder) mostly grown adults.

The real question here is: Could an individual become an impediment and if yes, how to know when ?

Beware of rushing to a conclusion.

Let’s go straight forward, yes an individual could be a blocker for a team. Yes, its behavior could hamper in some ways the Scrum team to deliver value at each sprint. However, beware of rushing to a conclusion. As a Scrum Master, you are here to remove impediments not to being an HR Manager.

Let’s think about a situation: Mike is a developer, he keeps complaining at every Scrum Event about Scrum and how this whole thing is pointless. Other developers find this behavior annoying but overall it doesn’t affect the team’s ability to meet the Sprint Goal. What do you do?

You can do it by asking powerful questions

In this case, your role as a Scrum Master is to help the team, if asked to resolve this issue. You can do it by asking powerful questions to Mike or coaching him about the real value of Scrum, not only in term of delivery but in other perspectives which could, maybe fits more into its mindset. Explain to him howthose events serve a specific purpose. Loads of situations like this happen every day, be prepared for that because you are not working with robots but humans.

But can we fire someone on the team if needed ?

Be aware that removing someone from a team is a dramatic choice that needs to be well balanced.

You do not fire someone from the team. However, as a Scrum Master if you identify at a very last resort, that someone, by his behavior, hampers the team to reach its Sprint Goal. If the issue was already been discussed many times with the individuals without any change and the Developers ask you for a solution. Then, as your role is to remove any impediments, you can decide to remove the individual from the team or to escalate it to HR if you do not own the power of decision. Be aware that removing someone from a team is a dramatic choice that needs to be well balanced.

Be well balanced, clear and practice Active Listening :

As a Scrum Master, you need to listen actively

Try to not be influenced by emotional beliefs. Describe the situation with extreme clarity in a one-one meeting with the individual. Translate what was your path to make this decision. As a Scrum Master, you need to listen actively to the individual to ensure he is understanding the decisions and the underlying reasons. As a remover of impediments, you must not characterize the individual as an impediment but its behavior as it.