"Encouraging Collaboration: How Scrum Teams Can Ask for Help Without Hesitation"

Scrum is an agile framework for developing, delivering, and sustaining complex products that require collaboration, adaptation, and iterative development. One of the critical pillars of Scrum is interdependence, which means that team members rely on each other to achieve their goals and deliver value to the customer. However, interdependence doesn't always come naturally to everyone, and team members may find it challenging to ask for help when they need it. In this article, we'll discuss why interdependence is essential to Scrum, the assumptions that prevent team members from asking for help, and how Scrum Masters can foster a culture of collaboration and support.

Why interdependence is essential to teamwork and Scrum?

Interdependence is the foundation of effective collaboration, innovation, quality improvement, and service excellence. Scrum harnesses the power of interdependence and collaboration for complex environments dealing with a lot of uncertainty. In such settings, finding effective solutions depends on the team's collective knowledge, creativity, and skills. Creating interdependent processes promotes higher quality products because everyone on the team "owns" the work, and all team members are invested in working together to overcome challenges and solve problems. Interdependence also promotes greater accountability. If one member doesn't fulfill their responsibilities, it will negatively impact everyone on the team. Interdependence also plays a role in team and work satisfaction because it increases a sense of belonging and shared purpose.

Assumptions tied up with asking for help

Despite the benefits of interdependence, many people find it difficult to ask for help. Here are some incorrect assumptions that contribute to this discomfort:

Others don't want to help: We tend to think we are inconveniencing others when we make a request. In reality, people are generally happy to help others, and it makes them feel good.

Asking for help is a sign of incompetence: Many of us grew up in an education system that rewards students for always having the correct answer rather than for asking good questions. That's led to internalized beliefs that not knowing how to do something and needing someone else's input to sort out a problem is a sign of weakness.

No one can help: In some cases, we might believe we have all the knowledge and skills necessary to resolve an issue independently. If we can't solve this problem, no one can. Or, we might think that we can get it done faster or more efficiently on our own. Even if that were true (it's probably not), approaching collaboration and interdependence from a deficit viewpoint is a mistake.

How to foster interdependence and collaboration on your Scrum Team?

As a Scrum Master, there is a lot you can do to create the best conditions for a strong interdependent and collaborative team.

Establish trust: Without trust, people will not ask for help or input from others because it puts them in a place of vulnerability. Team members who fear being judged, ridiculed, or shamed will keep their heads down rather than reach out. To nurture trust, communicate openly and honestly, demonstrate respect, and create a psychologically safe environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their opinions and ideas.

Normalize asking for help and giving it: Make it routine to talk about giving and receiving help as part of the Scrum process and provide positive team feedback when you witness acts of collaboration. Modeling asking for help as the Scrum Master also conveys that it's OK and encouraged. As mentioned earlier, reframing "asking for help" as inviting collaboration and co-creation can also move away from the stigma that doing so is a sign of incompetence.

Build helping behaviors into team activities: There are many opportunities to weave helping behaviors into your Scrum practice, such as:

? During the Daily Scrum,encourage team members to share what they're working on and any challenges they're facing. Encourage the team to offer suggestions and support each other.

? Use pair programming, where two team members work together on one task. This practice encourages collaboration and can also help to transfer knowledge and skills between team members.

? Make time for retrospectives, where the team reflects on their work and identifies areas for improvement. During these meetings, encourage team members to provide constructive feedback to each other.

? Encourage team members to pair up with someone with a different skill set or experience level to learn from each other.

Celebrate and reward interdependent behavior: Highlight and reward team members who ask for help or offer assistance to others. This recognition will encourage the behavior in the future and make it more comfortable for others to do the same.

Conclusion

Asking for help and collaborating with others is essential to the success of Scrum and interdependent teams. However, asking for help can be uncomfortable for some team members due to incorrect assumptions or a lack of trust. Scrum Masters can foster a culture of collaboration and support by establishing trust, normalizing asking for help, building helping behaviors into team activities, and celebrating and rewarding interdependent behavior. With these steps, Scrum teams can become more comfortable asking for help and working together to deliver value to the customer.