Knowing the roles and responsibilities of a Scrum Master is very important. Equally important is awareness of the hardships and challenges of the Scrum Master profession. The Scrum Master is responsible and accountable for all the projects the Scrum team handles and for creating a high-performing Agile Scrum Team. 

With these responsibilities come the challenges faced by most Scrum Masters, which become difficult to overcome if a Scrum Master doesn’t have appropriate skills and techniques. The challenges involved in the Scrum Master role could be easily overcome by practicing the Scrum Master key skills and implementing these in their daily work lives. 

It is not easy to overcome the challenges overnight, it takes time and determination. One can become a great and professional Scrum Master only when they practice these Scrum Master key skills regularly in their work journey. 

Most Scrum Masters underperform due to a lack of full-range skills. Here are the top 10 key skills that you need to develop as a Scrum Master to facilitate Scrum processes and stay effective every time you work.

Read more: Scrum Master roles and responsibilities

10 Effective Scrum Master Key Skills:

Adapting to and inculcating these crucial Scrum Master key skills in your workplace will ensure good results and make you successful as a Scrum Master. It is obvious that determination will make it easy for you to adapt to these Scrum Master key skills. Here are the top 10 crucial key skills needed for a Scrum Master to be effective in their profession as well as in their workplace:

1.Soft skills

One of the core skills required to become a successful Scrum Master.

Communication skills—Any effective Scrum Master should know how to convey their thoughts and ideas to others, whether a Scrum team or their clients. Communication is one of the key skills that connects a Scrum Master boldly to their clients and to the Scrum team they are working with. It is very important that there is no communication gap, as it leads to misunderstandings in business. 

Listening skills are also a part of soft skills that decide whether you communicate as a Scrum Master or just put orders on others like a boss. So, it is better to listen first followed by sharing ideas later as a successful Scrum Master. 

Technical skills – A Scrum Master should be aware of and familiar with all the technical terms and phrases that come under Scrum to use the framework properly. A Scrum Master needs to be very accurate in the knowledge of the Scrum terminologies to guide other team members and co-workers.

Teaching skills—A good Scrum Master should be an excellent teacher who knows how and when to teach and coach the Scrum framework and techniques. A Scrum Master needs to guide the co-workers and the Scrum team they are working with to follow an Agile system properly, especially the team that is new to the Scrum processes.

2. Agile mindset 

A growth mindset is very important in business. Flexibility in every situation is key. Setbacks and failures are part of the work when dealing with new ideas and conducting experiments. Scrum Masters should know how to teach the Scrum team they are working with to accept failure and also encourage them to keep learning from the bad experiences. By practicing and adapting to an Agile mindset, Scrum Masters will be able to help the Scrum team. Negotiation and planning with the Scrum team and your clients are also part of the Agile mindset.

3. Decision making

Decision-making is another key skill in Scrum Master that can help you achieve success. When to collaborate and when to negotiate the work is the responsibility of a Scrum Master. It is very important that appropriate decisions are taken at the correct time to achieve the most benefit to reach a common goal set by the Scrum framework. It also means that the Scrum Master needs to lead and facilitate changes accordingly to see the benefit of both the Scrum team and clients.

A Scrum Master should be wise before making any decisions of their own and should also include lean thinking as another quality that makes a Scrum Master’s decision perfect. Of course, experience plays a major role in decision-making, but thinking should also be unbiased in order to excel in the workplace.

4. Problem-solving skills

Problem-solving is a crucial skill for the Scrum Master. Complex problems are likely in the workplace as there is always a diverse workforce in a Scrum team, so the Scrum Master should know how to deal with such complex problems. Their minds should be shaped so that they can solve any problem with systemic thinking. As a leader and a mentor, they should guide their Scrum team in the right way by solving their problems individually and empathically.

5. Adaptability 

Adaptability is a great asset to the Scrum Master. With this evolving market and society, it has become more important for any Scrum Master to adapt to certain circumstances according to the favored situation, and mold the Scrum team they are working with to achieve the shared goals.  

A Scrum Master should be adaptable to their organization, company, co-workers, and colleagues. Their performance should be able to go with the flow, think flexibly, and know the needs of the company and the Scrum team they are working with.

6. Conflict resolution skills

Resolving conflict is a critical key skill for a Scrum Master. Conflicts are inevitable where there are people. A Scrum Master is responsible for resolving conflicts that occur in the workplace.

A Scrum Master needs to be unbiased while listening to people and develop certain qualities like listening skills, empathy, correct and quick decision-making, and honesty to resolve conflicts occurred at the workplace. The Scrum Master should know the rights of others and respect their opinion also. A good Scrum Master should focus on the Scrum values and principles while resolving the issues and guiding the Scrum team in the correct manner.

7. Collaborative skills

Collaborative skills are very important for a Scrum Master. Before the Scrum team accepts your advice, they will judge you on how you work with your peers and other Scrum Masters within the organization and also on your way of working. So, a Scrum Master should have decent work experience with their fellow co-workers if they want to guide and coach other Scrum teams.

Some of the qualities a Scrum Master needs to develop and practice to master collaborative skills is that a Scrum Master should be optimistic, determined, wise, and humble enough with their colleagues and co-workers in the workplace.

8. Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation is the utmost need for any Scrum Master. To lead the Scrum team, to plan things, to cope with the difficult situation in the workplace a Scrum Master needs motivation from inside so that they can keep going towards a common goal. If a Scrum Master is motivated, he/she can easily control and guide the Scrum process to the Scrum team and stay focused with more concentration within the Agile Scrum framework. This results in effective coaching and guiding the Scrum team and positively leads to achieving common goals.  

9. Shielding the team

A Scrum Master should know how to shield their Scrum team from unexpected distractions and outside interference as a whole. It is the responsibility of the Scrum Master to see and check that the team is way out of distraction. This can be done by making a safe, healthy, and positive work environment in the workplace, guiding the Scrum teammates, and fulfilling their needs. This requires a lot of patience and wisdom in a Scrum Master. 

10. Emotional intelligence-

One of the key skills to develop as a Scrum Master is Emotional intelligence. It is an ability to understand, use, and manage emotions positively to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict. These are very much needed in a Scrum Master so that he/she can become a successful Scrum Master, a mentor, a guide, and a coach to the Scrum team they are working with. Being empathetic is also one of the key qualities which a Scrum Master should develop. It is very important to understand and be supportive of the people they work with

Few Tips On Developing The Scrum Master Skills

Apart from these skills, there are few more points one needs to know to become an effective  Scrum Master. These little qualities will change you as a Scrum Master and as a coach who can lead and guide any Scrum team they work with. Let us take a glance at these extra skills and qualities that a Scrum Master should know and build within them.

Contributing towards improving the business agility and helping an organization as a whole to be a successful and effective Scrum Master, one should also be better at delivering the best results in facilitating meetings, Daily Scrum process, Sprint Plannings, Sprint Demo, Retrospecting, forecasting, coaching Agile practices, and removing the impediment Few of the Scrum Master skills required to be developed and put extra efforts on are:

• Be a facilitator and coach for Agile development.
• Learn self-organization, structuring, and planning. 
• Make changes as quickly as possible to save time.
• Act in accordance with Agile principles.
• Manage the process of how the information is exchanged. 
• Manage the project timelines and resources.
• Work to set a direction for you as well as your Scrum team.
• Should be familiar with the exact tools and resources a Scrum team needs to achieve their common goals.

Scope of Scrum Master skills

There are a lot of scopes for Scrum Masters now and always in the future. So, there will always be a need for the Scrum Master to learn and apply Scrum Master skills in their work. No matter how much technology evolves, Artificial intelligence (AI) can’t replace a Scrum Master if you have the skills and qualities needed by an organization. A Scrum Master who has or develops all the above-mentioned Scrum Master key skills is an asset to the Scrum team and the company. You can build all these Scrum Master key skills by doing small workplace and home practices. 

Conclusion

In this rapidly evolving modern business market, having a high-performing, adaptive, and innovative team will be a competitive advantage for any organization. And it can only be done by a Scrum Master.

But you know that the responsibilities, roles, problems, and challenges of a Scrum Master are difficult. Knowing the tricks, skills, and techniques required to overcome this difficulty is very important for a Scrum Master. To overcome problems and challenges faced by the Scrum Master, they need to know all the skills required not only to keep up to the professional work but also to guide and coach the Scrum team.
After developing these Scrum Master skills, you will be a great and successful Scrum Master and will be able to handle the Scrum processes and framework more properly. Also, a Scrum Master can give great and effective coaching to their associated teammates. This will ultimately lead you to become a successful and great Scrum Master with the best of the skills and techniques required within a successful Scrum Master. Simpliaxis offers a Certified Scrum Master course designed to provide comprehensive training in mastering the Scrum framework and practices. This course equips you with the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in the role of a Scrum Master and lead your team towards success in Agile projects