How do you get the flow and enthusiasm back into your team?

You probably know it. After your Scrum Academy training in Agile working, the energy was top notch: the post-its stuck naturally, the ideas flowed and the sprints ran smoothly. It felt like the holy grail: “This is how we want to work all the time! And then, a little more than six months later … the shine seems to be off a bit. The stand-ups get faster, but not better. The retro ones sound a little flat. And someone says during planning, “Do we really have to do this every sprint?” In short: the flow and enthusiasm have left. Time to find them again.

Recognizable? Then you’re not the only one. Many teams enthusiastically start Scrumming and working Agile, but find that it is difficult to keep the fire burning. In this article we examine where this can be due and what you can do about it as an Agile team. And not unimportantly: we discuss an online tool to discover how well the Agile fire in your team is still burning.

Why does Agile working feel less energetic than it did at the beginning?

When we ran our first Agile training courses at Scrum Academy in 2012 (right after the release of the book Get Agile), we saw it happen right away: the first few weeks teams are euphoric. “This is exactly what we needed!” we’d hear. But over time, the realities of the workplace creep in. New projects, pressure from deadlines, changing colleagues. And before you know it, Agile feels like “just work” again. A participant in our Product Owner Master Track training said it beautifully the other day:

“In the beginning, Agile was a breath of fresh air. Now it feels like a to-do list with different names.”

What actually makes Agile persistence so difficult?

This is precisely where the real challenge begins: not becoming Agile, but staying Agile. Indeed, the biggest pitfall is that Agile turns into a ritual. The stand-up, retro and review are neatly in the agenda, but the why gets a bit on the back burner. Teams do Scrum, but forget the Agile mindset. We see it often: the sprints run, but the real conversations fail to happen. The focus is on keep doing, not on continued learning together. And that’s a shame, because Agile is meant precisely to work on impact with fun and ownership.

So how do you restore joy in working together?

Pleasure in working together does not arise simply by good fortune. It does through trust, autonomy and meaning. When everyone knows what the team is working toward, it feels like flow. That moment when everything is right: the goal is clear, communication is open and everyone contributes their ideas.

In our coaching programs, we see a pattern among teams with high job satisfaction: they regularly talk about how they work together, not just what they deliver. One of our Agile coaches recently came up with this one-liner: “Work satisfaction is not the beer on Friday afternoon, but the smile on Monday morning.” Want that feeling back in your team? Explore together: what is already running smoothly and what still needs attention?

How do you discover where your team is now in Agile working?

To that end, we at Scrum Academy have developed the free online Agility Scan. The Agility Scan is ideal for teams working with Agile and want to know how agile and engaged they really are. It’s a short, honest test that shows how Agile your team really is today. Not on paper, but in practice. A perfect approachable way to find out where opportunities lie to get the flow and fun back in the team. Here’s how it works:

You immediately see how the team scores on structure, cooperation and agility.
Each team member completes 9 statements, individually and anonymously.
The results are automatically compiled.

How do you increase engagement and energy in your work?

With the Agility Scan, you don’t get a report that ends up in a drawer, but a starting point for action. Use the results as input for your next retrospective, heath day or team meeting. Then choose one theme together and think of a small experiment to go with it. For example:

One 10-minute micro-retro each week.
One day a month without meetings.
Delete one appointment that no one misses.

What is your next step with Agile working?

Whether you have just started working Agile or want to get back the team flow in Agile working, every team gets stuck from time to time. It’s part of the process. The important thing is to recognize it and do something about it. The Agility Scan helps you start that conversation. The trainers and coaches of Scrum Academy are happy to help you put it into practice. So start your free Agility Scan from Scrum Academy and contact us. Then together we will make sure your team is back on fire.