Scrum: The Way to Develop Soft Skills in Latin America

Scrum is an excellent framework to recognize, generate, and develop the social-emotional competencies most demanded by the International Labor Office for Latin America.

According to the definition published in the Definitive Guide to Scrum, updated by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland in November 2020, from a holistic view, Scrum "helps people, teams and organizations to generate value" through:

1. Delivering (incremental) products or services in short periods of time (sprints).

2. Satisfying the needs of usability and functionality required by stakeholders.

3. Warm and constant communication with customers. On the other hand, it must be perceived that we work as a team, not as different people.

4. Guiding the relationships and interactions (development of soft skills) of those who work with this framework.
   
   

Some of the soft skills that can be molded, transformed and/or improved with Scrum are:

• Adaptation to change: It is the ability to adapt to change, modifying their own behavior to achieve certain objectives when difficulties arise, such as new information or changes in the environment (whether from the external environment, the organization itself, the customer), or the requirements of the work itself.

• Flexibility: It is the ability to adapt and work in different and varied situations and with different people or groups. It implies understanding and valuing different positions or conflicting points of view, adapting its own approach as the changing situation requires it and promoting changes in the organization itself or the responsibilities of their position.

• Teamwork: involves the ability to collaborate and cooperate with others, to be part of a group and to work together.

• Customer Orientation: Implies the desire to help or serve customers, to understand and meet their needs. It implies making an effort to know and solve customer problems, both of the final customer to whom the company's efforts are directed as well as the customers of its customer and all those who cooperate in the company-customer relationship, such as suppliers and the organization's staff.

• Results orientation: It is the ability to act with speed and a sense of urgency when important decisions must be made in order to outperform competitors, respond to customer needs or improve the organization. It is the ability to manage established processes so that they do not interfere with the achievement of expected results.

• Communication: It is the ability to listen, ask questions, express concepts and ideas effectively, and expose positive aspects. The ability to know when and whom to ask in order to carry out a purpose. It is the ability to listen to others and understand them. Understanding group dynamics and effective meeting design.

• Planning and organizational skills: Is the ability to effectively determine the goals and priorities of their task area/project by stipulating the action, timelines and resources required. It includes the implementation of mechanisms for follow-up and verification of information.

• Autonomy: The ability to act proactively, devise, and implement solutions to new problems and/or challenges with decisiveness and independence of judgment. It implies the ability to respond to new requirements quickly, effectively, and efficiently. Ability to promote and use technological applications, tools and resources when appropriate and make the most of the opportunities that arise in the environment.

• Problem Solving: The ability to devise the solution that will result in a clear satisfaction of the customer's problem by addressing their (customer's) business needs, problems, and objectives, and the internal feasibility of resolution. It includes the ability to devise solutions to future customer industry issues.

 The 2017 study by the International Labor Office, "The Skills Gap for Work in Latin America: Review and Analysis in the Region" noted that socioemotional skills are more valued by employers over cognitive competencies.

According to the same study the most demanded soft skills are:

• Communication

• Conflict resolution

• Decision-making

• Openness to change

• Constant updating

• Innovative thinking

Scrum masters in Latin America who are opposed to control and power must be protagonists in this process of influence and development, helping everyone to understand the theory and practice of scrum, both within the scrum team and the organization.

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About the Author

 As a Certified ScrumMaster®, Marcelo Rubén Herrero has been leading teams in Operations, HR, Workforce Management and software development in different industries for the last 12 years. He started his career in the call center industry and is currently working in the programming industry.