How To Inspire Your Agile Team

Creating and maintaining an Agile team is no easy feat. An Agile project involves incorporating customer feedback into the product during each development cycle—more commonly known as Sprint.

As a result, product development becomes more efficient and faster. To fully realize its potential, it’s crucial to keep the Agile team in check and make sure members are working well together.

Inspiration can greatly benefit workplaces. Motivating your Agile team may seem trivial at first, but when an employee is inspired, they dedicate themselves to the company and strive to reach their full potential. According to research, actively disengaged employees cost the United States $483–$605 billion per year in lost productivity.

Is your team low on morale? Are tensions between members running high? Worry no more! We've got a handy guide to inspire your Agile team to increase productivity and create a healthy working environment. 

Why Should Your Agile Team Be Inspired?

Inspiration is a powerful motivator. It can help us achieve our goals and push ourselves beyond our comfort zones. This is especially true for teams that are working in an Agile environment.

Here are some reasons why your Agile team should be inspired:

• Build Morale—When the team is inspired, it will have a positive impact on morale. This will make the team more cohesive, and will help strengthen relationships within the team.
• Maintain Focus—The team may feel like they are struggling and that they are not making any progress. At these times, it is important for the team to stay focused on their goal. Inspiration can help the team to maintain their focus and continue working towards their goal.
• Greater Accountability—When teams are inspired, they are more accountable for their work. This means they take their work more seriously and are less likely to slack off. This can lead to improved team productivity and a more successful project.
• Increase Productivity—An inspired team is more productive. This is because they will be working with a sense of purpose, and they will be motivated to achieve their goals.
• Foster Creativity—Agile teams need to be creative in order to succeed. Inspiration can help foster creativity and enable the team to come up with innovative solutions. 

Ultimately, an Agile team that is inspired can work together more effectively and efficiently. A better quality product can be produced in a shorter time period because each member is working towards a common goal and is motivated to do their job well. In this manner, inspiration fosters a positive environment, enabling the team to flourish.

How Do You Inspire Your Agile Team?

Inspiring an Agile team can take some steps, but it's definitely worth it. You’re more likely to see positive results if you motivate the team to succeed.

Inspiration doesn’t have to be too serious. To keep tensions at bay and ensure the team is working harmoniously, try approaching inspiration with a light-hearted attitude.

1. Start Out With Icebreaker Questions

One of the best ways to inspire your Agile team is by using icebreaker questions. Icebreakers are a great way to get the team to talk and work together. They help break the ice and help people to get to know each other better at the start of a meeting.

2. Try Out Fun Team Building Games

Playing team building games can be an enjoyable and effective way to improve team cohesion and performance. The games help team members develop trust and mutual respect. In addition, the games can help improve communication and problem-solving skills.

Team building games are slightly different from icebreaker games. Icebreakers are activities designed to help people get to know one another and usually involve sharing names and other background information. The goal of a team building activity is to help groups form bonds and become cohesive.

3. Play Fun Icebreaker Games

When you use an icebreaker game, you aim to establish connections and reduce tension among team members from the get-go. Playing effective icebreaker games is typically more involved than just giving out classic icebreaker questions.  

It is best to play icebreaker games in larger groups or during group meetings that need to facilitate greater communication between participants. 

4. Make Retrospectives Fun

In essence, a retrospective is a meeting where a team reflects on its past work and plans for the future. The purpose of a retrospective is to improve the team's process and products. These meetings can get especially tense, so why not incorporate some retrospective games to make them more enjoyable?

5. Allow Diversity and Criticism

An Agile team should be inspired by both diversity and constructive criticism. Diversity can inspire an Agile team because it can lead to different perspectives and generate fresh ideas. Criticism can shed light on what needs to be improved.

The inclusion of diversity and criticism can assist the team in finding better solutions to problems, as well as improve communication. Agile teams should be encouraged to create a positive work environment where team members can feel comfortable expressing their opinions.

6. Set Effective Daily Scrum Meetings

Daily Scrum meetings are a key part of the Scrum framework for Agile development. They provide a forum for the team to synchronize their work, report progress and identify blockers. The Daily Scrum keeps the team focused on completing the most critical tasks and ensures that everyone is aware of what everyone else is working on.

Be sure to make the most of your Daily Scrum meetings and avoid common mistakes that can lead to a loss of productivity and a waste of time between members. 

7. Facilitate Teamwork

Teamwork is the key to success in any Agile team. This involves members being open to others' ideas, prioritising team collaboration, and supporting one another. Several methods can be used to facilitate teamwork, including building trust among team members, clarifying roles and responsibilities, building diverse teams, and communicating clearly.

8. Use Memes!

Memes are a fundamental part of today's internet-based culture, and they can be used to inspire Agile teams. Agile memes provide an easy way to communicate complex ideas in a simple, fun way that team members can relate to. For a fun way to start the day, break out some icebreaker memes!

9. Make Sure You’re Flexible and Adaptable to Change

It is essential for a Scrum Master to be flexible and adaptable to change in order to inspire an Agile team. In keeping with its name, Agile methodology is based on the ability to respond quickly to changes in the market or requirements. If you set an example by exhibiting positive qualities, your team will be inspired to do the same.

Conclusion

No matter how talented your team is or how well you've planned, things can go wrong. Keeping your team inspired allows you to respond quickly and effectively when they do. With inspiration, Agile teams can not only survive, but also thrive in the face of adversity.

Make retrospectives easier with GoRetro, the Agile retrospective tool that drives continuous improvement for your teams. For the resources you need to optimize your teams, be sure to reach out to us!