Scrum teams spin the wheel daily. Every product, story, and task begs for the Scrum wheel to be in motion. Another wheel is spinning every time the Scrum team gathers. Whether it be for a daily stand-up, a product demo or a sprint retrospective, the learning wheel is also present.
Learning wheels churn through ideas and knowledge in an effort to increase our understanding and ability to apply. We see this in water cooler conversations, daily stand ups, retrospectives and more. These learning patterns are hard-wired in our brain. The outward appearance of these brain patterns is sometimes tagged as our personalities. In reality, it is a learning style.
Learning styles have been studied in depth and can be accurately assessed through a tool developed by 4MAT. The Learning Type Measure (LTM) assessment tool reveals four brain-based preferences for perceiving and processing information. The four styles are formatted into a wheel and in every instance when knowledge is being shared, our brains spin rapidly through the learning cycle. We may prefer one part of the cycle over the other and linger there longer. This is why learning styles are often mis-labeled as personalities.
Imagine a Scrum team with all four learning styles represented. There would be a One on the team, an Integrator. By actively listening to team members, Ones integrate a sense of community with teams, ScrumMasters, and Product Owners. An Organizer, a Two, would be an asset. Organizing thoughts, ideas and people, giving structure to the work of the Scrum team. Producing results is always the goal. Threes are the Producers. Threes, constantly striving to root us in reality, lead teams to produce tangible deliverables. Fours are the Visionaries. All things possible live in fours. Visualizing the big picture of the product is the strength of a Four.
Diverse learning strengths should be at the core of every well formed team. Ideas that are probable and ideas that are possible. Solutions that are effective and solutions that are efficient. This is the collaborative result of a well formed, learning team. Isn’t this the team that should be showing up for work every day?
To discover how to put your team’s learning preferences to work, join us in Minneapolis, MN for the launch of our newest course at 3Back, 4MAT for Scrum Teams.