All leadership is change management. When I need to stretch our organization surrounded by constant complexity and sometimes chaos, I need the tools of agile methods. The iterative project management method Scrum is undoubtedly the most widely used. It is characterized by the way the huge project – the “elephant” – is broken down into small parts with short deadlines, which the team works on in cycles in the development process – sprints. Here, the team jointly prioritizes the improvements to be implemented in the Product Backlog in the ongoing development of a product, while test models are tried out in real life. This way, learning is maximized quickly and development time is shortened for the benefit of the customer. We work in cross-functional teams that organize themselves – protected by a SCRUM master, who removes obstacles during each sprint, and the Productowner, who is the customer’s representative and communicates and optimizes the product. This structure ensures rapid adaptation – being responsive to the actual conditions encountered during the task at hand. The team can always keep track of the updated plan with the “Burndown” graph. See the most important elements of Scrum explained in simple terms in this illustration from “Agile Leanhouse” in Vejle, where I trained as a Scrum master.

Scrum is mentioned several times by employees in the empirical data. I can see that there are both disadvantages and advantages of using Scrum for employees. Both of my interviewees tell me that they had previously tried to implement Scrum before I was hired, but had to scrap it because it created more pressure of expectations than transparency. They didn’t use it with the original vision:

• Create a shared motivation within the team to meet the deadline.
• Transparency allows all members of a team to follow up on the project.
• There is a constant eye on quality and fewer mistakes.
• The dynamics of Scrum allow for reorganizing priorities and ensuring that sprints that have not yet been completed receive more attention.
  A current example of sustainable change involving both employees and volunteers is when Mission Africa planned, developed and launched a new website in April 2021. This is where the Shu-Ha-Ri philosophy really came into play, with even the volunteers setting off on their own initiatives. Gaardsted elaborates on Shuhari with the fine illustration to the right of the culture change, where we start incompetent and end excellent.
  The next step for Scrum to succeed is to create unconditional trust on the team.
  “Trust is important because it is the foundation around how human relationships revolve. Without trust, there will be no relationship.”
  Mersino says that trust “reduces or eliminates silos and turf battles” and allows us to get our jobs done. Without trust, we can’t build healthy relationships in the scrum team. In the Scrum Framework, there are regular conversations about how we implement trust in our teams. But it takes courage to show trust first. So you work together with risk in a sprint.
  The openness and transparency Scrum provides in relation to our individual tasks through Daily Scrum. The openness and transparency Scrum provides regarding our individual tasks through “Daily Scrum” supports the team to help each other instead of blaming that the tasks are not done. As long as there is real and honest transparency, trust is built. Doshi says:
  “Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation, the three pillars to embrace empiricism flourish on the foundation of Trust in Scrum”.
  And Ockerman adds that
  “trust is essential to enable agility” .
  Another trust-building aspect of Scrum is that it’s okay to fail. In fact, we need to fail in order to evolve.
  Don McGreal says that no matter what excuses he encounters from a Scrum team (e.g. that it’s
  pressure of expectations, we lack a product owner, etc.), it’s

it all boils down to a lack of trust. If you’re afraid of failing or getting hit in the head, it often comes down to trust.
“It takes time to learn that your bonus won’t be taken away if you fail”.
One of my interviewees put it this way about my management:
“We’ve found you’re not here because you want us to fail, but because you want us to succeed so you can succeed. ‘You’re not afraid to try – to test. You’re good at veering off a wrong track if we tell you a change is needed. And you are quick to adapt change.”
Scrum’s five values of commitment, focus, openness, respect and courage are there to build trust and show that Scrum is more than just a technique. You can also see it in the illustration to the right, where holism really comes into play.
Scrum only works well in an organization with strong social capital. Therefore, I will now look at my empirical research in the light of social capital.

Below is the SCRUM workflow courtesy of Agile Leanhouse