Deck used at Keep Austin Agile 2019 Does your team bring the goods but feel bad? Shouldn't teamwork be supportive, collaborative, and friendly? Reality check: even high performing teams will eventually have conflict and disagreement. But when a team turns toxic, good results won't last. There are four sources of team toxins - and your ability to understand and neutralize these combustible agents help you achieve a happy, challenging, and empowering work life - and a great scrum team. In this session, Leland and Heather will introduce you to four toxins that often poison teams and organizations. They'll talk about how to identify them, the root cause of the toxic behavior, and some common antidotes that can help you manage the toxins successfully, so you have a healthy team environment that is fun, supportive, and collaborative.

1. DOES YOUR TEAM NEED A DETOX?
HEATHER CASTILLE AND LELAND NEWSOM

3. Email: heather.castille@wellsky.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-
castille-4566a3a9/
Associate Scrum Master
Graduate Student – Professional
Counseling Family Therapy

4. Email: Leland.Newsom@yahoo.com
Twitter: @LelandNewsom
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lelandnewsom/
Slideshare: https://www.slideshare.net/LelandNewsom
Past roles include:
• Developer
• Manager
• Managing Director
• Technical Director
• Scrum Master
• Release Train Engineer
• Agile Coach

5. JOHN GOTTMAN, PHD

6. GOTTMAN'S
"FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE"
4 BEHAVIORS AS BIGGEST PREDICTORS OF DIVORCE
CONTEMPT DEFENSIVENESSCRITICISM STONEWALLING

9. BLAMING /
CRITICISM
"YOU ALWAYS..."
"YOU NEVER..."
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"
DON’T MAKE IT PERSONAL
BECOME MORE AWARE
APOLOGIZE
*SCRUM VALUES: FOCUS
NEUTRALIZER

10. DEFENSIVENESS
“IT’S NOT MY FAULT”
BLAMING
“IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU”
“COULD YOU CLARIFY WHAT YOU HEARD ME SAY?”
EXPRESS TRUST AND RESPECT
LISTEN ACTIVELY, SHOW YOU UNDERSTAND
*SCRUM VALUES: OPENNESS, COURAGE
NEUTRALIZER

11. CONTEMPT
SARCASM
NAME-CALLING
CYNICISM
HOSTILE HUMOR
IDENTIFY BEHAVIOR, ADDRESS DIRECTLY
EXPLORE THE MINDSET
RESPECT DESERVES RESPECT
SEEK TO UNDERSTAND
SOFTEN HUMOR
*SCRUM VALUES: RESPECT
NEUTRALIZER

12. STONEWALLING
IGNORING SPEAKER
NOT ENGAGING OR EXPRESSING THOUGHTS
WITHDRAWING
NEUTRALIZER
CREATE SAFE ENVIRONMENT
ADDRESS FEARS
*SCRUM VALUES: OPENNESS, COMMITMENT

14. NOW THINK ABOUT YOU
WE'RE ALL HUMAN.
THINK ABOUT A TIME YOU DISPLAYED A TOXIN
AND DISCUSS WITH YOUR PARTNER/GROUP.
REMEMBER TO HAVE COMPASSION NEXT TIME
YOU SEE IT ON YOUR TEAM.

16. SOURCES
• HTTPS://WWW.FRONTROWAGILE.COM/BLOG/POSTS/120-FORMING-
STORMING-NORMING-AND-PERFORMING-IN-A-SCRUM-TEAM
• HTTPS://WWW.GOTTMAN.COM/BLOG/THE-FOUR-HORSEMEN-
RECOGNIZING-CRITICISM-CONTEMPT-DEFENSIVENESS-AND-
STONEWALLING/
• HTTPS://WWW.GOTTMAN.COM/BLOG/THE-FOUR-HORSEMEN-THE-
ANTIDOTES/
• HTTPS://WWW.BEYONDTHELEADINGEDGE.COM/NEWS/TEAMS/THE-
FOUR-TEAM-TOXINS/
• HTTPS://DZONE.COM/ARTICLES/SCRUM-MASTER-WHICH-TEAM-
TOXINS-ARE-MOST-COMMON-IN