Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

Why Your Scrum Master Job Needs a Reset with Every Leadership Change | Joelle Tegwen

Jul 14, 2025

Joelle Tegwen, an Agile coach with a science background, shares her insights on navigating leadership changes. She discusses her experiences in a startup where shifting management styles required her to adapt her approach continuously. Joelle emphasizes the importance of listening to higher-level leaders, not just peers, and stresses that each new leader resets her job dynamics. Change, she argues, is accomplished through people, and understanding leadership priorities is crucial for effective collaboration and management.

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ANECDOTE

Leadership Change Disrupted Strategy

Joelle was brought into a startup to drive change but a new conservative VP replaced her sponsor shortly after.
She failed to adapt and kept pushing change against the new leadership's direction, missing crucial signals.

ADVICE

Reset With Every New Leader

When new leadership arrives, treat your job as if starting over and discover their motivations and goals.
Align your efforts with them in their first 90 days to support the new direction effectively.

ADVICE

Interview New Leaders Early

Interview new leaders to understand their priorities and direction before continuing your change initiatives.
Use their feedback to realign your work rather than pushing the previous agenda blindly.

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Joelle Tegwen: Why Your Scrum Master Job Needs a Reset with Every Leadership Change

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Joelle shares her experience as a coach and Scrum Master at a small startup where multiple companies had merged over several years. When a new VP with a conservative approach replaced her original sponsor who favored significant change, Joelle failed to adapt her tactics and align with the new leadership's direction.

She emphasizes the critical importance of listening to feedback from leaders and avoiding the anti-pattern of only listening to peers and direct managers instead of higher-level leadership. Joelle explains that whenever you get a new leader, your job essentially starts over again, requiring you to discover their goals and style through interviews about their priorities. She stresses that change happens through people, not just actions, and that pushing too hard creates more resistance.

In this segment, we refer to the book The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins and the Deep Canvassing Technique.

Self-reflection Question: How do you currently assess and adapt to new leadership styles in your organization, and what steps could you take to better align your change management approach with leadership expectations?

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About Joelle Tegwen

Joelle helps teams build products that customers love in a sustainable way and with high-quality. She creates environments that foster high performing teams improving their interactions. Her background in science and passion for cognitive science complement her work. Joelle's non-linear, 15-year career in software development has provided her with diverse perspectives.

You can link with Joelle Tegwen on LinkedIn.