Many Scrum Masters struggle with a subtle but persistent leadership dilemma:
Should I focus on protecting the team — or pushing for delivery?
This tension has existed long before Agile.
In the 1960s, management researchers Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton developed a model called the Managerial Grid, which maps leadership behavior along two dimensions:
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Concern for People
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Concern for Results
They discovered that leadership styles tend to fall into predictable patterns depending on how leaders balance these two concerns.
Surprisingly, this model still explains why some Scrum Masters create high-performing teams — while others become meeting facilitators or process enforcers.
The Leadership Grid
High-performing teams require both discipline and respect — the same balance described in the Managerial Grid and practiced in the Toyota Production System.
The Grid model can be visualized like this:
Each quadrant represents a different leadership posture.
Behavioral elements
Grid theory breaks leadership behavior down into seven key elements:
- Initiative: Taking action, driving and supporting
- Inquiry: Questioning, researching and verifying understanding
- Advocacy: Expressing convictions and championing ideas
- Decision Making: Evaluating resources, choices and consequences
- Conflict Resolution: Confronting and resolving disagreements
- Resilience: Dealing with problems, setbacks and failures
- Critique: Delivering objective, candid feedback
How This Shows Up in Scrum Teams
1,9 – The “Nice Scrum Master”
High concern for people, low concern for results.
This Scrum Master:
- protects the team from pressure
- avoids difficult conversations
- prioritizes harmony over accountability
The result:
Delivery gradually degrades while morale appears superficially healthy.
9,1 – The “Process Cop”
High concern for results, low concern for people.
This Scrum Master:
- enforces Scrum rules rigidly
- escalates missed commitments
- focuses heavily on delivery metrics
The result:
Teams feel controlled rather than supported.
1,1 – The Administrative Scrum Master
Low concern for both people and results.
This Scrum Master:
- schedules ceremonies
- updates Jira boards
- avoids real leadership responsibilities
The result:
The Scrum role becomes largely ceremonial.
9,9 – The Effective Scrum Master
High concern for both people and results.
This is the leadership posture Blake and Mouton called Team Leadership.
A 9,9 Scrum Master:
- protects psychological safety
- surfaces difficult delivery problems
- challenges excessive work in progress
- encourages constructive conflict
- focuses on improving the system rather than blaming individuals
In other words, they simultaneously protect the team and the flow of delivery.
The Toyota Connection
Interestingly, this leadership posture closely mirrors the management philosophy behind Toyota Motor Corporation.
Toyota’s leadership model is often summarized with two principles:
Continuous Improvement
Respect for People
These map almost perfectly to the two axes of the Managerial Grid:
| Toyota Principle | Leadership Grid Dimension |
|---|---|
| Continuous Improvement | Concern for Results |
| Respect for People | Concern for People |
Toyota leaders maintain high expectations for performance while simultaneously investing deeply in the development and support of their people.
When problems occur, Toyota leaders do not ask:
“Who made the mistake?”
Instead they ask:
“What condition in the system allowed this problem to occur?”
This mindset is exactly what a 9,9 leadership posture looks like in practice.
Why This Matters for Agile Teams
Many Scrum Masters unintentionally drift toward one side of the Grid.
Some emphasize psychological safety so strongly that delivery accountability weakens.
Others push delivery so aggressively that trust and collaboration deteriorate.
High-performing teams require both.
Just like Toyota’s leadership model, effective Scrum leadership combines:
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respect for people
-
high standards for performance
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continuous improvement of the system
Great Scrum Masters maintain this balance consistently.
A Final Thought
Agile methods emphasize collaboration and psychological safety.
But high-performing teams also require discipline.
The best Scrum Masters do not choose between these two priorities.
They maintain both.
That leadership posture — high concern for people and high concern for results — was described decades ago in the Managerial Grid.
And it still explains why some teams thrive while others struggle.
Great Scrum Masters do not manage people or enforce process.
They improve the system of work — while supporting the people inside it.
For more on this topic see my next article: Why Certification Alone Doesn’t Prepare Someone to Be a Scrum Master