“The root causes for destructive team patterns often lie outside the team itself.” – Viktor Glinka
Viktor shares a story from a manufacturing organization where one team stood out — and not in a good way. The team was composed of both internal and external members, and what no one saw coming was that their implicit goals were fundamentally divergent: the external members were focused on maximizing revenue for their own company, while the internal members cared deeply about product quality.
The signs were visible to anyone who approached them — they barely talked to each other and preferred to work individually. When Viktor tried to raise the topic of cooperation and trust, he was met with awkward silence. One team member finally told him: “I don’t want the team to blow up. In my previous experience, I raised this topic and that was the end of the team.” Fear kept the truth underground.
Viktor brought his observations to the manager, who acknowledged the lack of a shared goal as the root cause — but couldn’t fix it because he wasn’t authorized to manage the external people.
The takeaway was clear: three key success factors for any team are the right team composition with people who want to work together, a shared goal that unites diverse perspectives, and clear expectations set by their manager.
In this segment, we talk about LeSS self-designing team workshops and the importance of team composition in scaled setups.
Self-reflection Question: Does your team have a shared goal that everyone — including external members and contractors — genuinely understands and cares about? When was the last time you checked?
Featured Book of the Week: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland
Viktor recommends The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland as the book that sparked his passion for Scrum. As he puts it: “I know the title is very controversial and often criticized, but I could deeply relate to the stories inside the book. They sparked a passion that is still with me.”
Viktor also recommends a bonus book: Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux, which showed him the real power of self-organization and validated what he had already started experimenting with in his project management career. It pushed him to explore holacracy, sociocracy, intent-based leadership, and coaching.
Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters
Do you wish you had decades of experience? Learn from the Best Scrum Masters In The World, Today! The Tips from the Trenches – Scrum Master edition audiobook includes hours of audio interviews with SM’s that have decades of experience: from Mike Cohn to Linda Rising, Christopher Avery, and many more. Super-experienced Scrum Masters share their hard-earned lessons with you. Learn those today, make your teams awesome!
About Viktor Glinka
Viktor is an organisational consultant and Professional Scrum Master who helps teams and leaders find simpler ways to deliver value while keeping the human side of work at the center. He’s practical, curious, and focused on real outcomes rather than buzzwords. His true passion is adaptability – both in business and in personal life.
You can link with Viktor Glinka on LinkedIn.
