Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) Facilitation, Coaching, and Servant Leadership Syllabus

What is a facilitator's primary responsibility in a meeting?

To remain neutral on content while guiding the group's process—ensuring the discussion stays on track, everyone participates, and the group reaches its own outcome; the facilitator owns process, not content.

What are the five phases of a typical retrospective (Derby & Larsen model)?

Set the Stage, Gather Data, Generate Insights, Decide What to Do, and Close the Retrospective.

What is a 'fist of five' (fist to five) and what is it used for?

A quick consensus and voting technique where members show 0–5 fingers to indicate agreement; 0 (fist) means full disagreement/block and 5 means full support, used to gauge and build consensus.

What is dot voting (dotmocracy)?

A facilitation technique where participants place a limited number of dots/votes on options to quickly prioritize items by group preference.

What is 'silent brainstorming' (e.g., 1-2-4-All) and why use it?

Participants generate ideas individually in silence first (1), then refine in pairs (2), then fours (4), then share with all—reducing groupthink and anchoring bias and ensuring quieter voices contribute.

What is a 'timebox' and why is it a facilitation tool?

A fixed maximum length of time allotted to an activity; it creates focus, prevents over-analysis, drives decisions, and maintains meeting cadence.

What is a 'parking lot' in facilitation?

A visible place to record off-topic but important issues so they can be addressed later, keeping the current discussion focused without losing the idea.

Define consensus versus consent in group decision-making.

Consensus means everyone actively agrees and supports the decision; consent (used in Sociocracy) means no one has a reasoned, paramount objection—the decision proceeds if it is 'good enough for now, safe enough to try.'

What is the Fist of Five used to detect versus simple majority voting?

Fist of Five measures the strength and gradient of support and surfaces blockers/objections, whereas simple majority voting only counts yes/no and can mask strong dissent.

Describe the three common group decision-making approaches a Scrum Master might facilitate.

Autocratic/leader-decides (fast but low buy-in), majority voting (democratic, faster), and consensus/consent (slower but highest commitment and shared ownership).

What is the Roman voting technique?

A decision tool where members vote thumbs-up (agree), thumbs-down (disagree), or thumbs-sideways (neutral) to quickly assess support for a proposal.

What are the four common coaching stances a Scrum Master can take?

Teaching, Mentoring, Facilitating, and Coaching (pure coaching)—sometimes also described as the agile coaching competencies including teaching, mentoring, facilitating, and professional coaching.

What is the difference between mentoring and coaching?

Mentoring shares the mentor's own experience and gives advice/answers from expertise; coaching is non-directive—using powerful questions to help the person discover their own answers without giving advice.

What is the difference between teaching and facilitating as coaching stances?

Teaching imparts specific knowledge or skills (e.g., explaining Scrum rules); facilitating guides a group's process neutrally to help them reach their own conclusions without injecting content.

What is a 'powerful question' in coaching?

An open-ended, thought-provoking question (often starting with 'what' or 'how') that promotes reflection, insight, and self-discovery rather than yes/no answers or advice.

What is the GROW coaching model?

A coaching framework with four stages: Goal (what do you want to achieve), Reality (current situation), Options (possible paths), and Will/Way Forward (commitment to action).

Why should a Scrum Master generally avoid giving direct solutions when coaching?

Giving answers fosters dependency and undermines self-management; non-directive coaching builds the team's problem-solving capability, ownership, and long-term growth.

How can a Scrum Master coach the Product Owner on backlog management?

By helping them write clear Product Backlog items, order the backlog to maximize value, define and communicate the Product Goal, refine items with the team, and engage stakeholders effectively.

What are common dysfunctions a Scrum Master coaches a Product Owner to overcome?

A too-large/poorly ordered backlog, unclear acceptance criteria, absence from Scrum events, acting as a proxy without decision authority, focusing on output over outcomes/value, and weak stakeholder engagement.

What does it mean for a Scrum Master to coach 'beyond the team' at the organizational level?

Helping the wider organization adopt agile—leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption, planning empirical implementations, removing systemic impediments, and helping stakeholders and employees understand and enact empirical, incremental ways of working.

What is a systemic impediment and how does it differ from a team-level impediment?

A systemic impediment is an organizational obstacle (policies, structures, budgeting, HR practices) affecting many teams; team-level impediments are local blockers within the team's control. Systemic ones require organizational coaching and change leadership to resolve.

Name a model for understanding organizational change a Scrum Master can apply.

Kotter's 8-Step Change Model (e.g., create urgency, build a guiding coalition, form a vision, communicate it, empower action, generate short-term wins, sustain acceleration, anchor change) or Lewin's Unfreeze–Change–Refreeze.

What are the five levels of conflict in Speed Leas's Conflict Model?

Level 1: Problem to Solve; Level 2: Disagreement; Level 3: Contest; Level 4: Crusade (Fight/Flight); Level 5: World War (Intractable).

According to Speed Leas's model, how does language change as conflict escalates from Level 1 to Level 5?

At Level 1 language is open and fact-based; it becomes guarded and self-protective at Level 2, distorted/win-lose at Level 3, ideological and 'us vs them' at Level 4, and at Level 5 becomes about destroying the other party.

What are the five conflict-handling modes in the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)?

Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accommodating—plotted on axes of assertiveness and cooperativeness.

In the Thomas-Kilmann model, which mode is high on both assertiveness and cooperativeness, and what is it best for?

Collaborating—best for finding win-win solutions to complex, important issues where both parties' concerns must be fully met.

What is the difference between healthy (constructive) and unhealthy (destructive) conflict in teams?

Healthy conflict is task-focused debate over ideas that improves decisions and is a sign of trust; destructive conflict is personal, relationship-based, and erodes psychological safety and collaboration.

What is active listening and what are its key behaviors?

Fully concentrating on, understanding, and responding to a speaker—using behaviors like paraphrasing, summarizing, asking clarifying questions, maintaining eye contact, withholding judgment, and reflecting feelings back.

What are the components of nonviolent communication (NVC) by Marshall Rosenberg?

Four components: Observations (facts without judgment), Feelings, Needs, and Requests.

What is the difference between a stakeholder and a Scrum Team member?

A stakeholder is anyone outside the Scrum Team with interest in or influence over the product (customers, users, sponsors, management); Scrum Team members (Developers, Product Owner, Scrum Master) are accountable for creating the product.

Which Scrum event is the primary venue for stakeholder engagement and why?

The Sprint Review—the Scrum Team and stakeholders inspect the Increment together, discuss progress toward the Product Goal, and collaborate on what to do next, gathering feedback to adapt the Product Backlog.