Symptom: During the daily stand up each of the team provide their status to the scrum master rather than to the whole team and the scrum master feels that the team are not talking to each other.
Probable Cause: The team may still feel that they have to report to some senior figure such as a project manager for example. This usually happens in teams new to agile who have been previously exposed to a controlling style of management and mistakenly project the senior figure on to the scrum master role.
Suggested Resolution: As a scrum master try to avoid eye contact during the daily stand ups. It sounds simple, but it can have a dramatic effect when a team member is providing their update.
Most people like to have some sort of connection to others when they talk and breaking the eye contact between the scrum master and the team member providing the update usually encourages that team member to seek another connection, usually from other members of the team.
The net result is that the team member starts to provide their update to other members of the team. Done on a daily basis and the team will begin to learn that they can talk to each other in meetings rather than just to the facilitator.
What you are looking for here is a daily stand up that has everyone engaged and sharing relevant information.
For more agile coaching options, check out agile coaching
