Team Management and leadership - Continued.
Ok, like I promise in my previous post, here is it the next part of Team Management and Leadership.
In my previous post I talked about some things that a new Project Manager should know about his team and why that is so important. Next I would like to talk about some mistakes that usually new team leaders and Project Managers do.Is not a checklist or something like 10 points to project management success.In fact I have no idea at this moment how many will come out..:).
To start I want to say a phrase I heard some many years ago and sound something like this: “To really know a person, put the power in his hands.“. It´s a good test for any new leader, in fact I think is the best one you can have.The leadership preparation is a long and hard way. So new Project Managers and leaders be aware about how you use the power you get.The leading means control and your role is to control two main things: the project evolution and your team spirit.
Both of them are related and your power can affect both of them directly, good or bad.
No a bit about control…
Control is good… yes for some people the power to control others is good, exciting and… whatever you want else. But the big problem in most of relations is not the control itself, but HOW YOU DO IT.
Let´s go a bit over a small scenario… You have your team, you have a project and something important for delivery in one of your hot days.Everything was set in the morning meeting, you know the problems and you have the solutions. Basically all you have to do is waiting for your team to finish their tasks.How do you control if they will finish them in time ? Of course you can work on your daily items too and just wait for them to finish. But you are new and you have the feeling that something can go wrong… so why not check them as often you can to be sure that everything follows your plan ? How often? What about 30 minutes ? Sounds good right ? You can´t go wrong with that.A small “ping” to get the status from each of your guys and maybe animate them a bit can´t hurt…
Let´s see what happen… You start your first round after about one hour and go to see how things are going.You see your guys working hard trying to keep the schedule done.They are so deep in their work that even not see you there. And you start asking the first one: “How is it going ?”
Damn you just did the worse thing possible for him.You just break out his “flow”. And what ? He will get it back… after another 15 minutes you´re out from his room !!! You just vanished 15 minutes from his time. And you will do the same after the other 30 minutes and so on…
The conclusion is that you should always found a way to control your team status without interruptions. Checking them too often is not a good idea, especially when they are under pressure. Keep in mind that they know their job the same as you do and you have to trust them as much as they trust you.
So how to control them without interruption ? Well, you have a few easy methods in your hands. One of them is to be sure they have understood their tasks very well. If they do, they can be productive enough to help you with your goals.The next thing is to be sure they have understood how many time they have to complete it, and they understood to come and report ANY PROBLEM they found as they are working, without your “pings”. Make them understand that any change in the scope of their tasks can affect the task delivery time and they need to found the best solutions to stay on the initial way.Watch them silently and you will notice if they have problems.Wait a wile to see if they are able to solve it.If you have the feeling that they will not, put a backup plan on the way.For sure one of your guys is faster and changing the tasks between them will help, even with a small break in their flow.If that is not possible, get prepared to negotiate with your customer a late delivery for that point, even if that means a delay on all milestone.You can do that and you can take their pressure on your shoulders.Next time you will know who is the best candidate for that kind of job.If not keep trying.At the end you will find it.Reward the ones that worked hard and send the ones who don´t, to learn more. Ask the team to help them in their breaks.
Now of course that if you do all those things your guys should give you something back right? And they will do it.If you have one (there is always one 
) that can´t play in this game try and see where are his problems and see what you can do in order to make him play as you need. He might have strength points in other areas in your company and maybe another team can be a better place for him.Don´t forget that you need a “jelly” team and that´s your primary objective(or at least should be) as long you will lead people. You can change a member of your team, but you can´t change the whole team.In the last case YOU are the problem and you should think seriously at that.Maybe choosing another team… in another department ?
I am sure you have some strengths too
For the ones that does not know what the “flow” is for a programmer, next week, next chapter. You get the point.
See you later!
