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Team Dynamics: Start with Communication
Imagine the throughput of your team is defined by this triangle - in this model the sides remain in constant proportion.
Once you have hired someone competence is fixed. Lets assume you have a team and you want to make the best of them.
Motivation - the mistake some leaders make is thinking what they have to do to get their team producing output is to crank up the motivation. Introduce crunch time, do pep talks.
But in my experience its the communication which winds up being the restricting factor MOST often. If you improve communication then you will begin to reach the potential of the motivated competent team.
The job of a leader is to:
* filter outside impacts that can derail the team,
* simplify the view they have of the overall product and
* provide a compass set on true north.
* Provide a consistent drum-beat that gives the project a cadence.
Technical projects have failures most often from a lack of shared understanding. The best bang for your buck as a project lead, for improving team performance, is time spent on communication.
If there is an issue, seek information, understand why things went wrong, and open up communication lines with your team. Hiring 10 x engineers does not work. Pep-talks and brow-beating doesn’t get to the root of the problem.
In this model, the throughput — the performance — of the team is limited by the smallest of the three sides, so communication more often than not is the low hanging fruit. Try that first because a fix to a hiring problem could be a long way off. Issues with motivation — if real — aren’t going to get fixed with fire-and-brimstone speeches.
Ask open ended questions, and guide your team to the solutions & work with them so you can discover the facts, and the actions that led to the issue.
Look at onboarding procedures, how work is managed and how UX specifications are updated over time. Hunt down the miscommunication bug-bears and work with the team to slay them.
Improving communication will provide a team with good motivation and competent members with the best chance of performing well.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit totallyathing.substack.com/subscribe
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By Sarah SmithImagine the throughput of your team is defined by this triangle - in this model the sides remain in constant proportion.
Once you have hired someone competence is fixed. Lets assume you have a team and you want to make the best of them.
Motivation - the mistake some leaders make is thinking what they have to do to get their team producing output is to crank up the motivation. Introduce crunch time, do pep talks.
But in my experience its the communication which winds up being the restricting factor MOST often. If you improve communication then you will begin to reach the potential of the motivated competent team.
The job of a leader is to:
* filter outside impacts that can derail the team,
* simplify the view they have of the overall product and
* provide a compass set on true north.
* Provide a consistent drum-beat that gives the project a cadence.
Technical projects have failures most often from a lack of shared understanding. The best bang for your buck as a project lead, for improving team performance, is time spent on communication.
If there is an issue, seek information, understand why things went wrong, and open up communication lines with your team. Hiring 10 x engineers does not work. Pep-talks and brow-beating doesn’t get to the root of the problem.
In this model, the throughput — the performance — of the team is limited by the smallest of the three sides, so communication more often than not is the low hanging fruit. Try that first because a fix to a hiring problem could be a long way off. Issues with motivation — if real — aren’t going to get fixed with fire-and-brimstone speeches.
Ask open ended questions, and guide your team to the solutions & work with them so you can discover the facts, and the actions that led to the issue.
Look at onboarding procedures, how work is managed and how UX specifications are updated over time. Hunt down the miscommunication bug-bears and work with the team to slay them.
Improving communication will provide a team with good motivation and competent members with the best chance of performing well.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit totallyathing.substack.com/subscribe