19 ms·

Ask HN: What traits you need to be a team leader?

15 points by dillmac 9y ago

Suggestion, blog or book?

dmfdmf 9y ago
https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/ https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/
- Spooky23 9y ago
  Thank you. This is great.
SirLJ 9y ago
1. You have to have your people's back, this is the most important thing... be there for them 24/7, insulate them from problems and management stupidity and always fight for them. 2. lead by example, never ask them to do something you won't do yourself. 3. Communicate, I have booked on afternoon a week from 14:00pm till 16:00 and more to just talk with my team and discuss everything from work, to weather, sports, to bitch and moan against the company, etc... 4. Get together as much as you can on a real "team building exercise" - the whole team in another city for at least 2 days with a great party and lots of eating and drinking on company dime...
- nicholas73 9y ago
  Second this. There needs to be a clear benefit to following someone, and not just because he is a boss put there.
- borplk 9y ago
  > 4. Get together as much as you can on a real "team building exercise" - the whole team in another city for at least 2 days with a great party and lots of eating and drinking on company dime... I deeply despise this trend.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - muzani 9y ago
    I find that a lot of really bad leaders do this a lot for some reason. The best organizations are often targeting something epic, which builds camaraderie in itself.
    - borplk 9y ago
      Yeah. If you have to be beer buddies with people you work with you don't understand what professionalism is.
      - SirLJ 9y ago
        This is not about beer buddies after work, this is about getting together once or twice a year to get to know each other a bit more... I am going to answer here the person who deleted the long message yesterday saying saying he/she rather play PlayStation alone and so forth (hopefully he/she will read this) If one of my employees is having panic attacks thinking about the yearly team building diner and drinks, then we are having a big problem... We need to sit down talk about it and find a solution, professional help, whatever it takes to go over this, because it is juts not healthy! Not to mention on how this person will react in a real stressful situation, let's say the part of the network is down, systems affected, the company is loosing money on SLAs, big debugging call in the middle of the night - this kind of real pressure will for sure either damage a fragile person or at least case a burn out... Mental health is no joke and have to be taken very seriously...
        nicholas73 9y ago
        You sound like you know how to work with others. How do you like life as a (solo?) trader then?
        SirLJ 9y ago
cottonseed 9y ago
Camille Fournier's The Manager's Path: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do
muzani 9y ago
1. Figure out the right thing to do. Be brutally honest to yourself as the biggest source of falsehood is what you want to believe. 2. Do the right thing. 3. Do it fast. Great books on this: Ben Horowitz's "The Hard Thing About Hard Things", Andy Grove's "Only The Paranoid Survive", Jocko Wilink & Leif Babin's "Extreme Ownership".
andrei_says_ 9y ago
There are people, who: - when they are in the room, others pay attention to them and wait for their opinion - when they start speaking, everyone listens - when they decide they want to go or do something, the rest follow Be that person.
gvajravelu 9y ago
1. Great communication skills: Both for communicating with the people who report to you and for the people you report to 2. Understanding the business's goals: This will help you prioritize projects in a way that helps the business the most 3. Managing office politics: Your direct reports may be gunning for each other's jobs or your own. You need to get everyone to work as a team instead of working as individuals. Improving your emotional intelligence can help here. 4. Knowing where to get help managing when you need it. Often talking to your boss or a former boss is a great way to go. You might find this article I wrote helpful: https://www.climbuptheladder.com/how-to-be-a-great-manager/ https://www.climbuptheladder.com/how-to-be-a-great-manager/.

15 points by dillmac 9y ago

Suggestion, blog or book?

dmfdmf 9y ago

https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/ https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/

Spooky23 9y ago
Thank you. This is great.

SirLJ 9y ago

1. You have to have your people's back, this is the most important thing... be there for them 24/7, insulate them from problems and management stupidity and always fight for them. 2. lead by example, never ask them to do something you won't do yourself. 3. Communicate, I have booked on afternoon a week from 14:00pm till 16:00 and more to just talk with my team and discuss everything from work, to weather, sports, to bitch and moan against the company, etc... 4. Get together as much as you can on a real "team building exercise" - the whole team in another city for at least 2 days with a great party and lots of eating and drinking on company dime...

nicholas73 9y ago
Second this. There needs to be a clear benefit to following someone, and not just because he is a boss put there.
borplk 9y ago
> 4. Get together as much as you can on a real "team building exercise" - the whole team in another city for at least 2 days with a great party and lots of eating and drinking on company dime... I deeply despise this trend.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- muzani 9y ago
  I find that a lot of really bad leaders do this a lot for some reason. The best organizations are often targeting something epic, which builds camaraderie in itself.
  - borplk 9y ago
    Yeah. If you have to be beer buddies with people you work with you don't understand what professionalism is.
    - SirLJ 9y ago
      This is not about beer buddies after work, this is about getting together once or twice a year to get to know each other a bit more... I am going to answer here the person who deleted the long message yesterday saying saying he/she rather play PlayStation alone and so forth (hopefully he/she will read this) If one of my employees is having panic attacks thinking about the yearly team building diner and drinks, then we are having a big problem... We need to sit down talk about it and find a solution, professional help, whatever it takes to go over this, because it is juts not healthy! Not to mention on how this person will react in a real stressful situation, let's say the part of the network is down, systems affected, the company is loosing money on SLAs, big debugging call in the middle of the night - this kind of real pressure will for sure either damage a fragile person or at least case a burn out... Mental health is no joke and have to be taken very seriously...
      - nicholas73 9y ago
        You sound like you know how to work with others. How do you like life as a (solo?) trader then?
        SirLJ 9y ago

cottonseed 9y ago

Camille Fournier's The Manager's Path: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do

muzani 9y ago

1. Figure out the right thing to do. Be brutally honest to yourself as the biggest source of falsehood is what you want to believe. 2. Do the right thing. 3. Do it fast. Great books on this: Ben Horowitz's "The Hard Thing About Hard Things", Andy Grove's "Only The Paranoid Survive", Jocko Wilink & Leif Babin's "Extreme Ownership".

andrei_says_ 9y ago

There are people, who: - when they are in the room, others pay attention to them and wait for their opinion - when they start speaking, everyone listens - when they decide they want to go or do something, the rest follow Be that person.

gvajravelu 9y ago

1. Great communication skills: Both for communicating with the people who report to you and for the people you report to 2. Understanding the business's goals: This will help you prioritize projects in a way that helps the business the most 3. Managing office politics: Your direct reports may be gunning for each other's jobs or your own. You need to get everyone to work as a team instead of working as individuals. Improving your emotional intelligence can help here. 4. Knowing where to get help managing when you need it. Often talking to your boss or a former boss is a great way to go. You might find this article I wrote helpful: https://www.climbuptheladder.com/how-to-be-a-great-manager/ https://www.climbuptheladder.com/how-to-be-a-great-manager/.