3 ms·

One of the things I was taught was that when leading/managing a team, the six things (in order of importance) you should focus on for ensuring a high performing

by tobtoh 16y ago

One of the things I was taught was that when leading/managing a team, the six things (in order of importance) you should focus on for ensuring a high performing satisfied team are: 1. Clarity - ensure your team understands the end goal and what they are trying to achieve 2. Standards - ensure standards are set (standard for quality of work, behaviour etc) 3. Responsibility - give employees responsibility, trust and hold them accountable for their actions 4. Flexibility - give employees control over their work day, don't spoonfeed or straitjacket them 5. Recognition & Rewards - positive feedback etc 6. Teaming - ensure a team spirit is developed As someone who has managed technial teams from 4 to 90 people, I've found these 6 factors are a pretty good guide. Most people focus on #5 and #6 when discussing how to have a productive team, but you seldom see #1 to #4 mentioned - they may be self-evident, but I've seen more teams suffer from the first four factors being absent or neglected than not.

cookiecaper 16y ago
They're not mentioned or enumerated because it's not popular to provide those things. When people get in positions that are ostensibly powerful, they more often than not cherish their position of power, and things that seem to trivialize that power, like hands-off delegation or allowing real flexibility, are not seen as pleasing, even if they produce better results in the long run. In many cases, even if you have someone in control of a certain group who is not threatened by proper management, his boss or his boss's boss will find such a style of governance ridiculous and think that the good manager is slacking off all day because he's not nitpicking or ordering around his employees, because the boss or the boss's boss is one of the people described earlier. I once worked for a great manager who was canned after eight months because his boss couldn't understand non-egocentric management techniques. Management consultants don't sell this advice because management consultants don't make money by producing good managers, they make money by making their clients happy and getting referrals, and advice like 3 and 4 does not please very many "powerful" people.
- tobtoh 16y ago
  Yup - sadly I have to agree with you - and unfortunately with no support from senior management, all that encourages is PHB behaviour. However, part of being a good manager (although they seldom teach managers how to do this) is being able to manage the boss/senior management/execs so that those people develop the confidence to allow the manager to exercise their 'non-egocentric management style' - it's a lot of work and damn hard if the senior managers don't have faith in this, but it can be done. In my experience, my bosses do trust me because every time I delegate responsibility to my team and they complete the task successfully, I make a point of saying 'I told you so'. But I've had to put my own reputation on the line many times backing my team to do the job without my micro-management. And I the reason I have confidence in my team is because I spend a lot of time coaching my team leads and senior techs who in turn coach the rest of the team. Ultimately, IMHO, the key to a good manager is one who spends time with their team and has the strength to carve out time in their daily routine to do so. It isn't an easy task and sadly often goes unsupported and unrecognised. Edit: Oh and the way I carve out time for my team - I let any phone call that is not from a recognised number (and even some that do) go through to voicemail. My staff are always amazed when they are talking with me that I will ignore a ringing phone (even if it's from my boss) and focus on them. My argument is that even if a system has gone down, there are plenty of 'escalation' contacts to try - the manager should not be the micro-managing escalation bottleneck - especially when they are engaged in face to face conversations. To me, it's basic respect - but I also find that by following this policy, people gain confidence in the rest of the team to handle escalations and I gain so much valuable time which I then invest back in my team.
sdizdar 16y ago
True, but I think the most important part is missing: challenge and growth. My first boss had mantra: Grow or Go. There is a misunderstanding that only top performers want to grow. Actually, all team members want to grow, but in different areas and at different pace. In other words, good manager must always ensure that team members are challenged and they have feeling of actual growth and accomplishments. I believe that "growth" is the most neglected part. And I think it is most neglected part because majority of companies have only two "growth paths": management and individual contributors while majority of people don't nicely fit into these categories.
hurt 16y ago
I've found #1 absolutely essential for my motivation on both a personal and professional level. When I don't understand where I'm going or what I'm trying to do I just procrastinate (and often get depressed). I've found it a really difficult lesson to learn, how to sit down and break tasks down into parts that I can actually accomplish.

by tobtoh 16y ago

cookiecaper 16y ago

They're not mentioned or enumerated because it's not popular to provide those things. When people get in positions that are ostensibly powerful, they more often than not cherish their position of power, and things that seem to trivialize that power, like hands-off delegation or allowing real flexibility, are not seen as pleasing, even if they produce better results in the long run. In many cases, even if you have someone in control of a certain group who is not threatened by proper management, his boss or his boss's boss will find such a style of governance ridiculous and think that the good manager is slacking off all day because he's not nitpicking or ordering around his employees, because the boss or the boss's boss is one of the people described earlier. I once worked for a great manager who was canned after eight months because his boss couldn't understand non-egocentric management techniques. Management consultants don't sell this advice because management consultants don't make money by producing good managers, they make money by making their clients happy and getting referrals, and advice like 3 and 4 does not please very many "powerful" people.

tobtoh 16y ago
Yup - sadly I have to agree with you - and unfortunately with no support from senior management, all that encourages is PHB behaviour. However, part of being a good manager (although they seldom teach managers how to do this) is being able to manage the boss/senior management/execs so that those people develop the confidence to allow the manager to exercise their 'non-egocentric management style' - it's a lot of work and damn hard if the senior managers don't have faith in this, but it can be done. In my experience, my bosses do trust me because every time I delegate responsibility to my team and they complete the task successfully, I make a point of saying 'I told you so'. But I've had to put my own reputation on the line many times backing my team to do the job without my micro-management. And I the reason I have confidence in my team is because I spend a lot of time coaching my team leads and senior techs who in turn coach the rest of the team. Ultimately, IMHO, the key to a good manager is one who spends time with their team and has the strength to carve out time in their daily routine to do so. It isn't an easy task and sadly often goes unsupported and unrecognised. Edit: Oh and the way I carve out time for my team - I let any phone call that is not from a recognised number (and even some that do) go through to voicemail. My staff are always amazed when they are talking with me that I will ignore a ringing phone (even if it's from my boss) and focus on them. My argument is that even if a system has gone down, there are plenty of 'escalation' contacts to try - the manager should not be the micro-managing escalation bottleneck - especially when they are engaged in face to face conversations. To me, it's basic respect - but I also find that by following this policy, people gain confidence in the rest of the team to handle escalations and I gain so much valuable time which I then invest back in my team.

sdizdar 16y ago

True, but I think the most important part is missing: challenge and growth. My first boss had mantra: Grow or Go. There is a misunderstanding that only top performers want to grow. Actually, all team members want to grow, but in different areas and at different pace. In other words, good manager must always ensure that team members are challenged and they have feeling of actual growth and accomplishments. I believe that "growth" is the most neglected part. And I think it is most neglected part because majority of companies have only two "growth paths": management and individual contributors while majority of people don't nicely fit into these categories.

hurt 16y ago

I've found #1 absolutely essential for my motivation on both a personal and professional level. When I don't understand where I'm going or what I'm trying to do I just procrastinate (and often get depressed). I've found it a really difficult lesson to learn, how to sit down and break tasks down into parts that I can actually accomplish.