Tag: team work

Delivery

FabrizioLeave a comment

If all you give your employees are tasks, you can certainly expect them to execute them, perhaps even a bit before the deadline and with a little less resources than originally planned, sometimes with some more effort than it would normally require.

Expectations, though, should not be extended to the quality of their work (it will meet specs, and that’s pretty much it) and on their commitment to finding new ways, establishing new relationships, solving new problems, identifying new interesting questions.

If all you give your employees are tasks, delivery is pretty much all you can ask in return. And that’s not something you can change with a clap of hands.

Openly ask

FabrizioLeave a comment

Do you ever bother to openly ask?

A team member, what they would like to work on.

A customer, how they will be using your product.

A user, what topic would they be happy receiving content about.

Your partner, how would they feel if something would happen.

Your boss, what’s keeping them up at night.

Most of our businesses and lives are based on assumptions. Sometimes we hide them under the labels “experience” and “data”, and yet assumptions they are and they will be.

Should we instead bother and ask the question?

Interactions

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In a period in which everyone (rightfully) promotes remote and flexible work, and in which technology is at such a stage to make these things very possible, let’s not forget the importance of having a face-to-face chat, of getting to know the people you work with on a personal level, of being able to sit at the same table with others to crack a problem that’s preventing you from moving forward.

Human beings need these types of interaction, and it is strongly correlated to their motivation, engagement and to the quality of their work.

Three ways to manage

Fabrizio1 Comment

Three different ways to manage people.

Here is how you do it – This is the way of (micro)management, telling people what is the right way to do their job. We like to think of this way as a way of the past, a way of the age of manual production lines and repetitive tasks. The objective of this way is to achieve more with less, and for this reason jobs are highly scrutinized, controlled and standardized.

Here is what to do – This is the way of project management. There’s a job to do, the manager splits it into discrete tasks, and assigns the tasks to those who report to them (or sometimes those who report to them get to pick the task they want). There’s usually some sort of performance review attached to this way, and it’s fairly straightforward, as the tasks need to be ready on time, on budget, and on scope.

Here is what to figure out – This is the way of leadership. We know we have a problem, we have identified the problem and agreed on a fairly broad definition of it, and now let’s bring our expertise, knowledge, skills together to attempt to solve it. Measurements do not really fit well with this way of management, and that’s perhaps why so many people feel uncomfortable with it.

Chosen

FabrizioLeave a comment

When choosing someone for a task, make sure you clarify the reason why they’ve been chosen.

You were the first one entering the door this morning.

Everyone else is very busy at the moment.

We’ve already purchased a license for you.

I allocated the tasks so that everyone has a fair chance to show their value.

Sure, these are reasons, and they are used more often than one thinks. But if we leave these decisions to chance or rationality, chances are the person chosen will not really feel motivated to do the task. After all, if anyone can do it, why give that little bit more, why deliver your best game, why bother in the first place.

We consider this a critical task for the company, because of X and Y. You have shown you can deliver fantastic job in this area, for example when Z. You have also told me that you are passionate about A and would like to contribute. This is why I could not think of anyone better in the team to take on this challenge and really turn things around. What do you think?

On the other hand, if the decision is based on a real knowledge of the other person, of their job, of their strengths, of their passions, of what they care about. Well, you can expect the outcome to be a whole lot different, can’t you?