Team Management Wisdom from Alfredo Morresi
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Being a team manager is a big responsibility, regardless of team size. What are the best practices to make the most out of this role? Where and how management and leadership converge? How to manage difficult moments and decisions? A brief history about what I have learned, errors included, with an eye to technical teams.
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Team Management Wisdom from Alfredo Morresi
- 1. Team management practical wisdom Alfredo Morresi - @rainbowbreeze Rome | March 22 - 23, 2019
- 2. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- 50% of employees get away from their manager to improve their overall life at some point in their career. 2015 Gallup survey, 7272 U.S. adults
- 3. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Managers have strong influence over people work life --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 4. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- “You serve your people, so they can get the job done”
- 5. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 6. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Alfredo Morresi Dev Communities Europe @ Google Tiramisù and snowboard lover rainbowbreeze@google.com
- 7. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Management and Leadership
- 8. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Management is about doing stuff - the day to day operations needed for the tactical things to get done Startwithwhy
- 9. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Leadership is the responsibility to see others around us rise Startwithwhy
- 10. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Management is not Leadership
- 11. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- But we need both to be successful
- 12. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- “You serve your people to get the job done”
- 13. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- You serve your people to get the job done
- 14. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Find the kind of manager you are. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 15. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Find the kind of manager you are. And stick to it. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 16. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <--
- 17. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- You serve your people to get the job done
- 18. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Shield your team from external complexity --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 19. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Create a psychologically safe environment --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 20. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Connect the dots --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 21. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Be available --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 22. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- You serve your people to get the job done
- 23. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Ask why they’re doing what they’re doing --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 24. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Every person in an entire universe, only partially related to the work --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 25. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- A single approach doesn’t rule them all --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 26. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <--
- 27. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- - Domain knowledge + -Proactivity+
- 28. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- High performers - Domain knowledge + -Proactivity+
- 29. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- - Domain knowledge + -Proactivity+ Newcomers High performers
- 30. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- - Domain knowledge + -Proactivity+ Newcomers High performers Untapped potential
- 31. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- - Domain knowledge + -Proactivity+ Newcomers Untapped potential High performers
- 32. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Newcomers Untapped potential Need mentoring Absorb (and shape) team culture They have fresh ideas Unbiased view on team friction points High performers --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <--
- 33. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Newcomers Untapped potential High performers Empower with autonomy, responsibility and challenges They’ll leave, sooner or later. Or take your seat They set the team mood, positively --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <--
- 34. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Untapped potential Help to (re)discover their passions
- 35. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Help them to find a better place to stay Newcomers --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <--
- 36. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- You serve your people to get the job done
- 37. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Define the work culture --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 38. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Fail is OK --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 39. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Contribute to the team mood --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 40. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- You help your people to get the job done
- 41. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Set the vision --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 42. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- And how to get there Set the vision --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 43. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Clear assignations and connection points --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 44. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Protect the added value of your team --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 45. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- You serve your people to get the job done
- 46. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Define clear boundaries for a “done” job --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 47. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Set realistic deadlines --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 48. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Credits to Unsplash
- 49. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- “You serve your people, so they can get the job done”
- 50. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <--
- 51. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <--
- 52. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Come to the GDG community booth
- 53. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- Google Developers Group
- 54. --> @rainbowbreeze <----> Alfredo Morresi <-- “You serve your people, so they can get the job done”
Editor's Notes
- Let’s start analyzing a research: A Gallup study on 7,272 U.S. adults revealed that one in two had left their job to get away from their manager to improve their overall life at some point in their career. Managers are not creating environments in which employees feel motivated or even comfortable. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236570/employees-lot-managers.aspx
- So it seems managers have an important influence over people work life. From great power comes great responsibility. How to exercise this influence at its best? I’m going to share with you some personal advices on how to exercise this influence in a good way How many managers are here?
- I’m providing you the main takeaway of the entire talk, at the beginning. And it is… You serve your people, so they can get the job done - Every single action you do as team manager has to be connected with this sentence here, has to provide a positive benefit to it, serving your people to allow them to get the job done. Take a picture, tweet the slide, and now you can move and enjoy another talk.
- You’re still here. OK, great, so probably you’re interested in knowing more about that. Let’s analyze the sentence word by word
- But first, let's make the necessary introduction
- How many of you think management is leadership? Different? Don’t have an opinion?
- First, let’s clarify the origin of this sentence.
- How many of you know Simon Sinek? If you’re in this room and you don’t know him… Well, it should be the first search on Wikipedia you run as soon as my talk is finished.
- Event if we have different definitions of leaders and managers in you mind, probably we can all agree that these two models are different
- But we need both, in my opinion, to run a successful team
- And here the origin of the sentence I shown you. There is the leadership part, “You help your people”, and the management part “to get the job done”. Time to break it down even further, one word at time.
- Let’s start from the first word in the sentence. You. Yes, because I believe being a manager is, first, an introspective journey inside yourself.
- You need to first understand yourself, before understanding the other. I would say it’s a mutual discovering process. There are lot of positive management styles, based on the person you are. You may be the kind of manager that leave lot of freedom to their people. Or the one that try to create the best environment to allow them to be successful. Or you’re more toward the avoid surprises approach. Or you can be more an introvert person, so you prefer processes to regulate communication. Or a very empathetic one and you infer lot of information from casual conversations with your reportees. In any case, your people will notice before you. So you need to find it as fast as possible. Ask around to your friends. To your closer colleagues (and not reporting to you). Write down your skills and attributes, there are plenty of this exercise around.
- And once you find it, stick to it. You cannot change the core nature of what kind of person you are. People prefer consistency in relationships. They’ll value your honesty and your transparency with them. You opened yourself, they’ll eventually open to you. Of course, as human being, we’re responsible of a continuous improvement process, to always be a better version of ourselves (more on that later). But you cannot be who you aren’t. Remember: there is nothing starting from you that doesn’t depend on who how are
- For example, I’m very oriented to the Servant Leadership model, a leadership philosophy in which the main goal of the leader is to serve. This is different from traditional leadership where the leader's main focus is the thriving of their company or organizations. A Servant Leader shares power, puts the needs of the employees first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. It’s like UX: I put my team member first, I try to maximize their own experience
- Let’s move to one of the two verbs of the sentence. Serve. We've already seen what does “to serve” mean. Now let's see how. There are several ways you can serve your team. Some of them are crucial
- How to help: shielding you team member from external complexity. There are several kind of complexities you should consider. And, of course, the bigger the organization is, the more complex it is. One is information complexity. Every company layer has its own level of abstraction in term of information processed. You’ve to be the connector between the upper layer and the rest of your people. You’ve to capture meaningful information, process it and offered digested version to your team. Bureaucracy is boring for everyone. But if your team members spent time in dealing with it, they won’t spend time in getting the job done. So, save time for them taking care of the repetitive bureaucracy, or make the process smoother and quicker
- It’s manager responsibility to create a psychological safe work environment. Allow team member to feel safe expressing themselves in the team. Who they are, what they think, how they behave. This is connected with the themes of Diversity and Inclusion. Diversity in the team is a value. And inclusion is a behavior everyone should have. People shouldn’t spend time and resources in trying to be a different person because they think it’s the only model accepted in the team. If everyone has the possibility to be simply herself, they’ll feel saver, more comfortable and will contribute more to the team, because of the safety. How to foster it? In the best teams, members listen to one another and show sensitivity to feelings and needs. And managers should favorite this approach. Practice Active listening. Foster empathy. Establish a bond. And those human bonds matter as much at work as anywhere else. In fact, they sometimes matter more.
- You have a broader view, you know how to connect the dots. In term of processes, in term of benefits that cannot be worthwhile for a single part of the team, but have a sense in a bigger picture. You’re the one collecting information all around, and making the introductions and the connections. You have access to rooms and discussions other team members don’t have. Find opportunities for them. Connect each other in our team. Create many:many relationships. Don’t take as a given the fact that because the people are in the same team, they know everything they need to know about what’s going on in the team, other members’ need etc.
- Some managers believe that a certain inaccessibility is the mark of a true leader. A few even think it is a symbol of their authority. They couldn’t be more wrong. When someone who works for you wants to talk, it’s only good management to make yourself available promptly. Availability is also a mood. If you are impatient, uninterested, hard to get to, overly critical, or inattentive, nobody is going to consult you about anything until it is absolutely necessary. If they know you’re interested in what they are doing, and if you give them a chance, they’ll gladly talk. Astute leaders don’t become openly irritated if the news isn’t good. We all prefer good news to bad—that’s human—but when bosses grow angry when things aren’t going right, employees are reluctant to speak up when there’s trouble. Problems shouldn’t have to reach the crisis stage before managers hear about them Good decisions are almost never made in an ivory tower. Keep in touch, ask questions, encourage feedback. If keeping you informed is a pleasant experience, people will do so gladly. If it isn’t, they won’t. It’s really up to you. You’re here for them. And not the opposite way around.
- People I hate wording like “human resources”. Our human assets. People are people. And this is where you can find the highest value.
- Ask their reasons. Why they do what they do. It’s very Simon Sinek oriented, start with why. But it’s an incredibly powerful exercise Emotions. Us, humans, are all moved by emotions. Why may apply rationality on top, but at the end we’re all moved by emotions. So try to understand what these emotions are, what moves them. More on https://www.rainbowbreeze.it/importance-team-why-we-do-what-we-do/
- This is tricky and hard. But imagine a person not performing so well. Being constantly upset and uncollaborative. For sure this is not a great team behavior and will influence negatively the other her. Time for a conversation with the boss, to reset the right path, eh? But what if this person has a very complex situation at home, maybe she’s unable to sleep properly because every night she has to assist the significant other or a parent at the hospital? Or maybe some close friend is going thru a very negative moment, and this reflects a lot in the person’s mood? As a manager, you won’t be the friend of everyone in the team, or the first person they’ll reach for open-up themselves. Nevertheless, you have to consider how complex every single person is, how external factors can influence the person during the work time too. And develop this strange attitude called empathy, also known as the ability to put in someone else shoes. Remember, we’re all humans, we have our up and down moments. And, as a manager, your role is to minimize the impact of the down moments, and maximize the benefits of the up moments.
- It’s tempting to deal with all the person in your team in the same way. Well, it doesn’t work, unless you have a team of clones. Every person is different and has she own way to inspired to provide her best. Over time, a good manager develops a sensibility and knows the best way to deal with each person. Again, in order to get the job done. In the meantime, the good news is that you can create “clusters” of similar people, and adopt a similar approach for all the people in the same cluster, at least initially when you don’t know the people.
- Allow me to introduce a magic tool in the management world. The quadrant! Every presentation about team management has to have a quadrant, like every presentation on marketing has to have a funnel or a pipeline generation slide. So, I paid my tribute to the gods of presentation. Let’s now explore it
- Among the many I’ve seen, I found one particularly useful, to help me to better decide the approach to follow with my team members. And this quadrant put together enthusiasm (so, an emotion) and domain knowledge. At the end, if you think about the main ingredients to make the job done, you’ll need the ability to do it, and the will to do it. There are lot of other context skills, but if you lack one of these two, there is no way you can achieve your goals. And time, of course, is important. But I hope we’re all aware of the implicit agreement in a job contract. “With money, I take part of your time for me”. So, let’s suppose time is solved and focus on what happens during this time of the people in the company.
- Let’s start with the easy part. Team members with domain knowledge and proactive. The high performers. They do, and they do well This is the the kind of people every good manager would like to have, and keep in the team.
- Still proactive, but with nothing to few domain knowledge, we have the newcomers in the team. People that just joined, are excited to be part of your group, eager to provide their contribution and added value
- When someone has domain knowledge, but lack of proactivity, they’re an untapped potential situation.
- Finally, when there is no knowledge and no proactivity... Well, there is very little you can do. I call it “the area of sadness”. Let’s see now behavioral patterns I generally apply with this different categories. Remember, the final goal is to support them to get the job done, to understand where, are as manager, your highest added value is. This is your main task as a manager. So, can I provide to this different categories of team members?
- Newcomers are just arrived into the team, they don’t know the team culture and they have a vague idea of the team day-to-day and infrastructure. My added value, as a manager, is to provide them knowledge. Guide them to understand the team, themselves and what they can do for the team. So it’s important the manager find consistent mentorship occasions for them, both providing themself or involving other other team members, to introduce them to the role and to the team culture. Newcomers are often able to bring a fresh view to the team, so listening to them carefully is important: they can bring new ideas and they’re generally very good in identifying friction points in the team processes and habits. Remember, you shouldn’t necessarily be the person providing all of that. But it’s your the one accountable to having this done
- High performers need challenges to keep their enthusiasm high and to valorize their deep domain knowledge. So the main help a manager can provide is to scout for them for these challenges, give autonomy and responsibility. They’re generally smart, so except sooner or later the team ceiling will become their bottleneck, and they can find elsewhere. Also expect one day they can take your seat, and this may be an opportunity for a manager to move to a new role. If they want, of course: management shouldn’t be necessarily the next step for high performer people, as not everyone like this career path: some people simply want to do, and not to manage. They also are an example for the team, and are generally very influent You generally spend very few time supporting these people, as you should spend more time listening to their feedback for you.
- Let’s talk about the untapped potential, people that have a strong domain knowledge, but lack of proactivity. As a manager, the best you can do for them is to help them to rediscover their passions and the reasons they’re in that particular team. Maybe their heart is elsewhere (problems outside the work environment), or they’ve been deluded by the team / company in the past. Or imposter syndrome situation In general, you spend with these people more time talking about their personal motivations / emotions / views, that talking about the work itself, because they know how it should be done. Find the emotions and the levers they can use to get back their proactivity. They could also be the ones spreading negativity about the team
- For the non proactive and non knowleadgeable, I think the only real help you can provide is to support them in finding another place where they can rediscover the happiness to do what they like to do. I know, it’s not easy for several of them. Nevertheless, is crucial, and this is where you should spend the majority of your time with them. In addition, they generally poison the team with their negativity, so the earlier they leave, the better.
- Getting, for me, are the contextual elements where people work, physically or emotionally speaking.
- People can obtain the same result while being in different contexts. It’s a manager duty to define the work culture. With culture, I mean the group of values orienting the behaviors of the members. Based on the kind of team you have. Do you have a creative team? Probably an open culture of feedback is the most important value. Do you manage a mission-critical team? So probably accountability for the work is crucial. And, of course, also openness to feedback is, but there are always a set of key values that define the team culture based on what the team is working on. I personally suggest to always go with positive values Don't forget diversity and inclusivity in your team values Every new person joining the team will shape the culture. Help them to absorb it, not to impact with it
- Regardless the work culture, it’s crucially to accept failure as part of the process to learn and get the job done. Fail fast, fail controlled, fail in the process while getting the result. But failing is the way we learn and grow-up. Of course, there are several “environment” where it better to not fail badly. But, in any case, you should engineer for failure, because is something you cannot avoid. And accepting it also contributes to a more positive team mood.
- Connected to team culture, there is team mood. Mood is the collective result of how people feel. It’s time dependent. You can have a very collaborative team, but with a negative mood because an important project has been canceled, or the team is living a stressful period. As a manager, you’re accountable for important contributions to the team mood. Again, it’s all about people emotion, remember. Sign of micro-appreciation can help in a stressful moment. Say “Thank you for…” Going out for a dinner and celebrate an achievement is a good way to demonstrate gratitude for what the team has done. Running an hackathon time to time to test new idea and allow people to play with technologies has often lot of positive outcomes.
- And we’re finally to this show but crucially important part of the sentence: “the job”. What job is? To me, this is where management and leadership intersect the most.
- As a team manager, you have to make sure your team has a vision. The vision is an aspirational description of what an organization would like to achieve in the mid-term or long-term future. It is intended to serves as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action. The vision provide the reason why every single day your team member wake up and come to work. The vision defines also what you aren’t. The vision provides focus and energy. And once you have the vision...
- As a manager, you also have the responsibility to define how to get there. You can have a great and very ambitious mission statement, but if no one has clues on how to reach it, probably you’re in trouble. You team wants to provide the best support service in the world, but then if no one knows how to get there, the vision cannot manifest its full potential. You have the why, you now are creating the how, and your team will take care of the what. Vision hasn’t to be top-down. Co-create the vision. Try asking your team member what is the vision, in their opinion. You’ll discover very interesting stuff. Review your vision time to time, but not too often. It should be here to stay. There are plenty of article on how to build a vision, I’ll leave them to you.
- Don’t leave team members in a situation where they don’t know who is responsible for what: ambiguity is enemy of efficiency and dramatically increases waste of time. Meetings without an owner, decisions without a responsible, etc, the list is long! The manager is responsible to have clear assignments, and it doesn’t mean you have to assign roles to people.
- There are situations where you should stand for your team, and protect it from “internal competitions”. Where you need to show the unique added value of the job done by your team to company’s stakeholders, advocating for it, and for the people in the team. This is a very important duty of you as a manager.
- Done
- Define what success looks like, people need to know when they’re done Especially in creative jobs, like development, the “done” part is not factual, and can vary person to person. Write code to launch a service? OK. But what about quality of code. What about documentation, tests, architecture? A manager is responsible for giving people reference metrics to understand if if they’re underperforming or overperforming. Collect what “done” means also outside the team, from other stakeholders, don’t live in a vacuum. You make your team indispensabile for the company when you can demonstrate your added value to the others.
- The “job done” happens in a timeline. So it’s crucial to establish deadlines. Orient the team culture toward specific time limits for specific achievements. One thing is to say “I’ll finish that proposal as soon as I get a chance”; quite another to decide “I’ll finish that proposal before I leave the office tonight.” In the first instance, you are setting the stage for procrastination and excuses; in the second, you are pinpointing a time by which you will accomplish a particular task. Make your deadlines realistic, that also consider stress levels and external factors. With deadlines come also priorities. It's your duty to have them assigned. Bring focus to the team, so they can accomplish what they’re called to do. Setting unrealistic deadlines grows team discouraged and team members give up and lose trust in you as a manager.
- Success doesn’t always happen. So, when it happens, recognize it. It helps a positive team mood. Do not consider success as a given. Celebration is not an autocelebrative exercise.
- That’s all. Word by word we explored this sentence.
- Here my list of suggested books: these two are good for life in general, not only for work situation. So, please read them even if you’re not a manager
- Drive is about behavioral economic, and tells a lot about people behavior. The 4DX is for team management, how to create a vision and align the whole team to it, in a very practical way.
- Meet GDG at the conference
- Speak about GDG group
- Questions