Team Management

People management is one of the areas where I personally believe that technical people are not on the top of their game. In this aspect I consider myself as technology manager more than a people manager. Today I will talk about how I have managed my team of about 20 highly skilled peers (I consider my team as my peers instead of my subordinates) in my previous role as the “Head – Servers and Storage”.

As a ground rule, when I work for any organization, for me there are always peers and superiors. There is no position termed “subordinate”. Each person has his/her own skills and as a team leader, it my first and foremost task to ensure that the peers in my team can deliver the best possible outcomes. In parallel, while working on day to day tasks, personal development is also a key aspect.

The second rule which I have is that for any issues which other team might have with my team, it is my responsibility and accountability. If there has been any issue caused (we are all humans and as humans we will make mistakes), it is always my responsibility as the team leader to take the grunt from the management. Post the incident, I do discuss the issue with the team and we work out our actions to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. This is key in building the trust. A team bonded with trust will always excel and shine. Such a team will never fail. There will be obstacles and together, we will support each other, learn from the mistakes and move forward.

The third rule, if there is a praise for the team, it is delivered directly to the team and there is no credit from me in there. It is their hard work and efforts which have borne the fruits. I was a mere guiding line to ensure my team always stayed focused on what they do best rather than worrying about management issues.

This brings up the fourth rule. Never get the team involved in management issues with other teams. I work with my team and know exactly who is doing what, the key strengths of every peer, the availability and constraints each one has. With this information, I am always ready for any commitments on their behalf. Once a commitment has been made by me, I ensure that the same information is immediately communicated back to the respective members. If there are any conflicts, I take this as my personal responsibility to ensure that I get the commitment from the team on the tasks and covey that back to the relevant stakeholders with the necessary justifications for the change.

It is a common mis-belief that once committed, it is impossible to go back and change it. In a corporate world, it is always better to be practical and open about the realistic goals and achievement rather than past commitments. A commitment made in past was based on information available at that time but things change. People have personal lives and day to day tasks. Sometimes these conflict with the commitments made and hence the targets have to be adjusted to ensure that the net result is favorable rather than putting a stick on the past commitment.

Last but not the least, I work with the team on the ground. I personally sit with the team and get my hands dirty at times. This gives me two benefits. First, I am close to my team members and we are all aware of our strengths and weakness. Second, it builds the trust between the members that there is someone to support team. No one is alone. Even though I will not be able to solve and support on each and every issue that comes but pragmatic approach, structured thinking, cool head and a third eye is always a savior in crisis situation.

In the moments of crisis, I always act as a shield and bridge of communication between my team/peers and the other teams. I ensure that there is no external pressure or disturbance to their problem-solving efforts and when needed, I do jump in to offer that external view and support.

Having listed on what I have been doing, I have already learnt a few things which I need to improve upon and I keep working on them as I progress in my career. The top on this list is of the expectation management. Every person has a desire to grow and excel in their careers. However, from an organization’s view, not everyone contributes at the same level and hence the growth of all cannot be same. This is the point of conflict which I constantly work on to manage. The balance between the individual view and the organization view. So far, my mantra here has been to be open and transparent with the team. I set the expectation with the team that not everyone will grow at the same time. We have to work together so if in a particular cycle, few members have out-grown others, we as a team ensure that come next cycle the other members will be on the top. This way in the long run, everyone is a winner. The team is always motivated and supportive of each other. This in turn provides the right foundation to both personal and organization growth. Dear Team, do let me know if you beg to differ on this.

For the other points, I will leave it to my team to share their view on where I need to improve on this public forum. I believe in the fact that there is no hiding for the short-comings. The more people know about it, the more you work on resolving it.