Getting teams to high-performance requires great leadership. Many books have been written about the topic, but when reality kicks in we often forget to apply the great things we’ve learned.
David Posey, Agile Coach at PayPal, has been coaching engineering leaders for the past 20+ years. Over the years of working with successful leaders like Ben Horowitz at Loudcloud and many others he has constructed his own 5 step method to help engineering managers become great leaders.
Watch the full course with David Posey on Leadership on Meemo.
1. Assemble a great team
Most people think assembling a great team just means hiring great people. It is pretty important and if all you do is hire well you will be in good shape. Another important aspect in assembling a great team is to fire well. Hiring one more good person adds incrementally, but removing a person, that doesn’t belong has a far greater impact.
“A key aspect in assembling a great team is to fire well”.
Hiring & Firing
If you are hiring 10 people, at least one is not a great fit. The problem you often see is that hiring managers don’t feel responsible for the bad hire. If you hired the person, interviewed them, gave them the work and did a lot more things to onboard them and still they failed then it was your judgement that was poor.
2. Set a long-term vision
Scrum teams set their own goals but your role as a leader is to set the vision and big goals. Communicate that long-term goal constantly to the team and be crystal clear about it. It is so important as it guides every decision you do.
3. Give clear feedback
Especially when you are building a new team from scratch — giving clear feedback is essential to a team’s success. Recognize every successful interaction of your team no matter how small.
You might be at some point ending up with a team that doesn’t seem to be able to get anything right. Don’t blame them. Look for the 1 thing they are doing right. Reinforce the small successes and what’s good. This is crucial to the success of a team.
“Recognize every successful interaction no matter how small”
4. Provide the tools & resources
Another key aspect of high-performing teams is to give them what they need to succeed. Do they have the right amount of time? Do they get feedback from customers? The list goes on.
Give your team the right tools & resources to succeed. Don’t know how? Just ask them: What can I add to your equation that would make you more effective?
5. Get out of the way
The final step in becoming a better manager is what David calls “getting out of the way”. We still see many young engineering managers doing their best attempt to help the team but often it is actually holding them back. The best thing is to get out of the way and trust them to do the job.
Your job as an engineering leader is to remove all the impediments and deal with the things your team shouldn’t be dealing with.
“Being an engineering leader is terrifying, exciting and thrilling. It is the hardest job and the easiest job you’ll ever do on the same day”
Find out more why and how to apply those steps in David’s Leadership course on Meemo. Download Meemo here and start learning today.
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