A Guide to Creating a Dream Team with Happy Product Managers

It is quite difficult to overestimate the importance of a team, as these are people who are at the basis of the company’s success. Lets recollect a research by Jim Collins in his book “Good to Great”, where one of the foremost tasks of successful companies was nothing other than the formation of an efficient team.

“Those who have built great companies understand that an essential growth buster is not a market, technologies, competitors or a product. A crucial factor is an ability to find and retain people who are really important for the company.” — Jim Collins

In this article, we are going to give you some practical advice on how to create your dream team within the company. And we’ll learn the key steps to success in team creation.

What a dream team can’t exist without

Before claiming that an ideal team, with happy product managers, is a total myth, we suggest you go through this check list and asses your team in comparison.

1. Reasonable role distribution

Ichak Adizes has distinguished four key roles in the governance process. This model is so universal that it can be implemented even for team building. Let’s find out the key roles that can be managed by team members:

• Result producer — an executor. A person who creates products or services in the company. They know the best way through all the nuances of development and technology. They follow all the latest inventions and innovations within the domain to further their implementation in the work.
• Administrator — a controller. A manager. Usually a perfectionist. They follow all the process details. They analyze a situation and come up with plans. They are well organized. They ask lots of questions on the matter, and look for pitfalls.
• Entrepreneur — a mastermind. They generate new ideas, and aren’t afraid of taking risks. They elaborate on the strategic direction of a company and its development, and they master new perspectives. Entrepreneurs have a peculiar ability to predict — they have an intuitive sense of all the market tendencies and sentiments. As a result of these skills, the company creates successful projects.
• Integrator — a super glue. A team builder. They are always listening and hearing. They understand and try to help, convey a team’s ideas to management, and do everything so that they are brought to life. As a rule, they are entertainers, who organize various corporate events, team building exercises and meetings.

2. Exciting challenges and projects

People are extremely interested in showing their abilities, discovering something new inside themselves. They prefer working on tricky tasks. But when there are only typical projects that do not require new skills and self-development, routine both puts out the light in employees eyes and becomes a total killer of team spirit, and consequently the company.

3. Clear goals

Vagueness is a complete enemy of results and effectiveness. Before setting any tasks for employees, form your goals. They have to meet four simple requirements: be precise, measurable, restricted by a timeline, and also correspond to the concept of the whole project. And, certainly, a goal should be achievable, otherwise why waste the team’s time on a project that’s obviously doomed to fail?

“All you need is a purpose, a chain of trials and errors themselves will lead you to the desired results.” — H. Murakami

4. Convenient atmosphere

Work efficiency grows when all the conditions for work are provided: a cozy office, a pleasant atmosphere, unlimited tea and coffee and surely, yummies.

5. Equipment correspondent to tasks

Sure you can try inventing something brand new with the help of old-school equipment, but you will hardly be satisfied with the results.

Provide your team with the latest equipment so it will be a pleasure to work on. Trust that your employees will reward you with an impressive realization of existing tasks.

6. Unity and team spirit

It is natural that a dream team can’t do without cohesion, unity, and team spirit that unites and motivates employees to climb to new peaks.

7. Perspective of a career growth

You’ll agree that not many people are ready to come to work day by day and stagnate, realizing that today’s position is the pinnacle of their career. That’s why it is crucial to make your employees understand what they should aspire to.

8. Reward

The financial rewards (bonuses, cash rewards and other options of monetary motivation) should not be the only type of reward policy. Employees should be praised both in private and in public. Most people are vain and want their ego to be stroked and their achievements to be acknowledged.

There is a notion in psychology about “stroking” — all possible compliments, smiles, praise, and also physical contact (for example, a pat on the shoulder, shaking a hand, and if appropriate, an arm around someone).

Avoid pitfalls on the way to building a dream team

It’s not enough to hire the necessary people. A human is quite a difficult creature, as is a group of such people. That’s why not all companies succeed in assembling the product dream team, as a simple misunderstanding of psychology and needs, incorrect role division and many other factors can make even the most qualified specialist work with their left hands. Let’s look at the issues that are standing right in the way of your success:

1. Inability to understand task priority

Confusion is your main enemy. When there is no clear understanding of which tasks are to be done first and which can be postponed, time is simply wasted and it becomes frustrating. Save your employees from this annoyance and help distribute their work hours — set precise priorities for given tasks.

“Ability to manage means not to interrupt good people working.” — L. Kapitza

2. Incorrect goal setting

“The slowest who does not lose sight of his goal will always outstrip he who wanders aimlessly.” — G. E. Lessing

3. Incorrect goal distribution

Do not impose roles on the employees that don’t suit them. Analyze what they are best at and give them corresponding tasks. Develop their skills and praise their abilities.

4. An absence of an influential charismatic leader

It’s not enough to give someone power to manage the team. It’s extremely important that a leader is not a formality, but is credible among the employees. Management is an art — do not put it in the wrong hands.

5. Unclear career perspectives

The career ladder must be transparent — employees should know that they will get a desired promotion for their diligence, initiative and achievements.

6. Routine and boring projects

Not only creative people need to be “fed” by projects where they can implement their ideas and talents. Even technicians need diversity and tricky tasks where they can apply their abilities. Nobody likes monotony and dullness, except zombies and robots.

7. Absence of motivational factors

If you do not praise your employees for their efforts and great results, and on the whole take them for granted — don’t be surprised if they leave you sooner or later. And, if they stay, they will be unsatisfied and stop endeavoring. The dream team for sure will turn into a myth.

8. Conflicts and disagreements among teammates

Naturally, you don’t have to demand that your employees talk to each other in an overly polite way. It’s quite normal for disagreements to appear during the process of project development — as was said by Socrates, “The truth is born in argument.” But it’s extremely important that these arguments do not lead to destructive consequences and cause a division in the groups, or lead to hostility and other negative traits.

In summary, do the following to create your dream team

• Divide roles wisely.
• Each employee should work within their abilities.
• Mix day to day tasks with new tasks — dilute routine with exciting tasks and projects.
• Specify facts and focus on the essential things.
• Involve employees in the process — attract employees to participation in brainstorms, consult with those who know the technology better than you.
• Hold social events — corporate field trips, holidays and meetings help unite employees in an informal atmosphere, which blur the boundaries and break down all the communication barriers.
• Contribute to the growth — business books, seminars, classes. Teach and grow talents.
• Promote the most advantageous projects inside your team.