Commit 2018 — Motivating teams
This year, on the Commit Conf, I was given the opportunity of moderating what they called an “unconference” session. For those who don’t know what this is, it is similar to an open-space, where The Law of Two Feet still applies.
I have to confess it was my first experience running a session of this kind but I had so much fun and benefit from it, that I want to share it. It was amazing seeing how the room was full the entire session and I have to thank all the participants for coming and collaborating: we shared a lot and got really nice ideas to apply.
The topic of the session was “How can a team be motivated?” and I asked a few questions to break the ice, playing the game “stand up those who…”. We discovered that the audience was quite diverse: there were people working on big companies, on startups, running their own business… People in charge of people and people without that responsibility but worried about their own motivation… Manager, developers, designers, marketing people… I think this was key to have an enriched experience.
To start the session, I explained why I proposed this topic. For those who don’t know me, I was promoted to manager a year and a half ago and it has been a whole new experience. The begin wasn’t easy but I thought I had everything under control until I had to face my first real crisis as manager: my team was demotivated and I didn’t know how to bring them back. This situation was frustrating me and I entered in a cycle: the more frustrated I got, the less motivated my team was. To break that cycle, I made myself a question: what motivates me? And with that question, I started the session.
Do we think motivation comes only from your manager? Do we know what motivates us? Are we doing something to keep ourselves motivated? How can we bring the motivation back and whose responsibility is it?
After a not-so-long session (even if it was 1 hour and a half long!), these are the points we got:
- buddy vs mentoring: mentoring is a good way to learn what motivates you but it’s a bidirectional relationship. This means we can’t push for something if the other part doesn’t want to. The buddy is a role that even if it’s not official in the company, appears on its own and helps a lot to new people on their first days at the company.
2. be proactive, we can’t wait for the motivation to appear magically
3. start from the trenches: changing the culture and processes of your company can be hard, even impossible. Therefore start from your team, try new things and if they work, propose them to other teams and the company
4. as a manager, set your expectations right, not everyone wants to/can be motivated.
5. don’t be afraid of change, as sometimes is the only option to bring the motivation back
6. as a manager, try to find a balance between team roles & experience. Overloading always the seniors with the responsibility of teaching the juniors can be demotivating
7. team buildings are a good way to create a good environment, but people are those who create a good environment, we can’t forget about it. We should take care of personal relationship and create a space for no-work conversation, for example, “the sandwichito” time ;). Gather personal information from partners and share your life as much as you can. Try to create an environment where people feel involved (knowing all teams goals and so on)
8. bootcamp: another good practice to avoid the frustration of the newbies
9. be polite/humble/ trust / be honest: it applies everywhere: chats, code reviews, coffee time…
10. 1:1 with a lead/manager: and talk to your lead about workmates motivation and feelings
11. pair programming, not only as a knowledge transfer but as a way to improve the relationship with your partners
12. people backup, as we want to avoid the bus factor, especially when inside the bus only goes one person ;). Take the chance of the mentoring or the bootcamp to share the knowledge. As a manager, mix the roles up and offer the possibility of leaving the comfort zone.
13. how to measure motivation? you can feel it (velocity, quality, mood, etc). There are also tools to check daily mood (Niko Niko)
14. how to deal with company issues? For example, by gathering the whole company once a month for a Q&A. Motivation should be a win-win with your company. Remember, company culture matters. Try also to know your company culture and why is this way
15. communication & transparency. And transparency vs honesty: sometimes is better to say you can’t tell something than being completely transparent
16. say sorry and it applies to all roles: managers also make mistakes. Admit them!
17. have data to support your arguments
18. self-motivation, if you don’t know what motivates you, nobody will. And motivation changes with the experiences in your personal life. Ensure you revisit it frequently
19. how to solve cultural issues? (Especially with different countries and so on). For example with gamification or learn something about the other culture
20. Impostor syndrome
21. choose your battles. Try to make an impact and improve your company if you don’t like it but knowing your limits. It is important to know when to stop
22. can someone be motivated? As a manager, ask your team their motivations and expectations. It can be difficult but everyone has a motivation, so try to find it. Anyway, everyone should be looking for balance by being patient. Give a try to other’s proposals and use your common sense. Everyone needs to feel that he is creating something useful.
23. as a manager, try to balance motivational vs demotivational tasks
24. as a lead: be an umbrella but transparent
We ended up the session with an observation: the age average in the room was slightly higher than usual in this kind of conferences
- Is motivation related to age/experience?
- are we too whine? Do we look too much for commodities?
It was a great experience and I want to thank Joaquin Engelmo Moriche for proposing me to do it and for being there during the session. Without him and his notes, this post wouldn’t have been possible!
