people success == hackathon success
A Hackcon VIII Workshop on how to build your ideal team!
Last month, I had the chance to (virtually) present at Hackcon VIII a workshop titled: people success == hackathon success. I attended the conference as an organizer last year, but was driven to give back and share my experience this year.
When creating my workshop, I was largely inspired by my work as the Sponsorship Director for nwPlus over the past year, along with my current role as Co-President. Whilst you can find the recording of the workshop here, I wanted to flush out and dive deep into the tools I spoke to and how you too, can support your team in realizing their full potential! If you’re considering on joining the nwFam, hopefully this insight pushes you to apply. Find out more at our event here or apply here!
If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better. — Ed Catmull
The above quote by Catmull summarizes my belief in how to establish and foster success within any organization — that people are foundational to realizing success, and the culture you establish will inevitability determine how little or how much success you realize! The end goal is to establish a brilliant team that will tackle any problem you throw at it, because ultimately, success is the culmination of tackling numerous problems.
The establishment of a brilliant team starts with the following stepping stones:
- Establishing a culture of trust
- Defining the goals and motivations of each individual on the team
- Understanding and realizing the role of the leader
Establishing a culture of trust 🤝
Trust is paramount to the success of any team, as it is the foundation for creating psychological safety for anyone and everyone on the team. Psychological safety is being able to show and employ one’s self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status or career. It is defined as a shared belief that the team is safe to take an interpersonal risk, and all team members are accepted and respected. In achieving a culture of trust, where everyone is able to feel psychologically safe, team members are willing and able to share any ideas they might have without fear of judgement and able to accept anything from the team.
One way that has helped me understand trust, is the concept of the trust battery, courtesy of Shopify. A trust battery is a metaphor for any relationship that may exist within an organization. When someone first joins a team, they create a 50% charged battery with every other person on the team. As time goes on, actions will either charge the battery — increasing the trust within the team, or deplete the battery — decreasing the trust within the team. This depiction drives home the idea that trust cannot be something built up by declaring that trust exists within a given team, rather it is the culmination of the little day to day actions where one proves to others they can be trusted and the vice versa exists.
Now we know what defines a trusting team, what can you do as an individual? You can put your trust in others. We all have times in our lives where we found it easier to divulge our insecurities to others because they had done the same to us; by giving your trust to others, you, in turn, give them the signal that they can trust you.
The next stepping stone we will traverse is defining the goals and motivations of each individual on your team. This is important because, we want to make sure that every team member feels like they are gaining something, be it new experiences or skills from the role. By defining your motivations, you have documented a clear reason “why you do, what you do” that can be referred to during times of hardship throughout the year. In communicating these motivations to the rest of the team, and in hearing theirs, this also allows for greater understanding across the team.
Defining goals and motivations 💡
The second piece of the puzzle encompasses your goals, that is what do you hope to accomplish/achieve in your role. This combined with your motivations will really be the fuel for your fire throughout the year. By understanding your teammates’ goals, you have the ability to do what is in your power to help see it to fruition, allowing them to grow from the experience.
In defining your own goals and motivations and by understanding those of your teammates, you have a guide that can spark a fire when you feel your drive diminishing. You also have greater insight into your team, to hopefully aid each of them in achieving their own definition of success in their role.
Understanding and realizing the role of the leader 📈
The last step before running your team like a well oiled machine is to understand the role of the leader. As an individual in a position of leadership, you want not only your current team to be realizing success, but think even bigger picture, that is — what can you do in your current year that will make things even easier for the leaders in future years?
Before we zoom out to the bigger picture, some of the things you can do to support your current team include having 1–1s with every team member on a regular cadence. These meetings help facilitate the establishment of trust and set aside explicit time for you to understand the motivations and goals of your team members. This time also allows you to address any questions, comments or concerns that have not yet been voiced in regular meetings.
One of the tools I have found crucial in my 1–1s is the Team Canvas, each of the boxes has great guiding questions that help you understand where each member of your team is at, whilst also being a valuable tool to help you reflect about your role. If possible, I would also encourage you to have a meeting where everyone runs through their own team canvas with the rest of the team.
Next steps… 👣
To recap, what can you do looking forward to the growth of the organization? This can be as simple as fostering leadership qualities within your current team, to taking on new initiatives that increase the overall impact of your organization. Overall, investing time into making sure that the next person in your role reaches your equal, if not more successful than yourself, is ultimately what matters. Good luck!
