Leading Your Team in a High-Stress Environment
The value of leading by example and doing small things together to help your team build mutual trust.
Team building.
There’s so much that has already been written about it, so much knowledge that has been put out there over the centuries. But I think most of it boils down to only one thing:
Being there for your team.
If you can’t be there for your fellow teammate during their time of need, you are not a good teammate. And this applies to all kinds of situations, big or small.
“Leave no man behind” is a common military tenet, and it’s there for a reason. Militaries are supposed to be cohesive units, where all the team members function together as one well-oiled machine. And this can only happen when all the parties involved fully trust each other. They know that they will not be abandoned in their time of need.
So trust plays a huge role in your team’s functioning. Observe any good team in the world and you will notice the same thing. All the team members fully trust each other to have their backs.
What defines a team?
When team members don’t have mutual trust and accountability towards each other, can you really call it a team? You can’t. It’s just a bunch of individuals doing whatever feels right and most important to them. And that’s not how teams function, not good teams at least.
What defines a team is a common goal.
It often happens that you band together a solid group of people who start working towards a common goal, but gradually scatter and lose sight of it. When you’re developing a cutting edge product and you have strict deadlines to adhere to, this type of behavior is catastrophic.
And something like this happened with our team last week. Let me tell you about it and how our team lead turned it into a teachable moment.
Everyone needs to take ownership of the product
So we had been working on a high-stakes product for a while and the pressure had been rising as the deadline loomed closer. In the last few days, we started noticing a problematic behavior.
“I finished my tasks on time but none of the others did.”
“It’s not my fault they couldn’t fix their bugs on time. I fixed all of mine.”
“No, I didn’t think I should work on that task. It was assigned to him/her.”
Ever heard anything like this before? It’s the classic blame game where nobody wants to take responsibility for delivering the product like they own it. And that’s what was happening in our team as well at the time. It was evident that team spirit was fairly low and everyone needed a dose of inspiration.
So we went on a short trip.
Yep, that’s what we do at Skynox Tech when morale is low and the team needs a boost. We do a spontaneous activity together so we can get back into the zone.
You might be thinking how that helps. Well, let me explain.
Your team needs a common goal.
For my team, doing a spontaneous activity together always lets us find something to work towards together. And we succeeded in doing that once again. Sure, we had a lot of fun on the trip, and it was helpful in a multitude of ways. It was peaceful, relaxing, thrilling, and soulful all at once.
But there was this one particular event that was most memorable. And that is what I took back with me as the high point of our trip. Here’s what happened.
Leading by example
We were driving through the hills, stopping every now and then to admire the view, when we happened to come across a beautiful clearing. We instantly got out of our cars and decided to go explore. But we were quickly greeted by a pile of trash just sitting there ruining the whole view.
When you see something like that, it breaks your heart. You wonder how people can be so dumb and careless to leave their waste like that. And unfortunately, this is a common occurrence at hill stations in India. Their beauty is often marred by stray bottles and polythene bags scattered around.
It was obvious to all of us that it looked terrible and something needed to be done. But nobody was willing to act first. We were all just kind of standing there looking at each other and complaining about it.
And that’s when it’s time for the team leader to step up and take the first action.
This is where you need to pay attention and understand that if you want to be a leader, you need to take the first step always. Nobody will take the leap until you do. One of the biggest qualities of a good leader is leading by example, and that’s exactly what Sarthak, our team lead, did at that moment.
“Hey, I think we should clean this up. I want to leave this place better than I found it, guys.”
And that’s all the team needed. That was the trigger that pushed us all to move and start doing what needed to be done. We had a common purpose, and we started functioning like a well-oiled machine.
Before we knew it, we had cleaned not just one but multiple piles of trash in that clearing.
Finish what you start, because only results matter
We all have the enthusiasm and courage to take the first step, but you must follow through. Everyone’s enthusiasm may not last until the end, and people often get distracted. As a leader, it is also your job to make sure your team finishes what you guys have started.
This is something that happened to us as well. At one point, we had been carrying the trash with us for a while, and we were not sure how to dispose of it. So someone suggested that maybe we should just put the trash on the roadside and someone might come along to take it where it belongs.
“No. We should take it with us until we find some trashcans where we can dispose of it,” our team lead said, and their conviction was enough to make the decision for the whole team.
You must have that conviction in you to finish what you’ve started. Because in the end, the result is the only thing that matters. All your hard work is for naught if you can’t deliver a good result.
This applies to product development and everything else in life. Work hard until the very last moment so you can deliver something you’re proud of.
This small, spontaneous activity helped my team understand an important lesson and get back our team spirit.
And for me, it was a masterclass in how to take your team in a common direction so they can work together to solve a problem.
Managing a product team in a high-stress environment is hard. But whenever you find yourself struggling, just remember to try your best to:
- Be there for your teammates,
- Lead by example, and
- Deliver what you envisioned.
Do these things and you will become a good leader who can inspire trust and accountability.
You won’t get good at all of this things overnight. But if you stay observant and empathetic, you will be fine.
If you enjoyed this story, you can check out more like this on our publication The Skynox Blog. We write about product development, lifestyle, health & fitness, and more interesting stuff. We also run a global initiative for open-source development, Team XenoX. If you’re a developer, you can check out and contribute to our open-source projects by starting here.
You can connect with me on Twitter and you can also find me and my team on DEV.to! 😃
At Skynox, we help young startups launch their MVPs. We believe the MVP development should be:
- Fast — So you can test your idea and iterate on it quickly!
- Simple — So you only present the purest form of your core idea and don’t confuse your target customers.
- Cost-effective — So you don’t end up spending a fortune on something that will never give you any returns.
If you’re looking for a brilliant team to help you develop your MVP, get in touch!
