How to Manage a Self Managed Team

Let’s talk about what it takes to get a self-managed team going.

Suppose you have staff, and want to solve a messy problem that hasn’t been assigned to anyone. And you don’t just want to solve it well, you want your shop to be a rewarding place to work and grow. But all while solving your messy problem.

Do it with a self managed team.

A bit tricky to set up, but… as teams go… the most effective kind there is.

Here’s how it works —

• You need to start with an aim.
• We will assume you have authority to form such a team (though in some organisational models, this can be kicked off even without authority).
• You need a group of people who have demonstrated they deeply care about the aim. Yes, this means you can only proceed if your aim is something people care deeply about.
• At least one (but really as many of them as possible) needs to have an idea of what it looks like when it’s done right.
• At least one (but really as many of them as possible) needs to have a high emotional intelligence.
• It really helps if at least one has experience in skills, techniques and practices that help team formation and difficult conversations, skills like how to write a social contract together, or resolve a disagreement.

You put them in a room.

You tell them you want their help with the aim.

You tell them you want to hear what it would take to reach that aim, what they’ll need and what they come up with. But not right then.

And then, since you represent authority, you have to walk out.

Oh, and do not put anyone in charge of that group.

Dan Pink, author of the book ‘Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us’, popularised the idea that what motivates people most is not just money (money works weirdly), but the trinity of purpose, autonomy and mastery of their art.

What we just did by putting our cocktail of people together was selected for mastery and purpose — we picked people with knowledge who care about our aim, and we created autonomy by letting them work out how they intend to approach the problem.

Now the fun starts. What we just put in a room is humans, not robots. Let’s be realistic about what to expect of a group of common, passionate and smart humans.

Some time back, Bruce Tuckman, a psychologist studying group dynamics, determined that teams go through four stages of team growth — Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.

Forming is where the team gets to know each other, or finds out they’ll be working together towards a goal.

Then comes, Storming. We cherry-picked people who care about our aim. People who care get emotionally invested, and often, attached. When everyone on that team doesn’t know where everyone else stands, things can get messy, involve high passions, misfires, hurt egos, even people getting strong urges to leave.

It is in these moments, where it helps having members with high emotional intelligence, empathy and leadership skills to help the team overcome internal chafing and form a common identity and a common goal.

Three important things to remember:

1. Disagreement, heated discussions and personality clashes are common.
2. So long as the team manages it, it’s not bad. It’s a formative stage.
3. So long as the team manages it, it’s temporary. It’s a formative stage.

So long as the relationships in the team strengthen as a result and people find ways to work together, this helps form resolve.

The third, Norming stage is when we start making progress but without the friction. The team members start to better understand each other, find ways to accept each other’s limitations and develop a sense of safety around each other’s motives and modus operandi.

The fourth and last, Performing stage happens when the team not only knows how to not step on each other, they start actively leveraging each other’s passions, strengths, expertise, resulting in real progress towards the overall aim.

For this reason — once you have such a team, keeping them in that zone is critical. Excessively shuffling people will simply knock a team back to earlier formation stages, resulting in less time spent in high gear getting stuff done.

Finally, touch base with the team with one simple question: What can I do to help?

One such team I‘ve recently been a member of was tasked with setting up an event for some 150 people (none of us were professional event coordinators).

Our leadership team, e.g. those who set this team up, did several things that we appreciated:

1. They were not intrusive. They asked when it would make sense for them to be involved, and asked to be guided by the team.
2. They allowed the team to adjust (read: broaden) the aim where possible.
3. They offered help, but did not force it. Help with resources, networking, experience and advice.
4. They let the team make its own decisions.

This autonomy came back as high performance work, like a boomerang with a vengeance.

There is something very human-compatible and incredibly gratifying about working with people who care deeply about the same thing. And not just sharing a passion, but sharing a purpose, a goal, and working together to reach it.

We humans do the best work under these conditions.

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Thank you to Marlou Rees and Dr Julia Richardson for peer review and editorial help with this article.

"Storming over Two Trees” by …-Wink-… is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/