I’ll be there for you…
…when the bugs start to crawl
In my last post I wrote about how, at Vodafone, we build quality into our code through training, mob and pair programming. These are all great things to look at embedding into your teams.
In this post I will be looking at how to build quality teams which deliver amazing outputs. Focusing on four key attributes of a happy, healthy team:
- Trust
- Empowerment
- Growth
- Fun
By looking at each of these areas at both an individual and team level you promote a positive working environment.
Trust 🤝
When an individual comes to work in your team, they are usually coming from one of two routes:
- A new hire
- A role change internally
With both of the above, it is expected that the team member is coming with a wealth of experience, a desire to do good work, and a drive to succeed.
In order to build positive teams, we need to trust our individuals that they want to do well at work. If we start thinking the opposite is true we foster a culture of blame.
This is not to say people won’t fail. On the contrary, accidents can happen anywhere, at anytime. We can’t stop them from happening, but we can make sure we’re ready to deal with them. Instead of seeing accidents as a threat, we can use them as learning opportunities. If we trust people, then we end up giving them more things to do and accidents will inevitably happen — which gives more opportunities to learn.
Failure
As businesses, we are always testing what good looks like, whether this be through A-B testing a new feature, or doing a pilot of a new product.
In the same way, people’s skills are tested all the time. At some point we will all hit a point where we reach our limits or something we tried failed.
At this point we should be supporting/coaching our team members. Working out what went well, what didn’t and what the root cause for the failure was.
Looking for the root cause often points to something to improve. Very rarely is the root cause laziness or a lack of drive to succeed.
How to build trust?
Trust is not a given when starting a team, it has to be built. In the next section I investigate one way to build trust within teams, empowering individuals.
Empowerment 💪
“The authority or power given to someone to do something.”
Giving people ownership of a problem means they have a vested interest in solving it. They want to see it through to completion.
This, hand-in-hand with trust, means people have a purpose when they come to work. A reason to get out of bed in the morning.
How to empower people?
As a leader, when a problem arises in your team, it can be temping to just solve the problem yourself. This attitude does not promote empowerment within your team.
Yes, you might be able to solve the problem quicker, but the team will feel disconnected with the solution and you are essentially not trusting them to do their best.
So how do you get your team to have ownership, whilst also ensuring quality and giving your input as a leader?
Mentoring
By working alongside your team, mentoring them to achieve the same goal you empower them to own the solution whilst also having impact on its direction.
This does sometimes mean taking a step back, allowing them to fail, but always there to help pick them up to try again.
By mentoring your team, the reward you get is substantial. As a leader, one of the best things you can experience is the growth of an individual, whether that be into the next role, or as an expert in one area. It could even be as simple as seeing them have that lightbulb moment when something they didn’t understand suddenly makes sense.
Growth ⏫
Growth of individuals skills is key to a happy team.
If an individual is growing then they are more likely to stick with a team. This means the teams knowledge base will grow — enabling more complex problems to be solved.
Another way of promoting growth, other than empowerment, is to branch team members out into other areas. A developer might want to try their hand at user acceptance testing or visa versa. This cross-functionality will benefit the team so that if a bottleneck arrises in testing, developers can step in.
Ultimately, to work out where individuals want to grow, leaders should be talking to them and then working on plans as to how to provide them opportunities to meet their goals.
Fun 😃
A team without fun is no fun to be in
We spent most of our time at work, within our teams. If this team is not fun then it can be a drain on a personal commitment to the teams cause.
How do you make a team fun?
- Take breaks out of the fast-paced work stream
We need to ensure we take time out to have a coffee, go for lunch or a drink at the end of the day with the team. This promotes a healthy working relationship between peers as well as can help reduce burn out.
- Celebrate success
Whatever success looks like, it should be celebrated. In Vodafone, we celebrate in a number of ways. Whether it be on a team level, going out for a team lunch, or a larger scale product launch party we always find time to celebrate our successes.
Summary
By combining trust, empowerment, growth and fun, you have a good bedrock for a high-quality happy team. If any one of those pillars drops then there will be an impact on the team’s output.
“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools” — Agile Manifesto
If your processes are holding back your people, then it might be time to address some of those issues. Perhaps try focusing on one of the pillars mentioned in this article.
I hope this has been a useful read. If you would like to know more please get in touch through one of Vodafone social networks!
