Throughout my career, I've developed a method for creating high-performance and enduring teams, learning from mistakes along the way. People are intricate, vulnerable, and fundamentally good. Let's explore this further.
Hiring the Right Team
Accept that not every hire will be a winner. Good managers know they will make hiring mistakes, and when a bad hire happens, we must ask a fundamental question: Is it them, or is it me? Good hires start by clearly understanding what we are hiring for and communicating that vision to candidates through the job description and interview process.
Skills and experience are 1/3 of the hiring equation and the least interesting part of the interview process. You can look at someone's resume and come to a solid determination about their skillset. Culture and attitude are where successful teams develop.
Hiring someone to own a role in a team requires that the person understands what it means to own a role. I look for team members who can identify the business objectives we are working toward and, with that understanding, develop the critical path to achieve them. Ownership is creating the optimal process, acquiring the inputs, and managing execution to conclusion. My job as a manager is establishing objectives and goals, providing resources, and removing obstacles. If I tell anyone on my team how to do their job, then I do it for them. Ownership is the fundamental trait I am looking for when recruiting.
Attitude is a reflection of leadership, and culture begins with leadership. Team is not the sum of the parts, and great teams combine the strengths of individuals in a system designed to achieve more than the contributions of individuals. I look for the following traits as positive indicators for strong teams: Professional responsibility, self-starter, and challenging assumptions.
Onboarding for Success
Onboarding is the real first impression that new team members experience. The onboarding process for my team, outside of the HR-led benefits and systems workflow, is to establish team goals and status, jumpstart the internal network-building process, define near-term work projects, and allow time and space for personal discovery.
New team members joining established teams have checkpoints I will set with them. The most critical is the 30-day check-in when I ask them, "Is this for you?". This may seem unorthodox, but the intention is mutually beneficial. I may hire the right person, but if they, with the benefit of experience, believe their choice is wrong, the result will not be positive. At the 30-day mark, the manager or the employee can unwind with no resume damage or detrimental team consequences.
Goal Setting
I follow the SMART approach for goal setting:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound
This system for goals is widely implemented, and when done well, it does produce positive outcomes. The challenge with SMART is combining personal and team goals within the SMART framework.
This is where making it personal hits home. My commitment to each individual on my team is that they will build their resume and skills over their tenure with me. I will commit resources to their learning path, and this investment in individuals is designed to create opportunities to grow within the company.
Winning Culture
Culture comes from the top. I cannot control what the CEO or other executives do or say, but I can commit to full transparency and honesty with my direct reports. This approach builds trust and reinforces integrity as a team value. It is valuable for the team to know where the company stands, where we are winning or losing, and the updates from different functional teams.
Create opportunities to grow, even if it means failing. Failing is not failure; it is learning by a different name. I don't fault team members for failing when they are stretching; what I do fault is failing through inattentiveness and failure to follow through.
Accountability is a core team value, and it starts with one owner for a role or project. When people with high-ranking professional responsibility characteristics own something, success breeds pride and confidence that is infectious.
Team Traditions
Every successful and connected team relies on traditions developed through day-to-day interactions. Weekly all-hands where leaders are doing most of the talking, not me. Standups and informational lunch-and-learn sessions to build awareness and skills. Individuals on the team drive process improvements; my role is to collect and implement what they suggest.
Respect is a value baked into team traditions. Be on time. Disagree with dignity and never with anger. Professionals treat their co-workers as humans who will rise to the occasion when allowed to be their best selves, they will rise to the opportunity.
Leadership is the Small Moments
Great teams need leadership to maximize their outcomes, not just to do the job. Connecting with team members demands that ego and self-interest take a backseat. Those connections are the foundation for every meaningful value in a team, and they require that I share my anxieties, fears, disappointments, and excitement.
This is the approach I have relied on to build successful teams and then keep them together. It is not a formula or recipe; it is a set of values that I live. When I hire well, manage day-to-day details, and connect the tactical execution with strategy and objectives, the end result is a contribution to company success far and above the punching weight of my team.
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