Testing skills #3 - Leading Teams

If you are leading a software development team it is a good idea to provide to provide an environment in which each member of the team feels safe, valued and important.  It takes a lot of skill to lead teams without resorting to command and control style of managing the team.  Providing the team a safe environment in which it is OK to experiment a little and be able to learn from failing is crucial to encourage creativity and innovation within the team.   When leading a team in this way you can act as the facilitator and ensure that the bad elements of teamwork do not start to impact the team dynamics.  You can be the sounding board, the oracle, the voice of reason, the mentor, the confidant, by doing this you encourage the team to flourish which leads to success.

As a leader you also need to give the team a clear direction of what you expect the team to deliver, this can change as time passes however, this should always be transparent and visible to the team.  Ask yourself as the leader what do you want from the team?  What is your ultimate goal and then explain that to the team along with your preferred priorities.  Then step back and watch the team self-form around the problem to provide you with a solution.

The principles behind the the agile manifesto has some useful tips for leading and working in teams.

"Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done."

"The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation."

"At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly."

J Richard Hackman provides the following five tips for leading teams.

1. Teams must be real. People have to know who is on the team and who is not. It’s the leader’s job to make that clear.
2. Teams need a compelling direction. Members need to know, and agree on, what they’re supposed to be doing together. Unless a leader articulates a clear direction, there is a real risk that different members will pursue different agendas.
3. Teams need enabling structures. Teams that have poorly designed tasks, the wrong number or mix of members, or fuzzy and unenforced norms of conduct invariably get into trouble.
4. Teams need a supportive organization. The organizational context—including the reward system, the human resource system, and the information system—must facilitate teamwork.
5. Teams need expert coaching. Most executive coaches focus on individual performance, which does not significantly improve teamwork. Teams need coaching as a group in team processes—especially at the beginning, midpoint, and end of a team project.

Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances - J. Richard Hackman - 2002

Testing skills #2 - Influencing by listening

Having recently attended an excellent internal workshop on the' artistry of influence'.  One of the key takeaways I got from the course was to be able to influence you need to STOP and LISTEN to what the person is saying and most importantly how they are saying it.

During the course I discovered that when communicating we have a preference for using one of three types of senses, sound, sight and touch.  Which when converted into communication terms become auditory (sound), kinesthetics (touch) and visual (sight).

Do they use visual words such as 'see, bright, focus', kinesthetic 'feel, handle, hard' or Auditory 'hear, ring a bell, sound right'.

Once you uncover their prefer sense for communicating you can try and match their preferred sense.  This is called pacing and its roots can be found in our tendency to form tribes and groups based around similar traits.  This enabled us to survive as a group, since we shared similar habits and vocabulary.  It also encouraged strong relationships within the groups.

It is also useful to established the tonality of the person you are listening to.  Are they talking quickly, loudly, slowly or quietly? Ask a friend to help you practice by matching the voice tonality and their preferred sense.  By listening to others and the way they talk you can start to establish a rapport and build a relationship in which they can be influenced on a subconscious level.

Be careful when influencing others that it does not become more than just trying to persuade others of your thoughts and ideas.  If people feel or find out they are being manipulated then you will loose their respect and destroy any possibility of a working relationship.  The key aspect when trying to influence people is to ensure that they know it will have a positive benefit for them, even if at the same time you will gain a positive benefit.  The person you are trying to influence has to see a benefit in it for them.

It is not about YOU it is about THEM,

There is a lot more involved in using listening as an influencing tool and this is only an introduction.

Let me know how you get on with this tip on influencing by listening.

Further reading:

• Real world applications of pacing and leading
• How to persuade anyone using pacing and leading
• What is NLP
• Influencing skills: a how-to guide, or, How to get what you want without making enemies