Engineering Leadership: How to build a great team?

Once someone asked me about things I enjoy the most as a leader and I got to say for me top of the list is - maximizing potential of my team and seeing them achieve great success for the company. And when your teammate comes to you and say "thank for you for the opportunity" , "thank you for believing in me" it's just an amazing feeling to see pure bliss of success twinkling in his/her eyes. You got to experience it to understand it. I am sure many of you said this and vice versa. I have said this to one of my mentors and great people person Aiman Abdel-Malek for believing in me and giving me leadership opportunity. .

Leadership is not about being comfortable but being effective and making an impact. In my opinion you will be more effective if you like what you are doing. So find your reasons to be a leader first.

In this article I am illustrating few practical ways to build a great team based on my experiences. As a leader you either hire your team or inherit it as part of acquisition/org restructure etc. In any case it's your job and responsibility to lead them to achieve business objectives.

Lead by example

More than you know people watch leaders very carefully. Your body language, what you say and what you do are constantly sending signals to your team. I once read, people reflect your emotions. So you need to be the change you would like to see.

Integrity and authenticity go long way. People are smart and perceptive to see right through you so you always set an example for them to follow. If there is a problem acknowledge it's a problem. I have seen leaders try to mask the problem when whole team knows the truth. Instead of masking a problem face it and show the team how to get over it. It's hard to acknowledge and take the responsibility but you would have expected the same from your boss too. So do it. Face the wind, it will make you strong leader.

Actions speak louder than words and it's absolutely true. In early stages of one of the projects, I worked with my team long hours to solve critical production issues and setup war rooms to get through critical fixes. Next time I see engineers were taking an initiatives to do the same thing and that was amazing to watch. Ultimately we finished the project on time despite of lots of hurdles that sent strong positive signal in the organization. Ownership can be taught easily by actions and not by PowerPoint.

Whatever your values are and culture you trying to inculcate, start with yourself. Be the captain of the ship.

You grow only when your team grows

Your team's accomplishments speak for you. They are your strength. Stronger team always gives you confidence to take on more challenging work and in turn gives your team chance to contribute and succeed. It's like any team sport, captain is as strong as his/her team.

Identify key areas of improvement and lay out the plan in front of your team. Involve them, seek their opinions. You can not do everything. You will be surprised how people come up with ideas. In some cases they are more committed to implement their own ideas and do whatever it takes. So why not give them a chance? Leaders are known by the decisions they make. And decision's rightness/correctness is based on it's outcome.

Read your team and find out who is doing awesome, who has great potential and ones who need help. Some people are born mentors so see if they can help new comers. Pairing right set of people help grow team spirit. Everyone has some strengths and some weaknesses. I always harness their strengths and help them in their weaknesses. E.g. One senior developer is excellent in coding and SME of few areas but struggle with giving accurate estimates. On other side we have great program manager who is detail oriented and good at follow ups. I requested PM to help out the developer and she was elated as she gets to know more about his work and track the project effectively. I knew teaching developer about estimates going to cost more time and may not work as it's not his style. But combination worked phenomenally.

Provide timely feedback

Feedbacks are time sensitive and more effective when delivered at right time. Feedback helps your team and helps you as well. Create an open environment where your team can speak freely with you. More you help them more it's going to help you. See if they have any feedback about you and any questions about big picture, their career etc.

Give guidance based on their level and competency to make sure they do good at their work and also at honing their skills. Have periodic touch base with your team and 1:1 with your direct reports. Some employees are not extrovert in fact they expect managers to understand their contribution. They don't like to brag and always focus on their work so you need to be involved and establish channel of communication for such individuals to better understand their contribution.

Praise and constructive criticism are essential for the growth. It's important what you say but it's even more important how you say it. So choose time and place to convey constructive criticism. Always hiding criticism in public places sometimes can demotivate other team members also overdoing it can have negative impact too. Try to balance it and be clear and direct. Remember it's not about being comfortable but being effective.

Develop your lieutenants

There are always some individuals who standout and exhibit great deal of potential through their actions. Identify them, nurture them to be the next leaders.. your lieutenants. It's not a formal position but someone you can rely on as a great second in command. You can not be everywhere so it's important to build your second level of leadership team. You will be more effective if there are more of you working in the field. When people need minimal guidance then leader can focus on next big things and bring more interesting work for the team.

Learn to delegate and show trust in your leadership team to solve problems. They can be your sounding board too to get different perspective of your plans.

It's all about people

Really.. its' all about people. You spend most of your time of the day with these people and they do too. So it's important to know each other, build trust and have fun with whatever you are doing. You will build relationships which go long way even after your change your job. So stand up for your team, be with your team, lead them to success, celebrate success and again have fun !