Leading Kissflow Way: S1 - Building DevOps from the ground up

Leading the Kissflow Way kicked off with Swami K , an experienced leader with a proven track record who is still a student of the game. He is a 20-year veteran leading our DevOps practice. He has leveraged his experience to come up with an innovative team management framework as he built the team from the ground up. His inspiration includes the best practices from Netflix and Google, but he has spent time contextualizing it to meet the needs and style of operation of our team.

Idea 1: Maximize Feedback based Learning & Change

He stated that people managers should be open to not just give but also receiving feedback from team members. The way they respond will build trust and empowers the team. For giving and receiving feedback, his team practices 5 A’s (2 A’s for giving feedback, 2 A’s for accepting feedback & 1 A for Adapting).

1. Aim to assist - The feedback provider should have the Aim to assist the recipient of the feedback.?
2. Actionable - The feedback should be actionable by the recipient.?
3. Appreciate - The recipient must appreciate the provider for the feedback shared.?
4. Accept - The recipient has the full right to either accept or reject the feedback.?
5. Adapt - Once the recipient decides to accept the feedback then they can adapt to it by customizing the same for their team/process.

Idea 2: Understanding the Uniqueness of each Individual

While we promote a culture of feedback within the team, it is also important to coach them to apply these ideas. But this cannot be a one size fits all approach, the coaching has to be customized to the individual’s unique style of working. This requires a clear understanding of the different types of personalities within the team.?One of the ways to find this is by using the “16 personalities“ framework. This classifies people’s personalities under the following categories.?

1. Sentinel:-? People who are cooperative and practical will be embracing and create order. They are always looking for stability & hard work they are very traditional mathematical people.?
2. Diplomats:- One who actually focuses on empathy and cooperation, they are usually imaginative and very influential.?
3. Explorers:- They want to work in uncertain situations. They really want some kind of unique challenges, they always want to explore and use a lot of flexibility.
4. Analyst:- A person who is calculative, driven by numbers, and always takes a methodical approach.

There is no right or wrong personality type. Each of the personality types has its own strengths and weaknesses. People managers need to build rapport with their team and work in a manner that aligns with these personalities. He/She can also promote the self-assessment of personalities within the team and work with each other based on this understanding of self and others.?

Idea 3: The Culture Drills

This team ensures that these ideas are put into practice primarily in 2 ways:-?

1. 1-1 Meetups - While this seems like a regular meeting between the supervisor & reportee, the difference here is that supervisor is on the listening end and the team members come and talk to the supervisor with specific talking points.?The team is encouraged to open up and seek clarity with the supervisor on various topics (eg. career, growth, personal grooming, skill development ) and not just transactional work items. The good part is that both supervisor and team members ensure that these connects happen religiously and meeting cancellations are not encouraged.?
2. Lean Coffee sessions - These sessions are moderated by the supervisor between 2 individuals who are having differences in opinion/ conflict. It serves as a platform for individuals to connect and sort out their difference among themselves. When one team member is not happy with another colleague he/she is encouraged by the supervisor to write down the complaint/issue statement. During the session, individuals open up and share their perspectives and get clarity on the concerns they have.?

Swami and his team have been practising these for some time now and this team is one of the more innovative, competent, collaborative and happy teams that we have at Kissflow. Kudos to all of them for making such a great team.??I trust that you gained some insights from Swami’s approach. If you have any best practices followed in your teams, feel free to add them in the comments.?

Until next time!