Team Leadership Reference

Contents
Team Leadership Reference........................................................................................................................1
Managers vs. Leaders..............................................................................................................................1
Seven Simple Rules for Making Decisions................................................................................................1
Purpose...................................................................................................................................................2
The Building Blocks of Motivation...........................................................................................................3
Belonging.............................................................................................................................................3
Safety...................................................................................................................................................3
Competence........................................................................................................................................3
Progress...............................................................................................................................................3
Effective Team Leadership Checklist........................................................................................................4
Bookshelf.................................................................................................................................................5

Managers vs. Leaders

"No one has yet figured out how to manage people effectively into battle; they must be led," wrote John
Kotter in "What Leaders Really Do." Kotter draws a sharp distinction between managers and leaders,
summarized in the table below.

Managers Leaders
Cope with Complexity Cope with Change
 Plan and Budget  Set Direction
 Organize and Staff  Align People
 Track and Control  Enable Motivation

Seven Simple Rules for Making Decisions

1. Eliminate waste: Spend time only on what adds real customer value.

2. Amplify learning: When you have tough problems, increase feedback.

3. Decide as late as possible: Keep your options open as long as practical, but no longer.

4. Deliver as fast as possible: Deliver value to customers as soon as they ask for it.

5. Empower the team: Let the people who add value use their full potential.

6. Build integrity in: Don't try to tack on integrity after the fact—build it in.
 7. See the whole: Beware of the temptation to optimize parts at the expense of the whole.

Purpose
"There is a great deal of evidence that people are hardwired to care about purposes," writes Kenneth
Thomas in Intrinsic Motivation at Work. "There is also much evidence that people suffer when they lack
purpose" (p. 22). Intrinsic motivation comes from the work we do, from pride in workmanship and a
sense of helping a customer. Purpose is what makes work energizing and engaging.

People need more than a list of tasks. If their work is to provide intrinsic motivation, they need to
understand and commit to the purpose of the work. Intrinsic motivation is especially powerful if people
on a team commit together to accomplishing a purpose they care about. There are many things you can
do to help a team gain and hold a sense of purpose:

 Start with a clear and compelling purpose. Successful teams at 3M always have a champion
whose first job is to communicate a compelling vision of the new product's potential in order to
recruit volunteers. Team members who commit to a compelling purpose will collaborate with
passion to bring their baby to market.

 Be sure the purpose is achievable. The fundamental rule of empowerment is to make sure the
team has within itself the capability to accomplish the purpose of its work. If a team commits to
accomplishing a business objective, it should have access to the resources needed to accomplish
that goal.

 Give the team access to customers. Talking to real, live customers is a great way for team
members to understand the purpose of what they are doing. It becomes meaningful if they can
see how their software is going to make life easier for real people. This also gives team members
insight into how their individual work fits into the overall picture.

 Let the team make its own commitments. At the beginning of an iteration, the team should
negotiate with customers to understand their priorities and select the work for the next
iteration. No one should presume to tell the team how much work it should be able to finish.
The team makes the call, and when the members commit to a set of features, they are making
the commitment to each other.

 Management's role is to run interference. A highly motivated team does not need to be told
what to do, but it may need to give its leaders some advice. ("If you do not replicate the
customer environment, we simply will not be able to test the system adequately.") It will
probably need some resources. ("If we don't get more support from a DBA, we won't make it.")
It usually needs some protection. ("Kindly tell marketing that no, they can't add five more
features to this month's work.") Leaders may not be able to satisfy every request, but the team
will maintain momentum if its members know they have someone who is looking out for them.

 Keep skeptics away from the team. Nothing kills a purpose faster than someone who knows it
can't be done and has plenty of good reasons why. The team does not need to hear it.
The Building Blocks of Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is driven by self-determination and a sense of purpose, but it will not flourish in a
hostile climate. Research has shown that intrinsic motivation requires a feeling of belonging, a feeling of
safety, a sense of competence, and sense of progress.

Belonging
In today's work environment it takes a team to accomplish most purposes. On a healthy team, everyone
is clear on what the goal is and is committed to its success. Team members respect each other and are
honest with each other. Finally, the team must win or lose as a group. Giving individuals credit for team
efforts and fostering competition that creates winners and losers is a good way to kill team motivation.
If only a few members of a team get to be winners, the other members learn to look out for themselves,
not for the overall good of the team.

Safety
One of the fastest ways to kill motivation is what is called in the U.S. Army a zero defects mentality. A
zero defects mentality is an atmosphere that tolerates absolutely no mistakes; perfection is required
down to the smallest detail. The army considers a zero defects mentality to be a serious leadership
problem, because it kills the initiative necessary for success on a battlefield.

Competence
People need to believe they are capable of doing a good job; they want to be involved in something that
they believe will work. It is very motivating to be part of a winning team, very demotivating to believe
that failure is inevitable. An undisciplined work environment does not generate a sense of freedom; it
creates a sense of doom.

Software development environments must be disciplined in order for work to proceed smoothly,
rapidly, and productively. Basic good practices such as using a version controlled code repository, coding
standards, a build process, and automated testing are required for rapid development. Also important is
a mechanism for sharing ideas and improving designs, perhaps by using pair programming, code
reviews, or similar approaches.

A sense of competence comes from knowledge and skill, positive feedback, high standards, and meeting
a difficult challenge. A leader who delegates and trusts workers must nevertheless verify that they are
on the right track and provide the necessary guidance to allow them to be successful.

Progress
Even a highly motivated team will only work so long before members need to feel they have
accomplished something. This reaffirms the purpose and keeps everyone fired up. If there is no other
reason to develop software in iterations—and there are many!—this is a compelling reason by itself.
Every iteration, the team gets to put its best efforts in front of customers and find out how it has done.
Of course, there's some risk that the customer won't be pleased, but it's better to find that out earlier
than later. Most often, customers are delighted to see working software that they can actually use. The
meaningfulness of the work is enhanced and the team is reenergized.
When a team reaches a particularly important objective, it's time for a celebration. Team members
celebrate small accomplishments by congratulating each other. They celebrate medium-sized
accomplishments by escaping for a while to have some fun. Important accomplishments should result in
public recognition, preferably immediately. Projects should have meaningful measurements that show
progress toward the goal posted in a place for everyone to see.

Effective Team Leadership Checklist

How to build teamwork and avoid conflict with coworkers by Joni Rose

If you are new to a leadership role or are finding that the team dynamics are askew, then you may need
to look at some techniques to help build teamwork.

1. Remove individual competition – competition can kill collaboration. If you want the team to
work together, you need to not single out employees efforts and instead look at team
performance and team metrics

2. Delegate clearly – give clear instructions so there is no ambiguity on who is to do what and
when.

3. Define the reporting structure clearly – make it very clear who is in the lead position and who is
accountable and for what.

4. Create group incentives for excellence – to motivate the team even more, offer incentives that
the group will receive.

5. Clearly define expectations and what excellence looks like – this is a crucial step to team
harmony. If your team does not understand clearly what excellence looks like to you, how will
they ever attain it? You may have a very different idea than your team members about what you
are striving towards.

6. Provide ongoing professional development opportunities

7. Give the team the power to make and implement decisions - empowering the team to
contribute ideas and then take some risks and learn is an incredible team building moment.

8. Deal with staff conflicts immediately – don’t let conflicts fester and grow into bigger conflicts.
Deal with them as soon as possible and be consistent with your approach.

9. Promote acceptance of a variety of points of view – differences in cultural backgrounds, ages,

experience levels and educational levels, can influence the foundations used to make
perceptions and judgments. Being open minded to these varying points of view should be
encouraged.

10. Encourage open, honest communication – Jack Welsh (Past CEO of General Electric) believes
strongly in what he calls “candor” in the workplace. Jack believes that far too often we are afraid
to admit the truth and this lack of honesty can be a huge cost to a business financially as well as
 decrease staff respect for management. Staff sees the reality of situations and expects upper
management to be not only aware of the reality but be able to act quickly on any obvious
problems.

11. Make sure the basic resources are made available - it is hard to do a job without the necessary
resources.

12. Articulate a clear vision and a code of behavior to get you there - if your vision isn’t clearly
articulated, your team will not know how the steps they take today contribute to the big picture
in the future. Your team needs to feel passionate about the work they do. If they see that their
efforts contribute to a big picture, they can anticipate next steps.

Bookshelf
“What Leaders Really Do”, John P. Kotter

Kotter-What Leaders
Really Do.pdf

“Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit”, Mary

Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck
Lean Software Development .chm
“The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, Patrick Lencioni

The Five
Dysfunctions of a Team.pdf

“Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, Patrick Lencioni

Overcoming the Five

Dysfunctions of a Team.pdf

“The 108 Skills of Natural Born Leaders”, Warren Blank

The 108 Skills Of

Natural Born Leaders.pdf