As a young manager taking the reins of a team for the first time, it's not uncommon to embrace a "protective shield" mentality. This well-intentioned leader becomes an unyielding wall, guarding the team against hostile clients and perplexing colleagues, hoping to create a cozy world where they can thrive and deliver fantastic features.
Why do they adopt this approach? Because a leader is a service provider! Their accomplishments are directly tied to the team's performance, and their added value is measured by how well the team functions. Fearlessly, they throw themselves into the fray, serving as a bulwark against any adversity.
Sometimes, it's not even a conscious choice. Eager to be the cool leader, they ask their developers what can be done to make their lives easier. And the team happily offloads all the tasks they dislike or are too lazy to tackle onto their new savior.
While the "service provider" mindset has a grain of truth, it ultimately does more harm than good for both the leader and their team. In this article, I'll dive into why this is the case and explore alternative strategies for effective team leadership.
The Service Function: A Leader's Role
Before diving into why the protective shield mentality falls short, let's first examine the core responsibilities of a leader.
A leader's primary function is to help the team achieve business goals by effectively allocating resources provided by the company. They accomplish this through various tools, such as managing team processes, facilitating internal and external communication, setting tasks, hiring and firing employees, and creating optimal working conditions.
It's worth mentioning that a manager could achieve business needs without a team. But this is pretty much a rare case, so I will concentrate on the managers with the team.
Based on this definition, it's clear that a leader operates as a service function. Leaders would be unnecessary in an ideal world with perfect people who could automatically establish flawless processes and communicate perfectly. Some companies have even experimented with leaderless structures with varying degrees of success.
However, a good leader should strive to create an organization that minimizes the need for their intervention. This involves training the team and fine-tuning processes to make their role increasingly obsolete. Does this mean that a leader's work has no added value or doesn't contribute anything? Absolutely not!
According to Deming, 95% of a company's results stem from the structure of its systems (in this case, processes and communication chains) rather than individual productivity. Therefore, effective work organization is an essential task, and this is where the leader's added value lies.
By optimizing processes and communication chains, leaders make their teams more efficient and contribute to the company's overall success. Their added value comes from the ability to identify areas for improvement, implement changes, and continuously fine-tune the team's performance.
In conclusion, while the instinct to shield a team from external stressors is not entirely misguided, a leader's true role extends far beyond that. By creating an environment that encourages autonomy, efficiency, and growth, leaders can maximize their added value and empower their teams to achieve exceptional results.
The Shield for the Team: Pros and Cons
So, we've established that a manager's job is to enable their team to work effectively. How can this be achieved?
By becoming a shield! Cutting off all those confusing people who approach the developers, the leader takes on all external communication, ensuring that employees are not disturbed or exposed to clients. They absorb all the blows of fate and all the criticism and protect the team's honor - no one can dare to say that your employees are wrong. When a developer needs to clarify something with someone outside the team, they contact the leader, who then runs around gathering the necessary information and returns with the answers.
It seems like a perfect world - employees calmly work on their tasks, and everyone is happy. Or is it?
Firstly, by implementing such processes, you alter your developers' mindset, creating an "us vs. them" mentality. Colleagues no longer come to you with tasks; instead, it's that annoying accounting department, the product team's ridiculous idea, or the never-ending support requests. Instead of fostering collaboration, you create a barrier, leading to resistance and task shuffling.
Secondly, this approach lengthens communication chains. Remember the childhood game of "Chinese whispers" (telephone)? The more people involved in information transmission, the more distorted the information becomes. By isolating developers from their colleagues in other departments, you worsen work results – developers may not execute tasks correctly or lack understanding of how to design solution architectures properly.
Thirdly, you disconnect your employees from reality. Without timely criticism, they lose the opportunity to grow and improve. Without praise, they miss out on reasons for professional pride and motivation. By not witnessing how people use their work results, they fall prey to alienation, making them less happy and engaged.
And let's discuss the fourth point separately.
"I'll Endure"
A common conclusion that novice managers often come to is that they should endure everything as long as the team works well.
"I'll instantly respond to all incoming messages so my employees can work peacefully. I'll only write to them once a day to not interrupt their flow."
"I'll work at night so the developer can calmly pick up a well-thought-out task in the morning."
"I'll move their tasks in Jira to the correct statuses myself: they're creators; it's difficult for them."
"I'll help them solve all their life problems so they don't feel sad and can work calmly."
Sound familiar?
For some reason, people who become managers often lose their self-esteem within the first weeks of work. You are also a professional. You also need to work. And you are not your employee's parent.
Even worse, the employees are happy! Sitting at lunch, they enthusiastically tell other teams how well everything is arranged for them, how their manager takes care of them, and how wonderful and cloudless their life is. Employees from other units sigh sadly and ask for an internship in your team. You get your dose of self-love and endorphins and walk around with your nose up. That is, until one day, you end up crying from exhaustion, stress, and disappointment in yourself.
Yes, undoubtedly, your job is about people and their interactions, assistance, and empathy. But there is a limit to everything, a line that should not be crossed. You are not relatives - you are colleagues. Your job is to organize processes, educate people, manage tasks, and build a team. Acting as a nanny in a kindergarten is not your job.
What should be done?
Finding the delicate balance and the middle path to follow is essential. It is not an easy task, but who said it would be easy?
Team protection should be limited:
-
Other people should not assign tasks to your employees. You or the entire team should manage the flow of tasks. In any case, it should be organized and centralized, not spontaneous.
-
Decisions regarding your employees - whether to scold, praise, or direct them - should only be made with your involvement. It is exclusively your prerogative.
-
You should help establish communication and resolve conflicts.
In all other aspects, you do not need to protect them! They need to attend meetings with clients and communicate with them directly. They need to hear negative feedback on their implemented features. They need to realize that people around them are colleagues, not enemies. By shielding them from the outside world, you are doing them and yourself a disservice.
You do not have to shoulder all the responsibility. You work with adults who are at work, not on vacation. You should not drop everything off at the first call - you also have work to do. And, surprisingly, it is no less important than their work! You should not complete their unfinished work; teach them how to do it themselves.
It is worth encouraging an employee who is facing personal issues and perhaps offering some assistance - such as organizing a couple of days off or allowing them to skip meetings for some time to visit a sick relative. However, saving them from unrequited love or finding a plumber to fix their toilet is not part of your responsibilities.
And please, think about yourself. You are also a professional, an employee, and a person! You also have tasks, get tired and burn out, and face difficulties in your life.
What should you do if you are already in over your head?
If, after reading this article, you realize that you are in a situation where everything depends on you, and all you do is take care of grown-ups all day? Well, it will be challenging since you have already taught your team to rely on you for everything. However, it is possible to change the situation! You must move gradually, in small steps, teaching your employees to solve problems unassisted. Do not suddenly explode and announce that they have to take care of certain things themselves starting right now because they are paid for it! This approach will only result in perplexity and rejection. Teach them, delegate more responsibility with each passing day, and gradually involve them in more types of activities. It will be a long journey but an extremely important one.
Of course, there are rare moments when you may need to break these rules. Sometimes life presents black swan events, misfortunes, and situations where you must temporarily become a psychologist, a confidante, or even a parent for your employees. When you have to roll up your sleeves and work hard and long.
However, if this is not an exceptional case but everyday life, then you are doing something wrong.