data jungle adventures

Working in diverse, distributed teams can be challenging and tricky to manage. Here a some common points that may impact productivity, and motivation.

• Common knowledge
• Changing requirements
• Active listing
• Black box decision making
• Team segregation
• Micro-management
• Floating responsibilities
• Double standards
• FIFO mindset
• Bringing your whole self to work

Common knowledge

To collaborate efficiently, alignment on context, tasks, and responsibilities is essential. However, in a multi-cultural, distributed team with different communication codes, common ground may be tricky to establish. One directional communication (e.g. email), should be complemented by check-ins to verify if the conveyed message was received as intended. This is a timely but important effort that becomes more significant in a larger team.

Changing requirements

Traditional waterfall PM or Agile methods tools provide processes and tools to steer, control and respond to changing requirements. A changing legislative landscape, business requirements, and new competitors may disrupt the current situation sufficiently to require an instant response. If the new situation and underlying logic for the new decisions are not communicated or happen too frequently the team cannot respond efficiently and may experience a level of disengagement and frustration.

Minimising or buffering changes at the management level and only conveying essential changes to the team through clear communication on the why and how will ensure quick and efficient team adoption, and uninterrupted engagement.

Active listing

While we all know how to actively listen, many work environments still have a talk-until-interrupted culture. Getting approval of the understood message through paraphrasing is essential to create common knowledge and take decisions.

Black box decision-making

Visible, impactful decisions do not happen in a vacuum. While most of the affected team does not have enough information to contribute to management decisions, they are more likely to respond proactive and supportive to the new direction if they are informed about the underlying logic. This is particularly important for mid-management, which is key in implementing and anticipating changes. Sharing the reason for a significant change, the information at hand and the logic will provide tools to implement the change and anticipate future moves.

Team segregation

Smaller teams are easier to manage and in an Agile environment performance is meant to peak between 5 to 6 colleagues with a maximum of 11. Fragmenting functional teams, that work on the same task, feature, use case or product into mini-, or even single-member teams increases coordination, communication and record keeping. Engagement, productivity and knowledge sharing suffers while the risk of redundant tasks increases.

Micro-management

A micromanager is a supervisor or manager who supervises staff excessively. Although micromanagement can produce a quick response, it has the effect of lowering company morale and creating a hostile work environment. 

The human capital hub published a report stating that 70% of employees consider quitting due to micromanagement and that 30% do actually quit.

Floating responsibilities

Unclear duties, expectation, definitions of done can be part of a desired grey-zone in B2B or between staff. They can also originate from ‘laissez-faire’ management or a simple lack of relevant information on the task or project. However, applying this fairly amongst the team, with decency and seeking clarification where required and desired may reduce ambiguity in favour of a fair workplace.

Double standards

Corporate rules and policies aim to treat everyone as equal as possible. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are less well equipped with those protocols, leading to more situational decisions, allowing favouritism and less decision without rigorous fact-checking.

Rules and exceptions need to co-exist, as in french grammar. However, both need to aim for equal treatment in HR and fairness.

FIFO mindset

Fly-In-Fly-Out work is common in technical professions particularly in remote environments, but also common in project-based consultancy. Teams are colocated for a certain task or project. However, for project or general management, continuity is required particularly in operational and management context. Having senior project management staff to deep dive into technical management questions irregularly and adhoc, may lead to short-time and increased performance and alignment with strategic objectives. In the absence of follow-up advice and continued guidance those repetitive steering session may leave the team in a disorientated vacuum during the absence.

Bringing your whole self to work

We are all unique in our capacities, personalities and skills. Bringing your true self to work, being open about values, weaknesses and super powers makes the workplace a more honest, fun and authentic playground. Exposing your true self also makes you more approach- and relatable. However, some of our personality features may negatively impact peers, productivity and results. So, self awareness, and emotional intelligence are essential to detect the parts of your self, that better remain unexpressed at work. Why ’emotions may get the best of ourself’ under pressure or when the stakes are high, it is essential to be aware when thought and behavioural patters reoccur and affect the situation, people or work. For some of us this requires work, guidance and support to build awareness and control mechanisms, and the fruit will transform all aspect of our life, professional and personal.

Do you agree that most of them are obvious but hard to implement? Leave a comment!