Sep 2018 Vancouver Dev Manager Talk on managers being leaders and motivating teams; focusing on actual examples I was experimenting with at Hootsuite -- so maybe something real people could take away.
2. Manager comparison to Leader (Oxford Dictionary)
Manager (job title) = a person responsible for controlling or
administering all or part of a company.
Leader (role) = the person who leads a group, organization,
or country.
3. Ok… so more definitions needed...
Lead = the initiative in an action; an example for
others to follow.
Leader = the person who takes initiative of action
or provides an example for others to follow, for a
group, organization, or country.
4. Agenda
1. Quick background on motivation
2. Define success
3. How can we motivate? (suggestions, examples, and
discussion)
8. Autonomy
Autonomy = the need to
perceive that one has choice
and control of one’s own
behaviour.
9. Competence / Mastery
[Low] Perceived competence = one has to
perceive he/she is able to get the job done with
the desired outcomes.
[High] Mastery = people are inherently
motivated to achieve mastery or create
something masterful.
10. Relatedness / Purpose
Relatedness = we want to authentically connect with others
and feel involved socially.
Shared Purpose = provides context to develop relatedness to
your peers and connects you to impacting those who believe
what you believe.
13. The opposite is also
true. If low standards
prevail, those too will
quickly spread.
14. John Wooden (NCAA basketball coach):
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct
result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made
the effort to become the best you are capable of
becoming.”
Example of a clear definitions of success:
Pete Carroll (NFL coach):
“Our ultimate success isn't in winning once, it's
accomplishing a permanent state of winning.”
17. Provides opportunity to think, innovate, create, have
passion, ownership, and take initiative in a project.
Why would you only want create things a small percentage
of time?
[Autonomy + Mastery/Competence + Purpose/Relatedness]
Don’t settle for 10%, 20%, or 1 day
● My goal is to create an environment for people to think,
innovate, create, have passion, ownership, and take
initiative in ALL THE THINGS.
18. When people don’t have to hide parts of who they are, they put
that extra energy and all of who they are into their work.
For example:
● Constantly having conversations and training around
diversity and inclusion.
● Look for ways to surface your unconscious bias.
● Create an environment where people feel safe to be
themselves. It’s often not the people, but the leadership.
● Practice empathy. When someone misses a goal, ask if
“they” are ok. Not about the goal.
[Autonomy] Create a space where people can
bring their whole-selves
19. [Autonomy] Provide “servant” Leadership
Get authority and information to the people who are doing the job.
Provide the support necessary for their success
For example:
● As people take on new responsibility, get them to tell you
what they “intend” to do. (ref: David Marquet)
● Rather than making decisions yourself, or having only senior
people make decisions, use “advice process” to allow anyone
to make good decisions.
20. [Autonomy] Inspire and clear way for passion to
be unleashed.
Create environments and constraints that create a growth path in the direction you
want. Rather than controlling those paths.
Know that you don’t know all the answers.
For example:
● Rather than controlling, ask the important question, e.g. “Is anything going to
break?”, “Is it the right thing to build?”
● Have team members write down these questions at first, then work yourself
away from them.
21. Feedback is key to learning and growth (we heard about
Radical Candor at a previous meetup).
For example
● Try to get 5 minute windows between meetings to give
more immediate feedback.
● Have a doc to provide asynchronous feedback for those
times when feedback opportunities arise.
[Mastery] Provide learning opportunities
22. [Competence] Provide just “enough” support
Don’t step into to do the job, support the person who needs to do the job -- to the
level where they perceive themselves competent… then back off slowly.
23. [Purpose] Set goals for yourself, your reports,
and your teams that align with organization.
Use Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for flexibility and the alignment between
all levels of the organization.
Add structure. Whatever structure works for you. Key is to iterate on your structure
until it works.
Don’t force alignment between individual and company on the KRs. Find the
alignment for Objectives that both individual and company believe to be important.
It might take awhile and many iterations.
● For example: Company OKR = O is Quality and KR is Outage Hours. The
individual and team Objectives should align to Quality, but KRs may not align.
24. [Purpose] Find innovators and early adopters on
your team.
In order to create motivation in a group, don’t tackle them all at
once.
Find the people who relate to being an early adopter, and go to
them first.
For example:
● If you are making a process change, find the person on your
team who is always speaking up about process. Then start
with “why” you want to make a change and work toward a
solution.
25. Create a shared set of principles to help define and iterate on a
shared purpose.
Put data behind the shared purpose to connect people to that
purpose and its impact.
For example:
● As a news outlet, agreeing that “Truth is essential” helps us
define our purpose to “Deliver better content” and iterate as
we go.
[Purpose] Principles and Data
26. Little interactions matter. It’s how we form bonds over time.
For example:
● Overall focus (do less, but do it better)
● No cell phones
● Laptops away
● Plan time between meetings to talk to each other
● Shared lunches
● Diverse activities (e.g. puzzles, drinks, food, games, etc.)
[Relatedness] Create environments where people
have a chance to connect with each other.
27. Take care of others before yourself.
Take risks and pressures on yourself.
It’s never about you (you get all the responsibility and zero credit).
For example:
● Don’t take the best desk location, the best computer, etc.
● Don’t take a “head of the table” or power seat in meetings.
● Stay curious, know that you don’t have all the answers.
● When you have the answer, allow space for others to thrive first.
● Stay late to teach.
[Relatedness] Play the role of a “leader”.
28. Leader
The person who takes initiative of action or provides an
example for others to follow, for a group, organization, or
country.
Model the behaviour you want to see in others. If you serve
yourself first, so will others. However, if you start with an effort
to create the most motivating environment, others will follow.
#no_superchickens
