As a leader, trust your teammates; they will trust you, be loyal to you, and follow your lead. Trusting your teams improves estimation, quality, and innovation.
Trust is Earned
Trusting my teammates is a core part of my leadership style. And yes, trust is earned. I don’t unquestioningly trust my colleagues. When joining new companies or teams, I spend a lot of time learning each leader's and individual contributor's strengths and weaknesses. I carefully review their work product with them and create a culture where we can wrestle with each other over time, approach, tools, etc.
I ask my teams to detail feature complexity and a technical approach. Together, we establish a plan that clearly defines done and an associated timeline. I ask my teams to propose a timeline and completion date. Time is not a trick question. I encourage them to make the case for their position. This requires that I listen well. I try not to give deadlines. Instead, I ask teams to set a goal.
A Real Jedi Example
In "Rise of the Old Masters," a Star Wars Rebels episode, the dynamic between Kanan, a Jedi Master, and his apprentice Ezra illuminates trust dynamics in leadership. Kanan's self-doubt and less-than-stellar listening skills hold him back, while Ezra, feeling a bit neglected, holds back some valuable insights. However, as the story unfolds, Kanan discovers the power of listening, and - spoiler alert! - realizes that his teaching improves dramatically when he's open to learning from his padawan.
Choose Your Battles
If their proposal is close to the enterprise expectation, I go with it (“close” depends on the overall project length—if they are within days, weeks, or months of the overall goal). I rarely fight with my teams over the slight differences between their estimate and a business sponsor’s request.
This style requires that I work hard to understand the complexities of the work. If I don’t understand, I collaborate closely with team members so that I can learn enough to be an effective leader. Trust starts here. The beginning is demonstrating a willingness to listen to the teams and their plan. As we negotiate, I share the challenges I will face in communicating the plan with executive sponsors. It’s a reminder that we are doing this together.
Engineers are Experts
In so many organizations, engineers are not treated like experts. Almost everything an engineer says is doubted and challenged. Leaders who only have a cursory understanding of the project objectives and frequently lack a technical background routinely challenge estimates and technology approaches. They know enough to say, “I think it should take less time” or “Why is this technical approach required?”
A couple of things: First, why are executives so sure the team wants it to take longer than desired? Really, what is in it for the team to take longer? Frankly, I’ve started to say this to people who challenge my estimates.
“Why do you think I want it to take longer than you want it to? What’s in it for me to take longer? This is the required length of time-based on what you requested. We can review the estimate if you want to change your delivery scope. And since your description is so vague and unclear, let’s agree to work together from my estimate until you can provide a better direction.”
Second, everyone wants “innovation” until they think they can shorten the delivery schedule by not adopting innovative approaches. How often have I heard someone say, “Can you do it without implementing the smart, forward-thinking, scalable solution so it will go faster?” My answer is no.
So, when I join engineering teams, I first tell them they are experts. And I repeat it. I bang on the table and say, “You are experts.” Remember, I only do this after an assessment of the talent. Engineers with computer science degrees are experts, as are engineers with years of experience delivering high-quality, thoughtful solutions.
Trust = Delivery
Trusting and listening to the team results in rigorous collaboration, where estimates come from difficult conversations. Our technology choices are part of a roadmap, not just impulsive “let’s use this cool new thing.” When my teams believe I trust them, I can push them harder. I can ask them to trust me when we are in fraught situations with unreasonable client expectations.
Together, we build trust in each other and with the project sponsors. Over time, the organization recognizes the team as expert, accountable, and reliable. Trust takes time and is sometimes painful to accomplish. Late, over-budget projects have plagued many companies. Unfortunately, leadership has been conditioned to expect the worst.
Listen, Collaborate, Learn
Teams and leaders are experiencing project and process fatigue at every level. It’s a repeating cycle, and there is so much pessimism about change. The first step is for technology leaders to trust their teams. Listen, collaborate, learn, and fight together to build solutions that drive efficiency and grow revenue. We all want to put the company first—one team at a time, one project at a time. Change happens.
Let me know if you agree!
This resonates with me so well. I see both approaches every single day but primarily with extra emphasis on speed versus quality as execs misunderstand what it takes to get the work done. This leads to teams phoning it in so to speak and not feeling in control of their own quality or effort.