Direction setting
As a leader, I have come to realise that I have not clearly communicated the direction in which
I would like to see the department move in. As a result, most objectives and goals that are set
towards achieving the organisations goals are not carried out properly. Most of the team
members then adopt their own understanding of the set direction, leading to team members
pulling in different directions. It then becomes difficult for me to pull the team back together
as each member explains how they understood the message I communicated. This makes it
difficult for me to hold team members accountable.
Looking back on the issue, I have realised that after setting direction I do not make follow ups
on whether the team members fully understand the direction or whether they have questions
on aspects they do not understand. I leave it until I notice divergence from the direction, I
would like them to follow. By then, majority of the team members have made head way with
their action plans on how to achieve the set direction. My lack of direction setting has also led
to team members not knowing their defined responsibilities towards achieving the
departmental goals. Team members are often caught up in activities that belong to other
departments and their work falling behind. This has meant that my department’s key
performance indicators have fallen behind and some not being achieved. My poor articulation
of the departments’ goals and objectives has impacted the performance of my team members
as they are often busy and not productive.
Upon the above-mentioned realisation, I plan to hold weekly departmental meetings with the
team members to understand their interpretation of the departments’ vision. In such
meetings each team will be given an opportunity to present one of their key actions towards
helping the department achieving its goals. Each team member may rise any issues that may
be impacting their progress or understanding the departments direction. The aim of the
meeting is not to put anyone on the spotlight, but it is for me to get an understanding as to
how the team understands the departmental vision I have in mind.
I will also introduce monthly one on one reviews. In these reviews team members will share
with me their monthly work reports. These monthly reports will comprise of results from the
action plans the team members have carried out in the month. This will help me keep track of
all outstanding performance indicators and understand from each team member their reason
for falling behind. It is important that I let the team members express their concerns because
should these concerns remain unaddressed the team will achieve its goals.
I am also looking into having a departmental team building day twice a year, where team
members go out on a planned activity filled day. The aim behind this idea is that I have noticed
that certain team members are more comfortable speaking their minds when their colleagues
are around. They tend to be quite shy when we have one on one meetings but are comfortable
in a group setting. The team building day will also be aimed at training the team members to
have their own meetings when in the workplace to discuss any unclear points and help each
other as colleagues. One team member who understands the direction should be able to
communicate it to the others.
I believe all the above actions will help me outline the departmental goals and objectives
clearly and ensure that all team members are on board. I should be able to meet all
performance expectations when the team members and I are on the same page. Like a rowing
team, as a team we all need to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how
we can all contribute positively to the departmental vision.
Empower the team and build trust
As a leader, my ability to motivate and empower my team members is very important. I have
come to notice that my team members constantly need my approval on actions they need to
perform. They often delay their decision making and wait for my input before they decide on
what they need to do. From my perspective, it appears as if they have reason to think I doubt
judgement levels. This is a result of my poor delegation skills.
Another reason for my lack towards the empowerment of the team members is that I am a
perfectionist in my personality. I tend to need certain things done in a certain manner. This
has led to me interfering with the team members work and them taking less and less initiatives
towards completing the work. To some extent, team members feel that I don’t trust them to
carry out certain tasks. They also feel I delegate to them tasks that don’t impact the
organisation. As a result, my team members have highlighted my superiors don’t get to see
their potential as I always take the lead in major projects. One team member pointed out that
even in meeting I tend to present their work which makes them feel like they don’t have a
voice nor add value to the projects.
I also tend to not give feedback to the team members regarding the work they have done. This
has led the team members to thinking that I don’t appreciate their efforts. However, I
personally don’t feel comfortable delivering negative feedback. I believe some team members
cannot accept negative feedback nor deal with it, and such I tend to keep the feedback to
myself. As a result, the team members continue to do the bare minimum as they do not know
how their work is perceived.
Lastly, I tend to lack the ability to share my past experiences when I faced the same issues.
Having been a junior engineer for years, there are issues that my team members face that I
have faced in the past, I however cannot expression to the team members that I can relate to
how they feel. As a result, most team members are of the opinion that I don’t how they feel.
As a result, some issues they face I must find out from the human resources personnel and
when I am alone, I can relate. This indicates there is a lack of trust with the team members as
they cannot come to me with issues that bother them.
To address the above-mentioned issues, I plan to provide the team members with more
resources to ensure that they have belief in their work and need no input from me. I plan to
give the team members room to carry out their trials. Trials will assist teach them to learn
from their mistakes as opposed to me interfering. Engineering is a trial-and-error field, I should
allow my team members to explore other solutions, I as their leader would have not explored.
I need to understand that my team members have their own way of thinking, and I should
support their ideas more as to build their confidence and upper their decision-making
acumen.
Being a perfectionist is a weakness of mine, I expect my team members to deliver work to my
standards. The more I interfere with the team members works and rectify it, they start to put
in less effort knowing that I will change their work. I plan to create a team presentation session
monthly, the goal of this session is to allow each member to show case their work to their
colleagues, have their colleagues ask questions and give input where required. I intend to take
my team members to meetings my superiors where they can showcase their work and get
recognised by senior management for the value, they add to the organisation. This will help
grow their confidence levels knowing that their work is known and appreciated by
management.
In terms of giving feedback, delivery is very important as it determines how the receiver
perceives it. I intend on working through my delivery method, I should be well prepared for
the feedback session. My feedback needs to provide the team members with suggestions on
how they can do better and ensure their mistakes are a source lessons learnt. Honesty is key
in feedback as it can motivate the team and increase trust levels.
I would also like to have career development sessions with my team members. Most team
members like me are enrolled with institutions of learning. I would like to have one on one
with them to try and understand how they are coping with the workload and study load. This
will help me in preparations for days in which they are having examinations, then I can plan
on how to delegate work in their absence. In the past, I have found it to be very difficult to
manage without certain team members and had to wait for them to return. Having the
sessions will also encourage them to do more and they will come to know that I am also
enrolled, it builds the belief within the department that personal development is also key in
growing oneself.
Lastly, I need to start sharing my junior engineering experiences. It is important I can let the
team members know that I have experienced some of the issues they face daily, the
environment might be different but let them know I can relate. This will make it easy for them
to approach me when they know I have walked a similar path to theirs. This will also create a
safe space for the team members to open to me and discuss work and non-work-related
issues.
Practise receptive leadership
When leading my team, I have come to realise that my perfectionist personality makes it
difficult for me to be open to suggestions or ideas. I tend to be very resistant to following their
ideas through and some team members receive this as a sign of them not being good enough.
They then become very quiet when we are having brainstorming sessions. This leads to
unproductive sessions as I end up having a brainstorming session alone. My lack of receptivity
has resulted in my team members not participating in discussions, my team members also
find it hard to walk up to me and share improvement ideas they may have come up with.
In some instances, when my team members approach me to share ideas, I tend to talk more
and listen less. I end up talking as if the idea is mine and educating the team member on it. As
a result, my team members prefer to explore ideas alone than discussing them first with me
as they think I will crash their way of thinking.
From a personal perspective, I also find it hard to accept any criticism from senior
management. I tend to lose interest in the task that was given, this is due to my perception
that my best work was not good enough to make an impression. Being a perfectionist has
created a mentality wherein I strongly believe that I am always right, and my work is of the
best quality. I tend to take the negative criticism to heart and transferring it to my team
members.
To address the above-mentioned concerns, I have implemented a trial-and-error system
where my team members approach me and propose their ideas. I then give them a go ahead
to conduct trials and document results. This has help me to manage the perfectionist trait I
have; I can no longer decide based on how I feel it should be done or how I would do it. Results
in this case speak for themselves, and my team members learn through the process of trialand-error.
To deal with the habit of talking over my team members ideas during discussions, I plan to
implement a strategy I recently learnt from coaching session I took part. The strategy is
abbreviated the WAIT “Why Am I Talking” technique, this technique allows me to stop talking
once I feel I am taking over the conversation and not listening to my team member. It is helping
me listening more and talk less, and this has improved my team’s eagerness to share their
ideas more and more. This is leading to me becoming a more interested in their ideas and not
making them do what I would like done.
To deal more positively with criticism, I plan to attend more out of work events where
professionals share experiences and expertise, this is where I am bound to meet people of
different opinions to mine. such opinions will help me look at things in a different perspective
and refrain from thinking my way is the only way to resolve issues.
Lead a diverse team
https://everhour.com/blog/diverse-team/
Effective communication