Lets Get Organized!How to build the team culture

you need

Chris Dagenais

Introduction

Chris DagenaisPoint2 / Yardi Systems Inc.

Director – Point2 Development12 years in the industry

Twitter: @mdchrisEmail: mdchris@gmail.com

Self Organizing Teams

• a team granted the autonomy to determine the best way to solve a problem as well as implement the solution in the way they feel is the most effective.

Self Organizing Teams

• Team Oriented• Shared Leadership• Redundancy• Constant Learning• Communication and Collaboration

Benefits

Better Solutions

• Collective brain power • 2 heads are better than 1• People feel more involved

Higher Productivity

• When a solution belongs to the people implementing it, they are invested

• Invested people want to see their idea succeed

Less Micro Management

• Self organizing teams by definition self manage

• Put the problem in front of the team and watch them swarm it

• Get them what they need, get things they don’t need out of their way

Happier Employees

• Software developers like solving problems (who doesn’t?)

• People generally like being able to manage how they do their work

• Nobody likes being micro-managed

Team/Organizational Focus

• In order to solve problems for the organization the team must think about the big picture

• How will their solutions affect other parts of the organization

• The team is more important than the individual

Ownership

• People feel like they own an idea when they came up with it

• When people own an idea, they very badly want it to succeed

• Applies equally to their development process

Team Stages• Forming

– team created– don't understand their goal yet

• Storming– team discovers their mission– turbulence as team members jockey for position

• Norming– team is working well together– everybody knows their place on the team– all working towards the same goal

• Performing– team all working hard for same goal– people can leave/join the team without huge effect– many responsibilities delegated to the team

• Credit: Bruce Tuckman

Self Organizing Team Stages• Telling

– Tell the team how to organize– Actively participate/lead

• Selling– Convince the team how to organize– Actively participate/lead

• Participating– Ensure the team is organizing well– Passively participate

• Delegating– Delegate full responsibility to the team– Do not participate

• Cred: Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard

Requirements to Self Organize

Management Buy-in

• You can’t self organize if management won’t grant them some decision making ability

• Requires a good deal of trust in both directions

Freedom to Fail

• Creativity requires the ability to try things that might not work out

Presented with Problems and Opportunities

• What and why• Not how

Cross Functional

• Team must own the problem end to end• The team will lose the feeling of ownership if

they have to pass the project off to other teams

Clearly Defined Boundaries

• In order to make decisions, the team needs to know what their boundaries are

• Technology choices?• Resourcing?• System accreditation requirements?

Accountability and Responsibility

• Decision making ability is great, but comes with responsibility and accountability

• The team must be held accountable for their decisions

• The team must take responsibility for the things they do, whether they work or not

The Right Culture

• Teams must have a healthy culture to support self organization

• It’s all about people

What is Culture?

• The predominant personality of your team

What is Culture?

What is Culture?

• How does your team treat people on and off of their team?

• How do people outside the team view your team?

• Is the team more interested in helping themselves or helping others

Why does culture matter?

• Culture has a drastic affect on how people work together

• One of the primary differentiator between poor, average, and high performance teams

• Will either attract or repel people from teams

So what are our goals?

• Productivity• Self organizing teams• Great communication and collaboration• Better solutions• Happier team members• Comfortable work environment

What do we want in our culture?

• People should have a strong desire to excel and outperform the competition– Hire the right people– Make sure they understand the big picture and

how their work contributes

What do we want in our culture?

• People that are concerned with the overall performance and success of the business– Must believe in what the company is doing– Understand and buy in to the roadmap– Know what’s at stake

What do we want in our culture?

• Focus on the team, not the individual– Team wins and loses together– No room for lone rangers

What do we want in our culture?

• Freedom to fail– If you want creativity then people need to know

it’s ok if their idea doesn’t work– This does not mean no accountability for poor

decisions!

What do we want in our culture?

• Passion and intensity• People who bring their “A game” every day

Get the “Drivers” on board

• Get the influential people from the team on board

• They didn’t choose this role for themselves, their peers did, use that.

Lay out the roadmap

• People need to understand the value of their work

• Would you ask your spouse to pack for a trip without telling them where you’re going?

Accountability

• Expectations clearly laid out• Responsibilities understood• The team knows what they need to do• The team makes decisions that are in the best

interest of everyone

Responsibility

• Responsibility must be taken– Responsibility given is actually obligation

• You need people to care about and be invested in their work

• You need them to be driven to do a good job and deliver value

• How are your people motivated?• They need to feel that their contributions are

recognized and appreciated

Perception

• Managing how you are perceived is a full time job at your full time job…

• Perception rarely matches intention, especially if you don’t try to make it.

Perception

Peer Feedback

• Giving good peer feedback is HARD.• “Any fool can criticize, condemn and

complain…and most fools do” – Dale Carnegie

Receiving Feedback

• Listen to the feedback. No…really.• Remain open minded• Don’t interrupt the person, it’s likely already

hard for them• Ensure that you understand what they are

telling you, it’s ok to ask clarifying questions to make sure

• Remind yourself the feedback is addressing a behaviour

Giving Feedback

• Feedback should address behavior, not the person

• It should be specific• It should be timely• Own your feedback, don’t wish-wash• Understand that it is only feedback, the other

person is not obligated to do anything other than listen.

Bad feedback examples

• You talk too much in meetings• People don’t seem to like you• Your PRDC session was ok but could use some

work• People complain about your attendance

Good feedback examples

• I thought your SDEC session would have been better if you made smoother transitions between sub-topics. It seemed to jump around which made it harder for me to follow.

• In that meeting we just had there were several instances where I tried to voice my opinion but couldn’t because you raised your voice a bit every time I tried to talk. When that happens it makes me feel like you don’t care about what I have to say.

Wrap up

• Your team/company culture is your collective identity

• The power of culture is wildly underestimated• You’re not going to attract top talent if your

culture is stodgy, sorry suit and tie shops!