Change is inevitable, both in business and in life. But for technology teams, allowing change to negatively influence and throw off your work focus can lead to adverse outcomes that impact your organization, sometimes for years to come. Thankfully, there are solutions to this common dilemma. In this blog post, we discuss proven tech leadership strategies to help your team stay on track through inevitable periods of change.
So how can change affect planned work within your technology organization?
For one, it can sap the energy of your team members. If you have focused minds energized to deliver a difference-making product, service, or solution over the long term, a sudden shift or repeated shifts in focus away from working the roadmap can often have a negative emotional impact.
Additionally, when your team becomes used to putting out fires with development issues and client ticket resolutions, the focus on and excitement around planned initiatives can fade over time. This creeping lack of enthusiasm can lead to a general loss of team morale, resulting in declining productivity and higher employee turnover.
Now that we know the consequences, it’s time to weigh the benefits of staying on track with planned work despite change. In general, this approach will enable your technology team to:
Sounds appealing, right? But paving the way for consistency with planned work is easier said than done. The burden is on functional leaders within your tech organization to develop a plan for navigating change successfully.
First, you need to build good habits on your team. To get started, identify all existing gaps in daily processes among your technology team. After building out this list, review the recommendations with your team. Remind them of habit building research, explaining how long it takes to form a new habit. And of course, regularly check back in for progress reports with each individual.
Next, you need to measure everything on your technology team. With individual data insights, you can reflect on who performed at our above expectations on the team and who struggled during a given period. The point of this data collection isn’t to provide harsh critiques or point fingers. It is about correcting issues, providing additional training, and helping your team members continuously improve.
Are you the right person to address a particular question or concern brought to your attention? If the inquiry doesn’t match your job focus or expertise, don’t feel like you need to be a superhero. The correct decision is to share the information in the right channel and pass the responsibility on. As a technology leader, make sure your team understands this dynamic and knows where they should direct specific requests.
Saying no is hard. You don’t want to offend the person who asked something of you. This culture of support is ultimately a good thing for your technology team and the overall business. But depending on the situation, it may not make sense to take on an additional lower priority ticket. Educate your team on these specific scenarios. Teach them to put context behind their “no” response when dealing with requests from colleagues. Of course, these responses should always come off professional and courteous.
Finally, you need to find out what business model works for your technology team. Not every model will match the subtleties of your business, solutions, services, and team members. As a technology leader, it is your responsibility to determine the right business model fit. This process may involve testing different models to figure out which system is right for you.
By committing to your planned work with these leadership strategies, you can prepare your technology team for navigating change successfully.
Check back for more insights from James in our Tech Leadership blog series! To keep the conversation on tech leadership and Rev.io’s approach to building technology teams going, contact us today.