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Building and Managing Strong Teams

Wendy-Lynn

Product Managers, as individual contributors or managers of managers, must lead teams. When I think about leading teams (PMs directly or cross-functional teams indirectly), three key themes come up time and again : 

  1. Informing

  2. Sharing

  3. Advocating  

There is some overlap between the concepts as each builds on the previous one. When people are informed of your strategy, they know where to focus. When you share information and responsibilities, your team members feel included and empowered. When you advocate for people, they want to reciprocate and help you reach your goals.

Informing

Information is power. Keeping the teams that report to me, or with whom I work, informed about the goals and progress of our product is crucial. If my team knows where we are headed, they know how to move forward, prioritize and advocate for their products and can own their decision-making and execution process.

Here are some tools of the trade and notes on actions I take to keep people informed.  

  • Tools

  • Actions

    • Talk about what the team is doing and why (Both 1:1 and in group settings)

    • Repeat your message often (even if it feels repetitive to you)

    • Be open to feedback 

Sharing

Humans learn by teaching others. If you have to teach a concept, you understand the concept at a more fundamental level. Empowering others to share their knowledge helps reinforce their learning and confidence. A good leader shares their thoughts and encourages others to share what they know.  

Here are some tools of the trade and notes on actions I take to cultivate a culture of sharing.

  • Tools

  • Actions

    • Invite your team to present and teach concepts 

    • Give your team members a spot in the sun (help them get opportunities to be seen by leadership) 

Advocating

If you publically support your team, it increases psychological safety. Show your team you have their back. Be proactive in helping them move their career forward, and don't make them feel awkward for asking about stretch opportunities or promotions. Most importantly, make sure they know the buck stops with you. Let them know they can trust you to have their back, and that it is safe to experiment. 

Here are some tools of the trade and notes on actions I take to cultivate a culture of advocation.

In conclusion, keep your teams informed, encourage information sharing, and proactively advocate for them. If you do these things, your team will be a group of high-performers who enjoy helping one another get across the finish line in any race.

When Things Goes Wrong

While I focused on the positives, I want to take a moment and address some common issues when the above is not supported by a leader:

  • When teams aren’t informed about your product goals and progress, they can feel lost or try to reinvent the wheel in the absence of information, wasting time and trust.

  • When teams don’t share, people get rewarded for creating information siloes that create risks and hinder everyone’s growth. The more information your organization shares, the more everyone learns and builds on that foundation.

  • When managers don’t advocate for their teams, members don’t trust them and constantly look for the next opportunity where they might get the support they need.

Reminder of Why People Leave

Most people (at least 54%) leave their roles or companies because of their managers aren’t creating a healthy environment, not pay. The articles are numerous, but here is one from HBR (”They left when their job wasn’t enjoyable, their strengths weren’t being used, and they weren’t growing in their careers.”) or from LinkedIn. (“A 2020 Gallup survey showed that 54% of employees who have quit their jobs over the previous 12 months have done so to get away from their bosses.”)

You create an environment people want to be if you empower them with information, reinforce their learnings and advocate for them to grow.

Photo by Duy Pham on Unsplash