Key Paradigms and Habits for Building an Effective and Functional Team

Building a successful team with diverse skill levels and a mix of remote and office-based team members requires a set of effective habits.

Here are some essential practices to foster within the team:

1. Clear Sense of Purpose:

   • Team leaders must define and communicate the mission and overarching purpose. Ensure every team member understands the larger goals and how their role contributes to the team, department, company, and customers' success. The following should be clear to every team member:

     • Clear duties and responsibilities

     • Clear mission and vision

     • Always start with "Why," then "How," and lastly, "What." - Start with why -- how great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek | TEDxPugetSound

   • Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and objectives that align with the team's purpose, providing clear metrics for success

   • Regularly revisit and reinforce the team's purpose during meetings and 1:1 to keep it in everyone's minds. Establish a personal connection to direct reports, understand their motivation and purpose whenever possible, and how it aligns with the team's mission and overarching goal.

   • Encourage team members to connect their work to the team's purpose, helping them see the direct impact of their contributions on the team's mission.

   • Celebrate milestones and achievements related to the team's purpose to foster a sense of accomplishment and motivation among team members

2. Effective Communication:

   • Team leaders must encourage open and transparent communication channels. This is crucial for remote team members who may feel isolated.

   • Foster active listening to ensure all team members are heard and their ideas are considered.

   • Maximize Slack, Zoom, or Google Meet for efficient communication, mainly if your team comprises remote and office-based work setups.

   • Encourage openness by emphasizing at the start of every meeting discussion that you are looking at improving processes and not pointing at mistakes or personalities. Still, you seek to learn from mistakes/shortcomings/process lapses.

3. Team Collaboration:

   • Team leaders must promote a culture of collaboration where team members support each other and work together to solve problems.

   • Create cross-functional teams if necessary so that team members can learn from each other's diverse skill sets.

   • Establish regular team meetings and check-ins to ensure everyone is aligned and working toward common goals. Utilize 1:1 sessions as much as possible.

4. Customer Focus:

   • Prioritize customer satisfaction and empathy. Ensure that all team members understand the importance of providing excellent customer support. However, ensure that the team is clear about the scope of support.

   • Promote "top of mind," developing the habit of being aware of the latest status of the issue, progress with the investigation, and keeping the customer aware of actions taken (who, what, and when of the last customer touch point, particularly in escalations/investigation)

   • Gather customer feedback and use it to improve services and address pain points continuously.

5. Continuous Learning:

   • Leaders must encourage a culture of continuous learning and development. Provide opportunities for team members to upskill and stay updated on the latest industry trends. Take advantage of the following:

     • LinkedIn Learning

     • Udemy

     • Skillshare 

     • Coursera

     • MasterClass

     • Pluralsight

     • CreativeLive

     • edX

     • Udacity

   • Implement knowledge-sharing sessions or mentorship programs where more experienced team members can help those with less experience. Some venues that you can take advantage of:

     • Team huddles

     • Weekly retrospective meeting

     • Documentation is critical. Leverage and continuously build on existing tools, processes, and knowledge base.

6. Time Management:

   • Team leaders should help the team members develop practical time management skills to ensure productivity, especially in a remote work environment. Things like:

     • Scheduled Vacation Leave: At least inform the team a week before the leave date. Leaders should have a view of the availability of resources and ensure SMEs are available per shift.

     • Organized Breaks: In support-related work, every person should not take the same break time, for example, as this will leave the queue vulnerable.

   • Set clear priorities and deadlines for tasks and projects. Take advantage of regular check-ins to ensure that everything is on track. 

7. Adaptability:

   • In a technical field like software engineering, change is constant. We must encourage adaptability and the ability to learn and adapt to new technologies and customer needs quickly.

   • Understand key personas (Marketer, Developer, and IT) we talk to in our role as support, their pain points, what is important to them, and their language. Speak to them in the language they understand ("Persona switching")

8. Diversity and Inclusion:

   • For a multicultural team, we must embrace diversity and inclusion as a source of strength. Recognize and respect the different backgrounds and perspectives within the team.

   • Promote a welcoming and inclusive work environment where all team members feel valued and can contribute their unique talents.

9. Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking:

   • Team leaders must develop problem-solving skills among team members. Encourage them to approach challenges with a solutions-oriented mindset.

   • Implement regular brainstorming sessions to tackle complex issues collectively. Slack huddle is a great venue to exercise and develop this habit if you're using Slack.

   • Develop your team member's understanding of the value proposition and stream. Understand value-producing actions and processes and drive efficiency.

   • Systems thinking - X and Y problem. Understand and investigate the reported problem/issue. The problem identified by the customer may only be the symptom of an underlying problem. Similarly, an identified resolution/fix may only be a band-aid solution to the surface concern and does not really solve the issue.

10. Documentation and Knowledge Sharing:

    • Ensure that all team members document their work and share knowledge. This is crucial for consistency and helping team members learn from each other. Places that we can use to share our knowledge:

      • Confluence

      • Atlas

      • Google Doc (but less visible and hard to find)

      • Slack journal - How X-Team Uses Slack Journals to Stay Productive

      • Wiki

11. Feedback and Improvement:

    • Conduct regular feedback sessions, both individual and team-wide, to identify areas for improvement

    • Use feedback to make adjustments and refine team processes and practices continually.

12. Work-Life Balance:

    • Promote a healthy work-life balance for all team members, regardless of location. Remote workers, in particular, should be encouraged to disconnect from work when necessary.

      • Routine Time-Off: A disproportionate work-life routine could lead to burnout. Encouraging your subordinates to disconnect occasionally will allow them to recharge and return to work with 100% energy and a fresh brain.

      • Cognizant of Red Flags: Team leaders should be mindful of the red flags if one of their teammates suffers from stress or burnout. Be aware of changes in the behavior of your team members. Whenever the personal rapport allows, check for any issues outside of work that affect their work performance.
        
        Here are several indicators that could tell us at the early stage:

        • Less motivated.

        • Less productive.

        • Less engaged.

13. Leadership and Mentorship:

    • Identify natural leaders within the team and encourage them to mentor and guide others.

    • Develop leadership skills among team members to ensure smooth operations and effective decision-making.

      • Delegate the tasks: This will NOT only lighten our (leaders) load but also boost our ICs' morale as they feel essential to the team. It develops trust between leaders and ICs.

    • Acknowledge technical and knowledge expertise from individual team members who may not always be people managers. Cultivate the technical expertise of the individual and how the knowledge can be shared with others.

We must remember that these habits should be continuously nurtured and adapted to our team's specific needs and the evolving demands of our role. Regularly assess our team's performance and make adjustments as necessary to drive success.