The game presents a social problem: How does one find comity among a group of jostling strangers?
teamwork
Far too often, team members expect to be given downward feedback, but unless they’re explicitly invited to offer upward feedback, they won’t know that it’s even an option. As a manager, it’s your job to ask your employees for feedback on your own performance. How else will you know what you should keep doing and what you should be doing differently? Nevertheless, you might find that your direct reports are reluctant to give you the feedback you need to improve, or even sustain, what’s working. This article addresses five common barriers that managers face in getting helpful feedback from direct reports, and how to address them so that you can gain the insights you need.
The ability to get issues on the table and work through them constructively is critical to having a healthy culture. Managers can normalize productive conflict on your team by using an exercise to map out the unique value of each role and the tensions that should exist among them. Draw a circle and divide that circle into enough wedges to represent each role on your team. For each role, ask: What is the unique value of this role on this team? On which stakeholders is this role focused? What is the most common tension this role puts on team discussions? Answer those questions for each member of the team, filling in the wedges with the answers. As you go, emphasize how the different roles are supposed to be in tension with one another. With heightened awareness and a shared language, your team will start to realize that much of what they have been interpreting as interpersonal friction has actually been perfectly healthy role-based tension.
I've worked at various tech companies: from "traditional" shops and consultancies, through an investment bank, to high-growth tech firms. I've also talked with software engineers working at startups, banking, automotive, big tech, and more "traditional" companies. This mix had a healthy sample of Silicon-Valley companies and ones headquartered outside this
A recent EY survey found that more than 40% of U.S. respondents reported feeling physically and emotionally isolated in the workplace. This group spanned generations, genders and ethnicities. People want more connection with those they work with. So how can companies connect more effectively with employees and help them feel like they belong within their workplace community? The survey points to one simple solution: establish more opportunities for colleagues to check in with one another. 39% of respondents feel the greatest sense of belonging when their colleagues check in with them, both personally and professionally. By reaching out and acknowledging their employees on a personal level, companies and leaders can significantly enhance the employee experience by making their people feel valued and connected.
An analysis of more than 1.2 million records of internal reports made by employees of public U.S. companies reveals that whistleblowers are crucial to keeping firms healthy. The more employees use internal whistleblowing hotlines, the fewer lawsuits companies face, and the less money firms pay out in settlements. A one standard deviation increase in the use of an internal reporting system is associated with 6.9% fewer pending lawsuits and 20.4% less in aggregate settlement amounts over a three-year period.
Part One: Types of Teams Written to sort out my thoughts for my UXDC keynote. If you’d like me to speak at your conference on high performing teams, check out cwodtke.com “High Performing Team” is …
This is Part 2 of a three part series on high performing teams. Part one is of Design the Team You Need to Succeed Now you’ve decided you want more than a workgroup, what should you do? What does i…