Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
We talk a lot about empowered or self-organizing teams in the agile community. However, I don’t see too many self-organizing or empowered teams at my clients. Not because my clients are stupid—far from it. Everyone does the best job they know how to do. However, every manager’s micromanagement pervades all levels. Instead of talking about …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #11: Substitute the Word Trust for Empower”
Many managers feel the need to get more and more done. They feel pressure from customers and salespeople for more features or products. Or the managers might feel the need for more revenue. So they start many projects. When teams have too many projects, teams take longer to finish. This means all that pressure continues …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #10: Commit Coherent & Meaningful Work to a Team”
I see too much micromanagement, even in supposedly agile organizations. Micromanagement tells people, “I don’t trust you.” When we have insufficient trust, morale and the products deteriorate. Instead, we can extend trust and keep innovating for morale and the products. This image shows a 6-person team where the leader/manager micromanages. All decisions go through that …
Continue reading “Leadership tip #9: See & Stop Micromanagement—Learn to Trust Instead”
Do you or your managers want people to be happy at work? That’s a laudable goal. And, in my experience, unrealistic. That’s because happiness is an outcome of a person’s current life context. Instead of happiness, let’s consider satisfaction. When we consider satisfaction, we might discover ways to create a great work environment. That satisfaction might …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip 8: Stop Focusing on Happiness & Measure Satisfaction Instead”
What do you appreciate about your office culture? Maybe someone circulates get-well or congratulations cards. Someone might bring cookies to work or arrange birthday celebrations. I know of people who arrange retirement/transition lunches. All these actions are nice things. They even have a name: “niceties.” Nice people perform these services for the rest of the …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #7: Be Wary of Spending Time on Non-Promotable Tasks”
Your team finished something difficult. They released it. You celebrated the team’s accomplishment with the team. Let’s assume your name is Jim. Now, you’re in a senior management meeting, where your boss says, “Thanks, Jim, for all that hard work.” You feel great from that recognition. And yes, you supported that team. You facilitated some …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #6: Give Credit as Often as Possible”
Are you wary of asking for help? You might feel weak. Or, you might worry your colleagues see you as weak or incompetent. You might not feel safe if you want to ask for help. However, very few of us know everything we need. Or can do everything we want to accomplish without asking for …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #5: Learn How to Ask for Help”
Someone asks you for information and you don’t know the answer. Maybe a senior manager asks, “When can the customers expect this particular feature?” Or your manager asks, “How does this specific architecture work for our product?” A colleague or a person you serve asks, “Why are we doing this?” You might freeze and not …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #4: Admit When You Don’t Know”
Have you ever noticed that other people want you to do “more” work? The work has risk—if you say yes to this work, you’ll put every other deliverable at risk. What do you say? You can address this request with a simple sentence: No. That’s it. No. It’s a complete sentence. I bet you feel …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #3: Use No As a Complete Sentence”
We all like to think we use our value-based integrity to decide and act. And I bet you’ve seen people who don’t appear to use that kind of integrity. If you talk to them, they say they intend to do the right thing. However, they don’t always act according to their intentions. Here’s an example …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #2: Do the Right Thing, Even When it Feels Uncomfortable”