Thank you, Air Supply

One of the challenges of working in a globally dispersed, medium-sized company is achieving enough scale within specialist teams. When functions are teams of <3 members, or an independent contributors, managing team engagement, career development, and risk becomes challenging.

I would joke with our Programming Team Lead for years about his “team of one” (himself). We found humor in the situation, but maintaining his expert skill set, extracting value from the role, and ensuring coverage were real challenges. Thankfully, he now leads a team of three, so things have improved.

As a 10-year executive leading of global operations, I’ve learned a few key principles for developing high-performing functional teams. My goal is to provide seamless support and tackle new challenges with solutions grounded in excellence, efficiency, and communication. At year-end, the success managing my team is measured by quality (first and foremost), quantity (keeping up with tasks), and communication (building and maintaining relationships).

I’m never gonna make it without you

Communication – Engaging effectively with our stakeholders is essential. This means explaining what we do in plain language, using clear terminology, and asking questions about the business when something isn’t clear. My role as a leader is to refine our vision and align it with the company’s strategic goals. Regardless of size, every team or function needs a vision, clear goals, and regular check-ins. I have brief weekly check-ins with all direct reports to keep us aligned.

Quality – Achieving quality requires a strategy of excellence and mechanisms to ensure the highest level of delivery. For our tech teams, this means consistently focusing on the end consumer. For marketing, it means maintaining a high standard for content. Independent contributors lack peers to challenge them and often feel the pressure to always be “on.” I make it a priority to give my team time for learning and connecting with external resources for support or fresh ideas. It’s also important that I model this behavior as their leader.

Quantity – No one has enough hours in the day, so it’s crucial to use them well. Ask the hard, clarifying questions. Make sure you have everything you need before starting, and ensure you’re working on what’s highest priority. Metrics and KPIs can be hard to manage and may shift with leadership priorities, so I prefer focusing on specific strategic goals. The challenge I pose to my team is, “How can you track your progress and demonstrate accountability?” This is a valuable exercise at any level, especially for junior team members.

I know the rules, and I know how to break them

Each team functions differently, and requires an adaptation to the principles laid out above. Personalities, levels of maturity and urgency of goals, all feed into team management styles. And the goal should not be to promote or find teams for the ICs to manage – this HBR article from a few years back speaks to the value in technical leads.

Regardless of whether your team is small and growing, or small and stable, they will thrive when managers apply a consistent framework and clear expectations. And it streamlines executive mental load, as well.