How it started

At the time, I thought I had this position nailed. It was a position I had been looking for, and for which I felt perfectly-qualified. It would have given me an opportunity to work in much more close-knit team environment, in an exciting area.

This was something I knew I needed. As in my previous position I felt quite isolated and was realising that I needed a change of environment to reassess how I worked. In short, I was looking to join a team.

The interview was well-conducted and I liked the team, and a few days later I was given a scorecard showing what they thought of me — I thought this was a nice touch.

What it confirmed was what I had feared. They agreed that I could do the job, but that I would be difficult to work with. What had floored me was the question, “How would you measure success in a team?”

I thought I had an answer, “You have to focus on the result,” I said, and continued (paraphrasing):

“A team is always made up of different and sometimes conflicting personalities, but it’s important to put on your game face and do the work to reach your goals. It’s that focus on the work that allows people to work harmoniously together, and respect one another’s skills. I had an instance where I didn’t get along with a colleague. It was a difficult relationship, but we worked closely together on a project that achieved some success. That success improved our personal relationship, and overall made the workplace a better space. That’s all I can say. I think I need to work on my team skills, because my only experience tells me to focus on the work.”

introspection

I had it all wrong. I had come from a perception that every person needs to be a master of their task and take charge. But what they were looking for was someone supportive, and generous to help this team succeed. They didn’t like my attitude. I responded to that question from a place of fear because I really didn’t know how to work in a team.

I saw this quote from Simon Sinek: “You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.”

Reading this it became clear to me that it wasn’t my skills that were lacking, it was my attitude. There are plenty of skilled, talented people out there, but you stick with the people who are easy to work with. While I knew I needed to improve on my soft skills, I didn’t really know what that meant.

A good team only succeeds through collaboration. That means complementing each others’ weaknesses as well as strengths.

I’ve always been afraid of being the weak link in a chain, and that can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy if you let it, especially if you start to micro-manage. The thing is though, a successful team shouldn’t have a single point of failure, or success. In a successful team, no-one should work alone. And everyone should feel valued.

I think this is why the workplace is such an important social space.

When I was in school, there was nothing I hated more than group work, because inevitably in a group of 6, only 2 people would want to do anything. This made me focus on becoming self-sufficient, and when I worked in academia I found myself working alone all the time. I encouraged the opposite in my students though. I taught them concepts, and pushed them to seek collaboration. At honours level I even forced them to work as a company with them dividing up roles according to their expertise.

And looking back I think this to came from a place of fear, because I was working alone, and I didn’t want the same fate for them.

so what’s changed?

At the risk of sounding obvious, I have. Since that interview I’ve had several projects where I’ve had to project manage, and it’s a role I quite enjoy. When you’re the technician you try to solve things yourself, but when you’re the facilitator you… facilitate. You do this by linking people together to reach a goal. I still wear many hats, and often have to take on more responsibility, but these days my work doesn’t start with “what can I do?” but with “how can I help?”.

Sometimes all that means is a friendly message here and there. You learn a lot about the state of a project by just staying in touch. And if an asset is needed and someone needs a helping hand, you offer what they need, and then you step back to let them work. My job is to spec the project out; consult with everyone on their timeframes and give them double (not always possible but at least 130%); check in on any requirements; and allocate enough time for me to get my own contributions in.

My own work ethic can probably be summed up in the three Ds: don’t dilly dally.

That doesn’t mean don’t play, or make jokes; rather it means get the work done so that you can enjoy it. It’s always amazing to me that the most successful teams tend to have an outward appearance of never-working. You know the group. The loud ones in the hallway that seem to be on an endless tea break.

In reality they’re ahead of schedule. They divided their workload into small achievable tasks, took healthy breaks in between, and constantly asked one another for support.

Even when there’s a avalanche of work to get through, it’s more than manageable with a few friends, and time.

This was confirmed for me in a great book: Software Engineering at Google. I say it’s a great book because you don’t need to be a software engineer to understand it. Right in the beginning they highlight the importance of working to make yourself redundant. There are many benefits to this approach for problem solving and advancing your career (always be leaving, they call it), but the point I want to focus on is: If any number of people could do your job, then getting the result you want has nothing to do with your particular skills.

It’s all about how well you work in a team. A good team functions by itself, with or without you. You’re job is to fit into the mechanism. You may be a cog in the machine, but more importantly, you’re a battery of talent, enthusiasm, and morale.

So how would I measure success in a team now?

Probably in smiles.