Building teams for success

I revisited this management blog site I had started when I had about half the career experience that I hold today. As I reflect on each of those lessons that I wrote about, I see that the learnings still hold true.

It also encouraged me to continue writing about my experiences, if not for anything else, as a future reference for myself to revisit. Hence, embarking on this series of articles and posts on Linkedin.

Building teams for success

One key insight from my own career is that my success is deeply intertwined with that of my team. In the various roles I have played as project manager, product owner, delivery lead, and more importantly as a people manager, the main criteria has been to be able to build, guide and empower the right people.

I hope I am not being overly presumptuous in calling it my formula, nevertheless I present it as a three Aces of building a successful team -

1) Autonomy - Hand the stage to your team. Give them the space to take ownership. I have seen wonderful outcomes and teams surpassing expectations when they had the freedom to take actions, without being micro-managed along the way. Be there to guide when called upon, but do not aim to direct every play on the ground. Trust them to find their path and watch them excel.

2) Accountability - With ownership there is necessarily the expectation of responsibility. Being responsible for their own actions and outcomes fosters a culture of growth and resilience. Be there to protect the team, but let their actions and efforts defend them. This helps instill a sense of ownership and pride in their work.

3) Achievement - Celebrate every win and put the team at the forefront of the accolades. No matter how big or small, it is important to recognize the hard work, talent and dedication that drives your team forward. This helps make the team feel strong and confident. I find merit in even celebrating setbacks due to the learnings we took from them. When challenges arise, such teams don't shy away from them - they face them head on, learn from them and emerge stronger.

I hope these don't sound like buzzwords. I have found this approach helping me to build thriving, motivated teams.

Would love to hear your experiences leading a team or working in a team and whether you found these principles applied to your team or not?