Manjunatha K
In this highly demanding environment the manager bears the responsibility to drive the organization towards the business success and it is essential to build a role model team to be on top. This needs to build a systematic approach and consistent follow up of every single day.
Some rituals advised include
1 start the daily routine early.
Though the manager has the project plan to realize the strategic goals to achieve the organizational goals, there will be enough distractions, unplanned activities, to pull him away. It is essential to align every day towards the goal to build a successful team. Staring the day early will give lots of room for assessing risks, revisiting plan and to readjust daily targets.
This demands complete focus and uninterrupted attention and only possible only when the day is started early before the noise of the routine starts. This enables the manager to reconnect to the organizational goals and vision which in turn helps to detect the values. Consistency is the mother of mastery. It is essential to make it as a daily ritual.
2. Schedule the important events and activities
it is essential to schedule all important events, activities, milestones, meetings, discussions, reviews at least one week ahead. The manager must ensure to capture the ambiguity with precision and time box and should explicitly mention the expectation clearly on the outcome. Clear goals only lead to results. This will help team stakeholders to plan ahead and be available on time. This gives enough room for them to prepare as well.
It would be powerful if the manager could make the detailed schedule visible to all. It is the blue print.
This would be helpful for all stakeholders, including team to block their time for important activities. A visual chart helps to consistently remind all stakeholders about the schedules.
It is possible to get things done which are in the schedule. Out of the box a manager cannot expect his team members to deliver the unsaid and unscheduled great results.
3. Go extra mile
Manage should seek for every opportunity to go extra mile to delight customers. He should see and make team to think that as an opportunity for innovation and encourage them to go extra mile. Extra mile doesn’t mean delivering extra features. It means to understand the needs and pain points of the customer and collaborate to resolve, deliver defect free product, enhance user experience. Do not over commit and under deliver, make sure to deliver whatever committed on time without any detects.
Going extra mile for each project is different for each customer. The manager should first understand and discuss with the team to make sure that it is embedded in every day’s schedule. It is his responsibility to encourage team to strive for the same.
4. Sharpening the saw, daily learning:
It is inevitable for the manager to be updated with latest technology, tools, innovations, methodologies, process and practices in this fast paced environment. However busy with the current project load, it is essential to make time for learning. It may be a sharing session, training, and discussion, watching a relevant video, listening to audio clip or writing a journal.
Many times we see that the learning / training sessions take back seat as team is busy in chasing the current milestone. The plan to resume after the milestone doesn’t work.
It is just inviting the risk early. It only delays the team members to equip them to handle uncertainties.
Repeating again, consistency is the mother of mastery
5. Retrospection / self reflection
it is very easy to be busy or enacting to be busy, what is the point if the manager and team are busy on wrong things. It is like climbing the mountain very hard to realize that one has climbed the wrong mountain after reaching the peak.
It is essential for the manager to pause for the current activities to retrospect and see the self reflection. It is a very hard as he will be in the middle of the whirlpool to stand away and see the situation. But it is essential. He must give a pause to all current activities to see the reflection of what’s happening, what’s going right, what’s going wrong, what to continue, what to stop, what needs to be corrected. It is only then he can engage the team in right direction. Building a role model team needs a discipline, consistency, vision and alignment with the organizational goals.
