This article about scaling your team up is for managers and leaders who believe in scaling teams through people growth, not just in financial purposes. It doesn’t matter your level of management.
Once someone takes on a leadership role, decision-making and innovative ideas become integral to day-to-day operations.
Speaking from a personal perspective, I truly enjoy being a manager with this mindset:
In a manager’s day-to-day activities, numerous challenges arise that require reactive solutions. However, a significant number of crucial aspects await the manager’s proactive attention.
One of the most influential and important areas that can be proactively addressed is the growth of the team. This is what I aim to discuss in this article—my thoughts, experiences, and strategies for fostering teamwork, with hiring outside of the equation.
How to grow your team without hiring?
In terms of team management and considering the dynamics of our tech-driven world today, I believe that investing in human growth is a wise decision, with managers or leaders being the starting point.
Perhaps, when people hear about a growth plan, the initial thought often revolves around hiring, salary increments, or internal promotions. However, there are circumstances where budget constraints hinder hiring, or the company needs time to solidify its current structure. In such cases, I encourage all managers to foster a growth culture. Beyond achieving goals, it’s crucial for people to continue growing.
Managers play a pivotal role in navigating these situations, balancing team motivation, talent retention, and a lot of concerns in mind. All of these characteristics directly impact your ability to scaling up your team.
If you aim to grow individually, invest in yourself. Surround yourself with the right people who bring diverse perspectives or knowledge to the table—go for it!
If you want someone to grow in your team, inquire about their interests and motivations. Assist in aligning their goals with these aspects and, in turn, learn from that person.
If you desire growth for your team(s), support each member individually. Foster a culture of shared knowledge among the team members.
Absolutely, even in situations where hiring or traditional avenues for growth may be constrained, I have some previous experiences and ideas to foster learning and development. Aspects that shouldn’t be blocked.
1. Investing in People
In my opinion, companies should consistently invest in their existing employees. These individuals are the ones who wake up every morning to contribute to something meaningful, dedicating significant hours to their work. The effectiveness of this approach becomes even more apparent in situations where a culture of investment already exists.
At this point, a goal could be to channel energy into seeking an improved version of each team member. As a manager, what actions can I take to achieve this?
1.1. Meet People Where They Are
I believe it’s crucial to take the time to understand an individual’s current professional circumstances. By this, I mean understanding their journey leading up to the point where it intersects with yours. Evaluate their current situation within the company or project. Do they feel fulfilled as contributors?
For example, I published an article about 1:1 meetings which you could use as a tool to discover more about your teammates.
1.2. Ask Them about Their Interests and Motivations
Understanding someone’s motivations, opens up numerous opportunities for personal and team growth in tackling day-to-day challenges. Why? Because you can facilitate the emergence of a better version of someone by linking a specific problem that may require knowledge related to their motivations. This creates the perfect moment for development.
1.3. Listen carefully: Practice Active Listening
PLEASE, engage in active & deep listening with your teams. It doesn’t mean you have to say ‘YES’ to everything but, if we aren’t attentive to what each team member can contribute, how can they offer their best version to the team and the company?
1.4. Make it a Reality
Provide your team with opportunities to learn and grow by leveraging their strengths. Of course, time will be needed. Therefore, schedule dedicated time, reorganize calendars, plan engaging meetings aligned with the team’s interests, or facilitate relevant training sessions.
Here are some examples:
- Arrange pair or mood programming meetings if they align with the team’s needs.
- Seek knowledge beyond your team’s scope. Discussions with other teams or colleagues from different companies are always valuable options.
- Enroll in webinars, workshops—either within the company or externally—and share your insights and knowledge with the team.
1.5. Follow their interests
After discovering their interests and when the team is supposedly utilizing opportunities to apply them, ensure and demonstrate how they are expanding their knowledge. Often, a simple yet effective exercise is reminding individuals how far they’ve progressed over time.
There are also numerous of tools and strategies to help you demonstrate to your teammates how their positive evolution is occurring, such as performance reviews based on goals achievements.
I recommend using them primarily for motivation rather than evaluation, keeping in mind that our goal is to contribute to growth.
2. Create a Fostering Culture
Another crucial aspect of scaling up your team is establishing a fostering culture. Through this culture, knowledge, previous experiences, and ideas will flow seamlessly within the team.
2.1. Write a set of guidelines
- Team members will assess themselves using the same criteria I would use.
- Team members will actively engage in learning from one another.
- Consequently, they will collectively grow and develop.
2.2. Build tools for Cross-Communication
If your team has numerous dependencies on other teams or third-party apps, it’s crucial to address this aspect. While I won’t delve into the specifics at the moment, based on my own experience, effective cross-team communication is a critical area to focus on. Without clear communication with other teams, even a proactive team can experience a decline in motivation.
2.3. Someone Attending Conferences
Facilitate opportunities for your teammates to attend internal or external conferences. Afterwards, ensure that the gained experience and knowledge are shared with the team.
You can envision a scenario where various individuals in your team attend or even speak at different conferences, sharing their thoughts and experiences with others. This creates a knowledge-sharing strategy, as illustrated in the diagram at the beginning of this article.
2.4. Create a Common and Safe Tech Space
For instance, utilize tech refinements where discussions on common interests, concerns, etc., can naturally emerge, fostering a shared and secure space for technical collaboration.
2.5. Promote Team Cohesion
Encourage awareness of what peers are working on within the team. Typically, contributors focus on specific aspects of their overall scope.
Promote a mutual understanding of responsibilities between BackEnd and FrontEnd teams, fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
3. Develop a Team of Leaders
As a leader, I consider delegating to be a crucial responsibility. Personally, it has been the most challenging task for me, and I’ve invested significant time in understanding it.
Based on my own experience, I can confidently say that if you’re in a leadership role and aspire to grow while facilitating the growth of others, delegation is absolutely essential. Without it, you’ll be blocking your teammates growth.
I’m not referring to others doing your job; I’m talking about being a leader who is actively training their replacement every day!
I believe that’s the mindset: working with the understanding that one of my missions is to cultivate other leaders. Leadership comes in various forms. You don’t necessarily need a title like “Team Lead,” “Engineering Lead,” or “Engineering Manager” to be a leader.
Some individuals thrive in leading technical stacks or tackling challenges. Others aspire to lead a team and enhance its performance. Then, there are those with an innate leadership personality that naturally inspires others to follow them.
For those already in leadership roles, please recognize the importance of people skills and encourage others to step into leadership based on their interests and potential. Scaling up your team contributes to the development of individual contributors, managers, and the company.
Conclusion in one phrase
As a gardener tends to plants and flowers, nurture the individual fulfillment of your team.