Anish AbrahamPrivacy Program Manager| University of WashingtonAuburn, Wa, United States
In my opinion, the key to making self-managing teams work is to delegate authority to the team, and also granting flexibility in making its own decisions. I guess the success will depend on building team trust, caring for the team members and also being socially and politically aware.
1. Make it clear what the scope of self-management is so they don't exceed their empowerment nor feel artificially constrained.
2. For every decision which you are tempted to take, ask whether it would be better made through the collaborative efforts of the team.
3. Investigate the use of Delegation Poker as a good exercise to get the team over their initial hesitation with self-management.
Kiron
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1 reply by Kevin Drake
Jun 13, 2018 6:25 PM
Kevin Drake
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Very interesting method
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Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Empower. Equip, Enable.
Empower the team through coaching and mentoring
Equip the team with knowledge, understanding, confidence, toolage, etc.
Enable the team by removing impediments, garnering support, and building partnerships
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1 reply by Kevin Drake
Jun 13, 2018 6:27 PM
Kevin Drake
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It will work but a lot of clear delegation and authority level..
I worked in such self-managed team in my latest project.
Our VP gave the directions and vision on what was expected. We had guard-rails to use when making decisions.
Definitely an oversight is needed to review the project as such. It is easy for team members to take up more work than they can deliver.
Kevin, all above are good points, I just add that self managed team does not mean they don't need a leader / manager just keep holding the bridle little loose and if you notice slightly deviation then pull it, don't delegate every thing few important things must remain in your hand, such team they don't like micro management but watch from far, develop trust but hold them accountable, make sure they don't bypass you on big things minor staff you can let it go, remember they are not used to manager so you have to work hard on your first few months until you reach to comfortable zone with them. use torque,beams and straps to tighten the situation as needed. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
It is simple. For example, in my case where I am working from long time ago with highly distributed virtual teams they are self-managed teams. That is what each project manager experienced when internalize that micro-management must be set aside. Project manager performs as a "hub" or "facilitator" to help self-management teams "things happend". Saving Changes...
Eric IsomOwner| learn.pmguaranteed.comUt, United States
Also, self-managed teams only work with responsible, capable, collaborative, and usually senior-level team members. Saving Changes...
No matter how you try to put it, leading self-managed teams is a non-sense. A team simply can't have a leader and be self-managed in the same time. Even if the leader lets the team members to take decisions in a democratic way it is still not a self-managed team since the leader can at any time override the decisions taken by the team.
In IT most PMs are just facilitators who have neither the knowledge nor the formal authority to take work-related decisions but usually you have technical leads who take work-related decisions and impose them on the other members. I have seen this happening even in SCRUM which is an Agile method that is theoretically based on self-managed team.
