Sonali has taken over the leadership of an additional team recently; she was responsible for the Data team and has been given the additional responsibility for the API/Interface team, for better synergy.
The Data team was six members strong and the API/Interface team is having four members. She has a high-level understanding of how API/Interface works, but needs to get a bit deeper to be able to manage and guide the team.
She is feeling a bit overwhelmed and approaches you (her manager) to gets some help/advise. She is used to doing monthly 1:1s with the team members which typically lasts up to an hour and she finds it very useful. She would like to know how best to cope with the knowledge transfer and the additional 1:1s with the new team members.
What inputs would you provide to Sonali?
One Approach:
I would encourage Sonali to prioritize her work, and tackle the work in the order of priority.
Next to look at the intended outcome of the activity/work and focus on achieving that.
Obviously learning more about the new responsibility is essential and requires time and energy. She should focus on that.
Sonali’s key concern is the 1:1 meeting, some questions I would ask her:
- Is one hour required for every team member’s 1:1,
- Is it necessary to complete all the 1:1 meeting within a month.
Her answer to these questions and subsequent discussions could lead to an approach like this:
- The intent is to connect with each team member. Draw up the list of the team members and start having 1:1 from the top of the list, cover all team members and start again at the top of the list. If this takes longer than a month, so be it. You could refer to the related blog .
- The meeting should help the team member get adequate feedback and appreciation to progress on their career path. Adjust the duration of the meeting to suit the individual. One could use Skill-Attitude matrix (or any other technique) to see where the person fits in and adjust the duration accordingly. A person who is having the right skills and attitude may not need as much time as others.
- The list of team members itself could be prioritized to have the team members needing more focus to be on the top of the list.
Would like to hear your views, have you encountered a similar situation, how did you deal with it.
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