Track and adjust to be a great tech lead! (No. 85)
This is the closest in, most influential tech lead skill. Practice it.
Hey tech leads!
Let’s recap the week for a moment.
This week was about reviewing the fundamentals—again. And, for me, the fundamentals == the Four Core. Everything great that comes next in your tech leadership starts by mastering the Four Core. Skip one of these, and you’re going to struggle later (I did). That’s what we did this week.
On Monday, we started with capability Number One which is, of course, listening. You just can’t lead without listening because people will just barely follow you if they don’t feel like you’ve heard them. They may do what you say, if they have to, but to get people to do their best work with you, you have to connect with them. Connection starts with listening.
On Wednesday, we moved on to two more of the Four Core. We covered capability Number Two which is, as much as I struggle to name it, probably called showing up. We also explored vision crafting, which is Number Three. Showing up is very much like work ethic and we talked more about it on Wednesday.
We also talked about vision crafting. Crafting visions is really a fun topic for me. Interestingly, I found out, just today, that John C. Maxwell, who writes a LOT about leadership, uses the term “vision casting” which I think is nice plus. But I swear, it’s only by accident that my term sounds like he is. Craft and cast visions tech leads!
I know it seems like we focus on the fundamentals a lot. But this is how you get great. There are no shortcuts, and I want you to be a great tech lead.
It’s Friday, so let’s move on quickly to the last of the four core capabilities.
Tracking and adjusting
Tracking and adjusting is one of my favorite capabilities to talk about. Truthfully, all the capabilities are all my favorite. They are like my children (well not really; the capabilities don’t talk back). If vision crafting is the dreamer child, then tracking and adjusting is the star athlete of the family. In tracking and adjusting, your tech leadership gets exciting because everything starts to come together. Tracking and adjusting is tech leadership in motion.
What is tracking + adjusting?
Of course, tracking and adjusting are two different skills: tracking and adjusting. They happen so closely together (when done right) that I think of them as one skill.
Let’s start with tracking. Tracking is basically understanding what people are working on, what they’re doing, and how well it aligns lines to the vision and the goals for your project or team. It’s not bigger than that; it’s really simple. Simple, but it takes work ethic, a lot of it. Tracking is a highly proactive activity in that you need to reach out to your team. A Slack bot isn’t what I’m talking about here.
You might be reluctant to track closely because you don’t want to be seen as a micromanager. But in tracking, there’s a world of difference between supporting the team and micromanaging. Most people tend to appreciate it when their managers are curious about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, so long as there’s warmth, encouragement, and support behind it. Done that way, and you can’t fake it, and people usually like providing a rich level of detail about what they’re doing and the problems they’re facing.
People feel micromanaged when they feel judged, examined, or evaluated when they share details. Most humans can detect insincerity or false motives, so ask yourself whether you really want to support the team.
Adjusting is a phrase you won’t hear in other places, or used in the way I do. Adjustment is asking for a change. It’s asking somebody to disrupt what they’re doing and do something differently. This is very hard for some some tech leads to do—either in the first place or in a positive, skillful way.
If you’re reluctant or you’re not skillful with adjustment conversations, then there are two other capabilities you can deploy to. The first is having listened very well to the person, but you knew I was going to say that. You have to do the homework of understanding who they are, and then you’ll know how to ask them to do something differently. As Maxwell says, to take someone where they need to go means you need to know where they are.
Another tool to rely on in adjustment conversations is to return to your vision. Remember that a well-defined vision has both how and why. The “why” helps you overcome some reluctance from your team, if that’s an issues in this conversation. It also helps you solve issues related to whether the work is being done in the way you want it to be. Remember you’re the tech lead so you get some make some decisions about how to do it.
Tracking and adjusting maturities
Now let’s talk about the different maturities in the tracking and adjusting capability. At the beginner level, tech leads, even experienced ones, tend to either be not proactive or are tentative about how they do it.
One way to self assess whether you are at a beginner level in this capability is to ask yourself: do you know what everyone on the team is doing right now? Do you?
Another helpful question is to ask whether you’re hiding behind technology to do the tracking. It’s perfectly fine to use tools like Slack or Github or whatever, but it’s not OK to use those tools because you’re afraid to actually go communicate directly with somebody.
At the intermediate level, you’re probably tracking much better, but it’s very possible that you are shying away from adjustment conversations. These are usually lost leadership moments. So ask yourself, after you walk away from an adjustment opportunity, whether you failed to say something you wanted to, or should have. It might make sense to start writing those down—it will help you develop the muscle memory you need for the next conversation.
At the advanced level, you fluidly and confidently (and in a caring way) having lots of tracking and adjusting conversations. You’re listening carefully. You’re integrating vision crafting in that you’re articulating the vision and reaffirming or correcting where people have strayed from the vision. You’re developing your work ethic because tracking and adjusting is hard work, and it takes a lot of energy. Sometimes the conversations don’t go the way you want, but you handle those.
Tracking and adjusting is an intimate, close-in, highly influential form of leadership, and if you practice it you’ll get good at it. Practice it tech leads!
Well I think we’ve done enough for the week tech leads. It’s Friday. The weekend is upon us. I hope you have a wonderful one.
-michael
Thanks for reading!
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