‘Nina’ is our second business leader to grace The Anonymous Leader platform. And what a leader she is, with over 30 years’ experience in financial services (with many roles across that time)!
She’s an ILM qualified coach; she’s often managed teams of 40-odd people.
Always curious to know how people think, Nina puts her passion for people first. And with a reputation for building trusted relationships, her “moral compass” has always led her through challenging situations.
So, when Nina faced a complicated series of restructures and outsourcing, her supportive nature was put to the test.
The Scenario – New Roles for All
Let’s set the scene.
Nina had recently taken up a brand-new people management role, after a long stint in customer services.
Naturally, she was a subject matter expert before, mentioning that she’d “previously managed customer services teams, trained colleagues how to do the job, and then became the line manager”.
The team Nina was taking over were also stepping into new roles:
“Restructures and outsourcing meant that 12 colleagues’ roles in help desk support no longer existed, and they were placed into business analyst roles”.
But the roles were simply so different, as the team were used to “reacting to customer demand” and “dealing with a high volume of the same thing”.
“They had a black and white outcome every time – following a list of things to do. The systems either worked or didn’t, but a BA role is much greyer, with different ways of doing things that can all work”.
Now managing a team of BAs (and not customer-facing staff), Nina had to understand a whole new skill set, all to “help these 12 colleagues adapt to their new role and build credibility, capability and confidence”.
After all, “what they spent their time doing and how they got from A-Z was never the same, and they couldn’t build experience quickly”.
“They’d gone from tasks taking minutes, to tasks taking months”.
Six weeks flew by for the new leader and her new team. Then, external benchmarking loomed on the horizon…
Outcome – Acknowledging Differences
To skip to the end of the story… that measure of the new BAs’ performance went well! As Nina describes:
“Transitioning these colleagues to this new role and adapting to the change in skill set as quickly as possible was the outcome I was aiming for.”
And it was the outcome achieved!
“We selected some brand new to the role, some with a few years’ experience and some of our most experienced BAs to be part of this, to get a good range of experience. This activity hugely helped me – the timing was perfect”.
Having taken some time to assess that the new BA role was mostly “soft skills” focussed, Nina helped her new colleagues “understand where their technical gaps were, whilst understanding their transferable skills”, providing everyone with “a much-needed confidence boost”.
Nina’s leadership allowed for a better understanding, within the company, of what to expect from one another. And ever since, success and expectation have been more delicately managed.
Nina measures her success on “the number of people who sought me out, despite no longer being in my team”.
“They trusted me and that’s a huge personal value of mine and something I take great pride in”.
So, how did Nina get to this happy point? What influenced the outcome?
Influence #1 – Estimation Skills
Naturally, the confidence of Nina’s colleagues took a dent when their roles suddenly changed. The quick validation that comes with being a subject matter expert was lost!
Nina had to ease their newbie mindset (that first day of school feeling). She knew she had to help the team feel “comfortable with this grey world they were now in”.
After initially “waiting to be told what to do and when”, the team became more self-sufficient because Nina worked on estimation tactics.
“Estimating was the capability that took the longest to build confidence”. But it was also the skill they needed most.
Assigning each BA a “buddy” encouraged the team to seek support from others, learning gradually “that estimating is about capturing your plan with assumptions and playing it back to verify or gain commitment”.
Soon they could estimate each job themselves, “what needed doing and how long it may take to complete”… and also “ensuring they didn’t over or underestimate the effort involved”!
Influence #2 – Triangular Discussions
Another key influence on Nina’s success were the three-way conversations between herself, a BA, and their task manager. This was to “encourage discussions and a partnership”.
Three voices, all discussing expectations, to capture what needed to be done (and by when!).
Nina – putting people first as always – made sure her colleagues left these sessions knowing that they were capable of achieving success, with a personal action plan to get them there.
“They needed to build trust in me as a new line manager as they learned a new role”.
By mediating these conversations, Nina softened the managers’ expectations of the new team, to stop the “risk of crippling colleagues confidence” if she had “just asked some standard feedback questions and passed it on”.
This meant no one encountered any upsetting criticism or surprise setbacks. Sticking to the cliché, everyone was on the same page.
Where there was once a hierarchy was now “open and honest conversations”. Nina “saw some fantastic partnerships develop”.
Influence #3 – Building a Community from 1:1 Support
When the BAs were previously in help desk support, they were more of a team; they worked side-by-side in a role they all knew well.
So, to create this kind of supportive environment again, Nina set out to create a new community for her colleagues: the BA Community.
She started with biweekly one-on-one meetings, to get across her message: “the first 8-12 weeks will feel very uncomfortable but I’m here to support you”.
She also set up a forum for all her team to get together and share their concerns, learnings, queries, and difficulties! This new support became “a safe environment for them all, going through similar things”.
With their community spirit re-emerging, Nina could then take a step back – always there to facilitate, but never in the way.
The Key to Success – Coaching, Coaching, Coaching
Nina couldn’t enable the skills, discussions and openness of her team without a little coaching. Okay, a lot of coaching.
“I learned about true support – not suggesting what they do but using coaching skills to help them define their own goals and tasks”.
She coached the managers to provide feedback in a different way, mindful that “less positive feedback conversations were at times painful” for those in a brand-new role.
She coached individual BAs on how to remove “the emotional connection to feedback” by “encouraging them to proactively ask for feedback”, instead of waiting around for potentially bad news.
And most of all?
“I’d have their back, but also had difficult conversations with them when I needed to […] I was honest but supportive”.
Any More Tips For Team Management?
“Really take time to understand the various styles in any scenario”
What is driving each member of the team? How can you find a compromise for everyone to move forward?
“Encourage them to manage their inner critic when their confidence is low”
Remind the team that a difficult situation won’t last forever. Assure them that they are doing great and have learned a lot – or will soon!