Are You Getting the Most Out of People
3 changes you must implement to boost your team’s delivery
👋 Hi, this is Akash with this week’s newsletter. I write about leadership and growth in software engineering. We are close to 2,500 subscribers! Thank you for your readership ❤️.
This week, I’m sharing three lessons I learned that can help you boost your team’s performance. Hope you enjoy this edition!
Engineering leaders are always looking to make their workforce efficient.
Whether you’re a project lead, tech lead, or engineering manager, you want the optimal output.
In recent economic turbulence, “getting the most out of people” has become necessary.
But is it the right goal?
When I started on the leadership path, I wanted everyone to feel as energized as I did. My goal was to extract every bit of output from the people around me. It took me a while to realize this was not the right question.
Instead, a leader aims to create an environment where people work at their best.
Despite the misleading title, we will explore three ways you can help your team become more productive.
Let’s begin!
⭐ Main Takeaways
Practical ways to boost your team’s productivity
Mindset shift from getting the most out to supporting people to do their best work
Let’s jump right into it!
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🫂 1) Foster psychological safety
Most people depend on jobs for their livelihood. When people fear losing their jobs, work quality inevitably decreases.
The importance of people’s ability to feel safe in their jobs is highly undervalued.
The most common mistake in my experience has been mistaking it for “job safety”. People feel unsafe at work when
They are judged/schooled in front of others.
“You should’ve completed this last quarter. Can you deliver by EOD?”
“I’ve explained this system before. You should know this by now.”
Leadership is unapproachable, unsupportive, or biased.
“I will take this other meeting and skip the 1:1 today.”
“Project A is important. I will give it to John.”
Past events or negative experiences make it hard to trust the leaders.
“I’m equally shocked by the mass layoffs; I will avoid checking in with the team.”
“I will avoid sharing the bad news and let them find out themselves.”
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
A safe environment allows people to bring their whole selves and productivity skyrockets. Three simple changes that I’ve learned over the years,
Celebrate publicly and criticize in private.
In public: “John, your attention to detail on project X saved us a quarter.”
In private: “John, there are some concerns about your delivery velocity.”
Prioritize your team equally
Don’t shy away from awkward conversations
“Layoffs are difficult, and I’m equally shocked as you are. Here’s what I know: x, y, z.”
“John, your promotion packet was not approved this time. Here is the feedback we got.”
Your team will feel safe when they see you on their side. That’s when you’ll see a self-driven boost in performance.
🏖️ 2) Don’t always prioritize work
On the first day back after a health crisis, a manager says,
“Project X is already outside the expected deadline. Can you make sure we complete it this week?”
Did it ever happen to you? It has happened to me.
In the era of high growth, everybody is expected to go above and beyond. I’ve had jobs where I gave it my all. But, when leaders have zero respect for well-being, they get the bare minimum.
When leaders put unnecessary pressure on delivery, they lose the people's confidence.
Teammate: “I’m going to step out for a doctor’s appointment and will be unavailable.”
Manager: “Can you ensure you complete your work before you go?”
It helps no one. Next time, they’d make excuses: “Sorry, I was debugging this complex bug and lost track of time.”.
Instead, when you:
Build trust: “Thanks for letting me know. Don’t worry; we will be fine. It’d be great if we don’t push the deadline. Do you think we need to adjust anything?”
Show care: “I hope it’s nothing serious. Please take care of yourself first.”
Delegate: “I don’t care when you work, where you work from, as long as you produce consistent output.”
It humanizes the job. Life is unpredictable, and it’s a leader’s responsibility to prioritize people over work.
🛡️ 3) Be your team’s advocate
One thing your team expects from you is to have their back.
I used to think this was obvious. Coming from a sports background, I knew leaders are supposed to take responsibility when things go south. Until this happened to me:
“Adam (Director) wants to speak with you. We were discussing project X, which got delayed.”
I felt betrayed in many ways. The reason was much more than me being late on my promises.
Unnecessary distractions create stress. It’s not ideal for peak performance. My strategy has been to:
Provide air cover: Take responsibility and defend your team when things go wrong. This ensures mistakes are learning opportunities, not blame-filled events.
Push back: Resist unreasonable expectations or decisions from higher-ups that would harm the team's well-being or productivity.
Champion resources: Whether it's budget for a new tool, training for skill development, or additional team members, actively fight for what the team needs to succeed.
When you’re seen on your team’s side, you create an environment where people are invested. Performance automatically follows.
🌟 🔍 Parting Thoughts
How to get the most out of people is the wrong question to ask. Instead, when leaders focus on creating an environment where people can work at their best, performance follows.
Today, we explored three simple strategies to make your team more engaged.
Foster psychological safety
Celebrate publicly and criticize in private.
Prioritize your team equally
Don’t shy away from awkward conversations
Don’t always prioritize work
Build trust
Show care
Delegate
Be your team’s advocate
Provide air cover
Push back
Champion resources
What strategies have you implemented as a leader to create a thriving environment?
Share them in the comments!
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👋 💬 Get In Touch
Want to chat? Find me on LinkedIn.
If you want me to cover a particular area of leadership, you can reach out directly to akash@chromium.org.
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Nice article with great insights Akash. The one thing which is really hard for the overly curious individual contributor transitioning into technical lead is to 'push back'. It's difficult to control the urge to turn off the meddling and become the lead that the team needs.
> Delegate: “I don’t care when you work, where you work from, as long as you produce consistent output.”
This was my rule of thumb, even though I had only a handful of employees in my company. Delegation has multiple benefits for both parties. It builds trust and confidence in your employees and signals that they are in control.
Great tips, Akash!