The Problem with the People-Management Bell CurveConforming team performance evaluations to a tidy bell curve is a simple, quantitative solution to the challenging problem of rating employee performance. However, it doesn’t work. It’s unrealistic (not to mention counterproductive) to force-fit employee evaluations to the curve when that doesn't reflect their work.
One-on-Ones: A Framework for FeedbackRegular one-on-one meetings between a manager and employee are a forum to provide safe, timely feedback. They can be short or longer, but you should discuss successes, challenges, and how to improve. Having a framework for the conversation helps you make sure that the meetings don’t routinely become chat sessions.
3 Common Scrum Anti-Patterns and How to Fix ThemFor a Scrum team to operate successfully, the entire team must honor the Scrum values of commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect. But it's easy to fall into practices that can erode trust and collaboration. Here are three common anti-patterns that emerge in Scrum, as well as the solutions to overcome them.
3 Reasons Managers Struggle to Build Compatible Tech TeamsManagers should try to find candidates who not only have the right technical skills, but also will ideally complement each other and be able to collaborate. But that’s not easy. Here are three main aspects managers struggle with when building compatible tech teams, so you can try to mitigate them and achieve harmony.
Collaborating with a Highly Distributed TeamBeing distributed can cause challenges for team collaboration, such as insufficient communication and a lack of visibility. However, advancements in tools, technology, and best practices have helped to lessen some of those challenges. Here are four ways to make collaborating with distributed teams more seamless.
Don’t Ask for Permission or Forgiveness—Use an Agile AlternativeSome teams get around bottlenecks by taking a “better to ask forgiveness than permission” approach. This may be expedient, but it doesn’t provide a path to changing the organizational dynamic, and it can lead to wrong decisions when wider input is advisable. A more agile way is to take an “I intend to” approach.
When Customers Attack: Dealing with Rude ClientsIt seems like the only way some customers know how to communicate is to accuse, complain, and verbally attack. This only gets worse if there are delays. But when you do your best to build trust with customers early on, they are more likely to accept explanations about setbacks, even if they don’t fully understand them.
Is Your Culture about Responsibility or Blame?When things go wrong, it can be helpful to understand what happened and who was involved. However, all too often organizations (and the managers within) confuse responsibility with assigning blame. The former is essential for improvement. The latter works against an effective, collaborative, productive culture.
