The day I failed my team
The biggest challenge I’ve experienced as a Tech Lead was having to go against my team but I learned some important lessons from it. Here is the whole story:
The biggest challenge I’ve experienced as a Tech Lead was having to go against my team.
That changed my leadership style forever.
Here is the whole story:
The client asked us to implement a new feature that was impacting another team on their side.
So, after gathering all the information by having conversations with the other team, running different spikes on the tools available, we came up with two solutions.
We wanted Solution 1 and we were sure it was the right one.
The other team wanted Solution 2.
So my role at this point as a Tech Lead was to convince the other team that Solution 1 was better.
I promised I would.
There was time pressure to agree on a decision.
So I went on a call with a developer from the other team to discuss it.
This person would not accept our solution and their reasons were sound.
After a lot of back and forth, I started to believe Solution 2 was not that bad and so I made the call right there on the spot and I agreed to go with Solution 2 (the one my team did not agree to).
What came after was the hardest: my team members were disappointed, demotivated.
Lots of conversations followed in the 1-1s.
The thing was: their problem was not with the solution as much as with the way I handled it.
And so I learned a couple of things to change in my process when having to make these decisions:
➡ gather more information before presenting the initiative to the team
➡ be as objective as possible when presenting the information
➡ setup the expectations on the decision making process: given that we have little time to make this decision we might not get to make a consensus based decision on this and I might have to make the call as the one accountable for it
➡ have more asynchronous conversations - not so many back and forward meetings
➡ don’t make it such a big deal: accept your mistake and move on
We all make mistakes.
The way we deal with them afterward is what builds our character as a leader
➡ If you are not already subscribed and want to see more content like this press the button
Thank you so much for being here! ☀️
Remember: you are not alone on this journey 😊
Until next time,
Ane
Great story. I think the most important part is setting the expectations correctly - and trying to not promise. I had a similar case, where there was a technical decision I didn't agree to, and I promised the team I'll convince my boss to change it. I didn't know the whole picture, and when I deep dived with him I got new inputs. I STILL thought it was the wrong decision, but I understood the logic. Very similar to your situtation :)
Now, I try to leave the doors open, and not have such forceful opinions. Instead of being sure it's the wrong decision, now I'm just not sure it's the right one :)