In order to develop and grow, people need the space and support to do so. The amounts will likely differ depending on the individual and the context.
Delegation in small teams is hard because there’s only so many places for things to go. Delegation with a healthy dose of prioritisation is the key (I think?).
We did a review of some weekly team meetings to see if they still served a purpose. This was triggered by a collective feeling that none of us were getting the same value out of them in the way we used to. Things change so it makes sense that our workflow might need to change at suitable intervals too.
We’ve got a couple of bits of work that have an element of in-built uncertainty until we learn more through doing. I do like the mantra that “scope doesn’t creep, understanding grows”. This avoids sticking arbitrary boundaries that might actually compromise the intended outcome.
With those bits of work where there is an inherent element of uncertainty, I’d like to adopt a principle where the team preserve some available buffer for any unforeseen circumstances. Especially where we are up against hard deadlines. The reason for this is that rather than people running at near full capacity, and having to somehow absorb the unexpected, we might instead operate at 85% with a 15% in reserve if needed. This should mean that both work and people aren’t so fragile that they cannot absorb change if/when required. And moreover, people perform better when they aren’t overly stressed out about too many things to do. I mean, if Hugh Jackman approves, isn’t that good enough for the rest of us?
Trust the process! If you’ve got a consistent method for dealing with things, even if they are messy things, it gives everyone confidence that we can work through it together to reach the desired outcome regardless of the challenge or problem. Although admittedly, it might take a few runs through that process before people have trust in it and understand it themselves.
There’s more than usual to deliver in the next 3 months, so I need to be especially intentional about keeping work within some well defined boundaries to avoid diminishing returns or running the risk of getting burned out. I’ve blocked some time out next week to map out practical steps to mitigate this.
