Building a Positive Work Environment: Tips for Tech Leaders

Have you ever sat down and thought about all the ways our lives were changed by the COVID-19 pandemic? Our personal lives, sure, but also everything from the way we interact with our coworkers, the tools we use to collaborate, and even our expectations from the places we work at have fundamentally shifted since 2019. Not only has work-life balance become an increasingly used buzzword, but the emphasis on team and corporate culture has noticeably increased. An extremely integral pillar of fostering a healthy team culture is the right leadership. So why is it important, and how do we get there? 

As a global software development partner to clients from across the globe, our teams work on projects in different industries, time zones, and technologies. This comes with its share of high-stress situations where requirements and expectations are fluid, timelines are variable and teams are ever-expanding. It also makes it all the more important that team culture and a positive work environment remain consistent to improve productivity, and team morale and retain valuable members of the team. In my experience, strong leadership can go a long way in making that happen. Let's get into it. 

Understanding and embracing empathetic leadership

The first building block to creating a positive team environment is understanding and appreciating the individual value, perspective, and experience that each member brings to the table. In understanding their individuality, we are also able to understand the unique nature of the challenges they face, how they cope with difficult situations, and how to push them to be their best self. A lot of this trust is built at the time of joining or onboarding which makes it extremely important that strong interpersonal relationships are formed at that time. 

One way we do this is by involving the entire team in the onboarding of a new member where we all learn about their journey over the last five years, share our experiences, and tell new members about existing team processes. Not only does this facilitate team bonding, but as a leader you are in a better position to gauge how the new member fits into team dynamics and how you can support them best.  Some ways to incorporate empathy in your leadership style are:

1. Showing an interest in their lives outside of work

2. Listening to their challenges actively and without prejudice 

3. Celebrating wins in both their work and personal spheres 

4. Offering support personalized for each individual’s circumstances 

Fostering open communication

All healthy relationships are founded on open and honest communication. And for the smooth functioning of a team that you will be spending at least 1/3rd of each day with, setting realistic expectations around communication is extremely important. Especially for tech teams where each party is working on one piece of a whole, challenges, blockers, and important decisions must be communicated timely and clearly. Open communication cannot be limited to just meetings or verbal interactions. Everything from commenting and reacting to messages to ensuring the team is updated on your availability counts towards good communication practices. This is why we encourage every team member to update their availability on Slack and share notes and comments asynchronously. 

Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if instead of asking questions and getting clarity from the product manager, the development team jumped right into implementation, only to find out the requirements had been understood incorrectly? Here are some ways we can avoid that:

1. Schedule regular check-ins with the team to discuss updates, challenges, and blockers 

2. Encourage feedback around team processes and reward proactive problem-solving

3. Have frequent 1-on-1s with the team 

4. Use tools that make collaboration easier (Slack, Jira, Trello, Figma)

Promoting diversity and inclusion

There is nothing worse for a tech team than homogeneity. Having a team of people who have had the same experiences, think unidirectionally, solve problems similarly, and never disagree is quite possibly the death of ingenuity. And when you’re putting together a team to design a digital solution to a very real problem, you want ingenuity, creativity, and a lot of people who push each other to be better. This is only possible if the people you hire and choose for your team have had a diverse range of experiences, are skilled in different types of technology, and approach the same problem through different lenses. 

An easy way to ensure that your team keeps diversifying as it expands is to be aware of what skills your team needs and what you already have. This will make your hiring process more focused and help you find someone who is both similar and different from your current team composition. We routinely conduct internal skill assessments and team growth planning activities to remain aware of where we lack and where to focus our hiring efforts. Some steps in the right direction include: 

1. Celebrating small differences within the team 

2. Encouraging daring and different ideas 

3. Establishing policies that address bias and prejudice at a structural level

4. Being mindful of how you’re filtering out applicants 

Recognizing and rewarding contributions 

Our internal surveys have often revealed that receiving recognition and praise from a perceived figure of authority is one of the top factors of employee retention. While monetary factors and certain policies rank pretty high on that list as well, it is indisputable that feeling seen and heard at work and receiving positive feedback directly contribute to better performance and improved motivation to deliver at a consistent standard. Therefore, in our teams, we make it a common practice to not only recognize achievements at the end of a deliverable, but to celebrate progress frequently as small wins. 

In our weekly progress meetings, each member of the team is encouraged to talk about incremental progress made while the rest of the team recognizes their hard work by asynchronously leaving comments, asking questions, and posting interesting stickies. Some tips to incorporate this in team processes are:

1. Creating a shoutouts channel where you publicly acknowledge and praise good work

2. Setting aside time for team members to share and present work they are proud of 

3. Including examples of their work in performance appraisals 

4. Rewarding good work with mentorship opportunities 

Providing opportunities for growth and development

Being a valuable member of the team is only possible when one is also an equally valuable individual contributor. This means that learning and growth must continue to happen on an individual level even as the team continues to upskill as a whole. So how can a good leader facilitate that? 

As discussed in the very beginning, understanding the individual strengths and unique experiences of each member of the team is extremely important. This will help you gauge where they fit into the carefully crafted puzzle that is your team. In our teams, it is usually the technical lead who shoulders the responsibility of understanding each team member’s strengths and interests and helps devise personalized growth plans. While some organizations facilitate this effort by having role-based growth plans outlined, individual interests must be taken into account when exploring new opportunities for members of your team. You can do this by:

1. Scheduling 1:1s focused just on growth and personal development 

2. Actively seeking opportunities that align with individual interests 

3. Encourage side projects for additional learning 

4. Make upskilling a part of team processes by encouraging workshops, pieces of training, and KSSs

Prioritizing balance and mental health 

In an industry as challenging and fast-paced as technology services, burnout is a very real risk as teams struggle to chase tight deadlines and keep up with changing requirements. As such, it falls on leadership to mitigate some of that stress by creating an environment where:

(a) team members can share that they are overworked

(b) processes are put in place to prevent that from happening at all. 

For these discussions to happen, the team must feel like they can trust their leads and it is the responsibility of the leadership to foster such high trust relationships. Some ways to ensure your team feels this support are:

1. Setting realistic expectations with clients about communication and deadlines 

2. Discouraging overtime unless necessary and compensating for it if unavoidable 

3. Offering flexible work arrangements like working from home or working flexible hours 

4. Creating a space where it is safe to talk about mental health challenges and providing resources to facilitate members facing them

In a nutshell 

Work practices might be changing and shifting towards remote work, but that only makes a leader’s job more important, not less. It is our job to understand the new challenges emerging as processes and expectations shift and facilitate ways for our teams to overcome them. So let's approach this like we would any problem, by talking to the users. No one benefits from a work environment that is not open to change and growth, but everyone benefits when the people showing up to work want to be there.