So, yeah, no state budget. The chaotic state of what’s happening at the federal and state levels of government has a ripple effect that I’m not sure people fully understand - absolutely all sectors are affected. Though we operate quite conservatively as an organization, the longer the budget is not passed, the more the uncertainty grows in terms of what initiatives should continue and which ones should pause or even stop altogether. Innovation seems to be taking hit after hit.
Three strategies I see people trying that are backfiring:
1- People seem to be rejecting actual authentic collaboration for compliance: a philosophy of “you collaborate with me if I tell you what to do and then you go do it.” I’m concerned that this is clearly coming from fear, insecurity, and uncertainty and an attempt to over-control. In my experience, that top-down hammer always yields really bad decision-making and mistakes/missteps. I want to get better at coaching and modeling true, effective collaboration.
2- I’m really concerned about the toxic positivity that I see some leaders deploying. I think it’s eroding trust. Actually, I know it is. In fact, when people are inauthentic, I think it can only increase the uncertainty! (“things are so bad, they actually need to lie to us?”) I want to get better at respectfully pushing back on this and asking what the challenges are and how we can overcome them together.
3- Additionally, I see some leaders deflecting to get the attention off of themselves and to shame and blame others. I worry that the absence of ownership is a big distraction from the real work of actually leading. This seems the behavior at the highest levels of government and, when you have examples this frequent and public, I’m not sure how we combat that. No one seems to say the “buck stops with me”anymore. I say it. When I find myself in the crosshairs of other leaders who would deflect instead of addressing real issues, I want to get better at managing my defensive emotions so I can refocus the team back to the real work.
I can really relate to some of the other comments that have been offered. The solution I propose and frequently deploy: In my experience, clear, direct, truthful communication always wins the day. Being secure enough to say, “at this time, we just don’t know. What we do know is… and let’s strategically act on that. Be intentionally flexible/ prepared to pivot, though. When we know more/better, we will do better.” Just seeing a dearth of that type of leadership and the impact its absence is having.
Hoping for some additional solutions from you and the team! Thank you so much!
Been going through a massive redundancy process that is not definite, instead, it has been extending over the past 3.5 months. So I am not able to answer the big question for my team: " do I have a job next year, yes or no"
Worst news is that we won't know for the next month so uncertainty is creeping up, eating up performance and clearly eroding trust -> and that's been my challenge. My leadership style was always so Long term focus (as opposed to short term gains) for this reason, I am finding challenging to move my team forward.
Two uncertainties I'm struggling with at the moment are 1. That the people above me are 2 months late with the roadmap (it's been coming "in 2 weeks" for a long time) so my team has been treading water for 2 months and are getting bored without anything juicy to work on. I can't come up with a project for us to start because we'll likely have to abandon it when the roadmap gets announced, which will make them feel like their work is wasted. It's also uncertain whether or not our team will get disbanded and reallocated to fit better into the new roadmap. And 2. Lots of resignations and redundancies happening with pretty much no communication or acknowledgement of the difficulties this leaves for the remaining workers, and no plan for how we'll be able to execute at speed with so many missing roles. Both of these major issues are combining to make my team demotivated and apathetic about contributing. I know I could make up a narrative and paper over the cracks at a local level to try to re-motivate them, but I'm worried that that will enable more of the poor communication and lack of decision-making above me.
AI is changing the way we work as developers, and promises to replace us all. Also, the future of content (I'm working in the streaming industry) doesn't seem so qualitative and free of manipulation. It looks more like AI generated average garbage is going to take over the world, and our biggest struggle in the team is to not fall into deep pessimism as of why we do this job and how long we will do it.
So, yeah, no state budget. The chaotic state of what’s happening at the federal and state levels of government has a ripple effect that I’m not sure people fully understand - absolutely all sectors are affected. Though we operate quite conservatively as an organization, the longer the budget is not passed, the more the uncertainty grows in terms of what initiatives should continue and which ones should pause or even stop altogether. Innovation seems to be taking hit after hit.
Three strategies I see people trying that are backfiring:
1- People seem to be rejecting actual authentic collaboration for compliance: a philosophy of “you collaborate with me if I tell you what to do and then you go do it.” I’m concerned that this is clearly coming from fear, insecurity, and uncertainty and an attempt to over-control. In my experience, that top-down hammer always yields really bad decision-making and mistakes/missteps. I want to get better at coaching and modeling true, effective collaboration.
2- I’m really concerned about the toxic positivity that I see some leaders deploying. I think it’s eroding trust. Actually, I know it is. In fact, when people are inauthentic, I think it can only increase the uncertainty! (“things are so bad, they actually need to lie to us?”) I want to get better at respectfully pushing back on this and asking what the challenges are and how we can overcome them together.
3- Additionally, I see some leaders deflecting to get the attention off of themselves and to shame and blame others. I worry that the absence of ownership is a big distraction from the real work of actually leading. This seems the behavior at the highest levels of government and, when you have examples this frequent and public, I’m not sure how we combat that. No one seems to say the “buck stops with me”anymore. I say it. When I find myself in the crosshairs of other leaders who would deflect instead of addressing real issues, I want to get better at managing my defensive emotions so I can refocus the team back to the real work.
I can really relate to some of the other comments that have been offered. The solution I propose and frequently deploy: In my experience, clear, direct, truthful communication always wins the day. Being secure enough to say, “at this time, we just don’t know. What we do know is… and let’s strategically act on that. Be intentionally flexible/ prepared to pivot, though. When we know more/better, we will do better.” Just seeing a dearth of that type of leadership and the impact its absence is having.
Hoping for some additional solutions from you and the team! Thank you so much!
Been going through a massive redundancy process that is not definite, instead, it has been extending over the past 3.5 months. So I am not able to answer the big question for my team: " do I have a job next year, yes or no"
Worst news is that we won't know for the next month so uncertainty is creeping up, eating up performance and clearly eroding trust -> and that's been my challenge. My leadership style was always so Long term focus (as opposed to short term gains) for this reason, I am finding challenging to move my team forward.
Two uncertainties I'm struggling with at the moment are 1. That the people above me are 2 months late with the roadmap (it's been coming "in 2 weeks" for a long time) so my team has been treading water for 2 months and are getting bored without anything juicy to work on. I can't come up with a project for us to start because we'll likely have to abandon it when the roadmap gets announced, which will make them feel like their work is wasted. It's also uncertain whether or not our team will get disbanded and reallocated to fit better into the new roadmap. And 2. Lots of resignations and redundancies happening with pretty much no communication or acknowledgement of the difficulties this leaves for the remaining workers, and no plan for how we'll be able to execute at speed with so many missing roles. Both of these major issues are combining to make my team demotivated and apathetic about contributing. I know I could make up a narrative and paper over the cracks at a local level to try to re-motivate them, but I'm worried that that will enable more of the poor communication and lack of decision-making above me.
AI is changing the way we work as developers, and promises to replace us all. Also, the future of content (I'm working in the streaming industry) doesn't seem so qualitative and free of manipulation. It looks more like AI generated average garbage is going to take over the world, and our biggest struggle in the team is to not fall into deep pessimism as of why we do this job and how long we will do it.