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December, 2006
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Leading Small Teams Without Losing Your Mind
by Lisa Woods, STC Hoosier Chapter
If you are in the technical communication business long enough, chances
are, eventually you'll find yourself leading a small team of writers on
a documentation project. Managing teams can be a unique challenge for
technical communicators, many of whom have never received formal management
training and who tend to fall on the shy-and-reclusive end of the spectrum.
But there are a few things you can do to make your team leadership effective
and your project successful.
First, don't make any sudden movements. Intoxicated by empowerment (often
a new experience for traditionally-undervalued technical writers), you
may have an impulse to start making assignments before the project has
coalesced on paper. Leading a small team isn't like managing a project
"team" of one. Missteps are harder to undo and confusion tends
to mushroom when more folks are involved; therefore, it's important to
"scope out" the project and to define it clearly in a way that
is understandable not just to yourself, but also to those on your team...before
you do anything else. Identify your deliverables, understand the deadlines
involved, and learn about the strengths of the individuals on your team
before you ask anyone to proceed.
The planning caveat: from the outset, resist the temptation to micromanage.
Small teams tend to be lower-maintenance than large teams, and can get
by on less-formalized management practices. Include your team in planning,
and get in the habit of listening more than you talk. Once project work
is underway, your primary goal as lead should be to equip your team with
whatever they need to get their work done, and to run interference between
your team and whatever prevents them from doing so. Your job is not to
nag them, read over their shoulders, or tell them how to do their jobs.
It seems obvious in the abstract, but technical communicators are, by
definition, teachers -- we translate technical information into something
non-experts can understand. We tend to have strong opinions about how
things should be done, and this, coupled with the excitement of being
asked to take the lead, can turn the most gentle of individuals into a
despot. You'll have to practice a zen-like state of detachment to trust
your team and stay out of their way. One way to make this comfortable
for yourself and for them is to institute consistent status reporting
mechanisms as soon as possible. Give your team clear direction about how
often you need updates, what those updates should contain, and how they
should be conveyed. (Also let them know how and when they should bring
problems to your attention!)
As solitary folks, we have a tendency to try to do everything ourselves,
to minimize interaction with others and to control outcomes. Acting as
a team lead may feel very uncomfortable. You may feel like you are not
doing enough because you are not producing tangible output. Or you may
feel guilty because you are asking other people to do things you could
just as well do yourself. Or you may be just plain exhausted by the amount
of interaction with other people that team leadership requires. Remind
yourself constantly that the logistics and planning you do as lead are
every bit as valid as the work involved in turning out deliverables. Don't
fall into the trap of assigning yourself more than you can handle while
you are at the same time developing your team leadership skills. And recognize
that if you are feeling overwhelmed by interpersonal interactions, you
are probably skating on the edge of driving your team crazy, and it may
be time to back off and let them work.
Finally, help your team feel empowered. If a member of your team makes
a suggestion, make that individual the owner of that suggestion, and get
out of the way while it's implemented. This shows confidence in the capabilities
of your team and encourages them to develop their own leadership potential.
Heading a small project team for the first time may be uniquely challenging
for a technical communicator, but it doesn't have to feel like a root
canal. By stepping back, slowing down, and knowing your own limits, you
will increase the likelihood that your team -- and you -- will succeed.
Lisa Woods is a consultant to the pharmaceutical and insurance
industries who specializes in computer system validation, regulatory compliance,
and making unwieldy documentation manageable, useful, and compliant. Contact
her at ldealanwoods@hotmail.com.
This article was first published in the August 2004 issue of Interface,
the Hoosier Chapter newsletter
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