As a psychologist and a People & Talent officer, I’ve spent many hours trying to figure out ways in which I can make the life of the employees within IT Labs easier, more fun, and get them to be the best version of themselves – learning, creating, and becoming better every day. There are all kinds of scenarios in my head that I prepared for, but a global pandemic was definitely not one.  

This last month, we had our second health month at IT Labs, and it provided the People & Talent Department with much needed insight into what works and what doesn’t in these extraordinary circumstances – which is why I felt compelled to write this piece.  

How do you develop an activity that will be beneficial to your employees – but through a screen? How do you even approach that?  

Rethinking activities is the first thing that comes to mind, and why not? Contrasting times, different approaches, right? Well, the truth is, drastic changes are not needed, but moving on from some of the events and activities developed in the 90s – some of which are still present today – is one of them. When an activity doesn’t produce any engagement, and interest in your employees, scrap it, ASAP, otherwise you risk undermining all your efforts – once bad or bland things starts rolling out of the People & Talent departments, employees will lose interest in anything you have to offer them, and this will lead to alienation, distancing, and sooner rather than later people will not want to stay with your company anymore.  

Working remote comes with its own set of benefits, but also drawbacks – and as more people choose to work out of office, HR departments around the world will need to adjust their strategies. Does this mean throwing old plans in the bin and starting all over? Of course not, but a slight tweak and going back to basics might do the trick.  

The core of the issue lies in the drawbacks that come with working remote: lack of community and team spirit, more distractions, lack of motivation, risk of burnout.  

So how can we help ease these and ensure employees are at their best? By giving them the main thing that’s missing in their work – a human moment. Yes, as leaders of People & Talent departments it’s our duty to stay in touch with everyone and check in on them every now and then, but how do we make it in a way that makes a difference? By having an open, heart to heart conversation with every single person. Poke and prod, spend 15-20 minutes to talk about all matters work and life related, show interest in their life, and of course, provide support and assure them that you are here for them to talk about any subject and matter that bothers them – a pure human moment can do a world of good for anyone struggling with alienation, isolation, and the ‘new normal’. 

The point is, we have an obligation to keep things professional, but that doesn’t mean we can’t lend a hand to anyone in need, especially in our work environment – it’s not our job, it’s our duty.  

Circumstances can and will change, environments will change, people will change – but the one thing that shouldn’t change is our desire to be the best versions of ourselves, by enabling and motivating others to be the best themselves. 

There’s new tech, new ways of doing stuff, new platforms, new toys – but the debate regarding specializing or sticking to a jack-of-all-trades style is still ongoing. Now, before anyone gets excited, I’m not here to put it to bed – I’m here to add more oil to the fire. 

Just kidding – I simply believe that the perspective is way too simplistic than the reality. Of course, there’s the need for both, and yes, sometimes techies, leaders, and tech leaders can do both, depending on the project. There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all in the world of technology.  

As I’ve been in this line of work as a BA for more than a decade now, I also have experience as a Product and Project Manager, and I think it’s time I shared my two cents on the matter. I will not preach, nor give you a recipe for success – I’ll just write about what I’ve learned in the world of tech, regarding that title above.  

No more, no less. 

Knowing How to Approach Problems

Approaching IT problems is all about perspectives, and the more diverse your skill set, the easier it will be to see the pain points of a project. This isn’t just about planning and execution; this is also about setting up the project in which your team can be not just effective, but also learn and connect. 

I’ve learned things I never thought I’d have the chance to use, but you’d be amazed how something you consider irrelevant or impractical can actually be your rescue when facing complex problems. 

Furthermore, this helps add another dimension to the way you’re leading teams, and helps with delegating! Sure, knowing the core of the matter and having a sense of it is always nice, but why not use this knowledge and put it to something like nurturing. You can measure out your approach – go with passive listening and guide your team with questions, or you can engage and guide by doing. The correct way? Take a look at your team, and you’ll know – what they need and how they work will give you the answer right away. 

Working as a BA, product manager, and sometimes project manager, this can be achieved if one is ready to walk that thin line between having a front-row view of the project, and looking at it from the side – a mix of objectivity and subjectivity. 

Flexibility

I know, I know, it’s something that’s talked about a lot. But I’m here to talk about the flexibility towards clients. Agile is a methodology that is applied to teams working on the project, but can it be applied to clients? Yes, and to a great extent. 

Sometimes, behind a project you have one client, and sometimes there are multiple stakeholders. All this can present a challenge, as there are multiple ideas about how to conceptualize and execute the development process, and sometimes these can be conflicting. For this, specializing comes to the rescue. 

Having something as a specialty can help you not just with understanding the project and envisaging it, but also help you convey your messages and recommendations to the client. Simple, short explanations that will help the client understand what you’re trying to achieve, and visualize your proposed changes and additions. 

And at the core of this lies the relationship you form with your clients – sometimes you might click, at other times you’ll need to engage: ask questions, ask explanations – whatever it takes for you to get a better understanding where the client is coming from. 

Mutual understanding lies at the heart of client satisfaction. 

Before the car was a car or the iPhone was an iPhone, it was an idea. So, everything manmade comes from the idea, which is based on a need or improvement, but yes – the idea is the foundation for anything related to innovation. But, the word idea to a lot of people sounds intimidating. Not in the sense that they cannot come up with one, but because of the socially applied pressure that only good ideas need to be heard – thus instantly placing their idea on hold. And the objective truth is that every idea is good at some point in time, the real question is if the time for that idea has come. 

On ideas and all things related, we sat down with Blagoj Kjupev, our Chief Innovation Officer, and talked about ideas, how to spot a good one, how to unearth them, and why engaging your teams to voice ideas is important. 

ITL: What makes an idea a good one?  

Blagoj:  The person giving the idea and the people listening to that idea. That’s it, there must be a good match. An idea in itself cannot be good or bad. It’s the room that the idea is presented in, figuratively speaking of course. Somebody’s bad idea can be someone else’s spark into an amazing adventure ending with a very successful product or service. Think of anything produced and developed by humans. How much of that was a complete, producible idea in its inception? If I had to guess it’s in the 0.00 margins. This means that on each idea an additional work has to be conducted to have it fully developed and understood by investors and companions that will help in its development.   

Ideas are an amalgamation of all our experiences, references to things we’ve seen, read, watched, listened to... When a problem is presented, our mind unconsciously goes through all of that and finds an approach to help us solve the problem. So, we all have ideas, every day. It’s just that most stay silent and undeveloped due to different reasons. Our focus during the incoming period will be to help our colleagues feel comfortable expressing and develop their ideas.   

ITL: So, ideas need to be voiced more often. As the Chief Innovation Officer at IT Labs, how will you change that?  

Blagoj: : After many discussions with my colleagues from the marketing and other departments, my expectations were confirmed that we have the manpower, know-how, and creativity in our teams to take ideas and turn them into real-life projects and products. We’ll further increase the number of activities that are taking place, to include brainstorming and open discussion events in which we’ll speak about solving already identified problems, existing solutions, new technological breakthroughs, and develop ideas that might turn into something amazing.  

ITL: Okay, we all have ideas, right? How do you decide which ones are worthy of being considered? How do you separate the “hmmm, that might work” from the “that’s just crazy”?  

Blagoj: Via open discussions and for some areas by having a guest who is great in specific areas of expertise which is touching the idea. Sometimes from one idea, there will be more ideas emerging, sometimes we’ll together with the author decide that the time is not right for that idea. Only through open discussions and brainstorming we can reach a common understanding of the real value of any idea and agree on next steps.  

The invisible pink elephant in the room – with the world at a standstill, how do I keep growing? How do I find the pockets of space, time, and energy to maintain my learning curve?

I didn’t just drown into all the material available on the web. Because learning opportunities don’t just come in the shape of courses, meetings, feedback sessions, webinars, and workshops – it’s about making the space for it.

Making the time and space to learn and develop as a project manager sounds impossible, right? But it isn’t. I set about delegating tasks and responsibilities to willing team members with the goal of enabling them to grow into their roles. I was then left with pockets of time and space in which I was free to do develop.

This was somewhat unexpected, but then it hit me – ‘you need to give in order to receive’ – an adage as old as time itself resonating in extraordinary times. This all led me to a simple conclusion – the circumstances have changed, but our values and principles need not. We still need to do what we’ve always been doing. It’s just the shape and this uncomfortable feeling around it all that somehow paints it all black.

Dear Project Managers, keep diving into your leadership and team-growing methods.

Even with all the tips and tricks, the structure, the awareness, the leading, things will go sideways from time to time. Your team(s) will suffer from dips in motivation and creativity, and sometimes will struggle – and the same can happen to you.

And then, there’s the worst-case scenario – you’re having a rough day, and a member of your team is going through something as well. When I first got in this kind of situation, I was literally at loss for words – and action! I was unable to even comprehend what was happening, and had no idea how to resolve this. I didn’t have the person in front of me, that direct, tete-a-tete moment was lacking, and I was unable to even get out of my own difficult situations.

After winging it a few times I realized that the thing that will work time and time again is to have a purely human moment. Listen, reflect, share, offer support, and make the necessary steps you believe need to be taken to come to a resolution. And of course, assurance. Don’t forget that this void of activity is affecting everyone, and that sometimes team members just need to know that it’s okay for them to take a break and reflect.

Showing understanding is one thing, acting on it is the hard part – that’s what will help you keep your team happy, and bring solidity in these times of uncertainty.