I spent quite a bit of time this summer building up a Twitter presence for derfdice.com. In the past week the number of impressions and new followers has slowed. It would be easy to assume that I was doing something different, or something wrong. If you take a look at the news, you could assume that something had changed and it might not be my behavior. I am a big “no spoilers person”. You can Google “Elon Musk Twitter” if you want a better understanding of what is happening. Clearly Twitter has undergone some changes.
If I had to distill what I do down to two words, it would probably be “managing change”. Creating and deploying software is all about changing things. You are changing versions, or changing servers, or changing industries. The older you get, the more experience you have with experiencing change—both good and bad.
If you are working on a software team, you are experiencing change. The product is changing, the platform is changing, the team is changing, and even the company itself is changing.
Coping with change is hard. I always tell people that it is important for them to become “comfortably uncomfortable”. In the past year I have helped a number of awesome engineers on their path to transcend their career arcs. Almost all of them have expressed their discomfort in the process.
If you want another trite and two word summary of what I endeavor to do, let’s try “retaining teams”. Getting people to cope with change is hard—this includes both good change and bad change. If there are good changes happening in your company, you might experience those as bad changes. I have experienced something like this. When you inherit a new boss, or the organization restructures, it is entirely possible that lengthening reporting structures make your existing role feel like it is a relative demotion. Other times, you might be thrust into a role where you have too much responsibility for you to be comfortable managing.
These are both unstable states. As a leader, it is important to understand when you have made things uncomfortable for people, one way or another. It is equally important to address that discomfort in some fashion.
I do not know if I emphasized that enough. If you have created an unstable state in your organization, it is the responsibility of leadership to manage it. If you ignore the issue or you fail to manage it, the consequences will be some mix of team churn or loss of morale.
So what can you do?
Be Accountable
I can no longer count the number of times I have stood in front of a room full of people and told them that we are about to enact significant changes. Tell everyone what is changing and tell everyone why it is changing. Sometimes you are changing for growth, sometimes you are changing for lack of growth. Sometimes you are changing things because things are not working.
If you believe someone is negatively impacted by these changes, arrange a private meeting to hear their perspective on these changes.
Be Authentic
Tell people how you feel about the changes. Tell people if you are excited by them or if you are frustrated by them. If people can understand how you feel about these changes it might help them to express their own feelings about it.
Be Available
When you are finished talking, understand that the next most important thing to do is to listen. Set up office hours and private meetings for people to talk to you about the changes and what it means to them.
Be Considerate
If someone is inheriting a new boss, or their reporting structure has changed, talk to them about how you can make it easier to swallow that bitter pill. Any token gesture you can make in the middle of changing things for people is greatly appreciated, whether it is work related, compensation related, or even some extra days off to think about it.
I have employed all of these tools when organizations have changed and have found they are helpful in getting members of your team to accept change. If you are not doing enough to manage change in your organization, they will tell you as much—by quitting.
If you have enacted a massive change to your organization, look at the subsequent departures to understand whether or not you have done everything you can possibly do as a leader.
For all the news and noise about Twitter, this is the thing to watch next. Steve Jobs did something similar when he rejoined Apple, and look at where it is now. I am not saying there are direct comparisons between the two people, but both companies are in similar places. The more important question to ask yourself is whether or not your own company is in the same position.
This week’s post is brought to you by IOGear HDMI 4 port adapter. I bought one of these a few weeks ago to connect all of my consoles to one display and I could not be happier. IOGear.
We are returning to double digit days on not talking about “quiet quitting”. Every day is a new battle. See you next week!
