Driving vs Driving Crazy

Should the managers put conscious effort to drive the team ?

Generally in a new startup or newly started project, there is enthusiasm in the team to deliver results and every one is at full throttle. Full throttle mode is not sustainable so naturally teams come to some sort of studystate. If managers are not careful at this stage, the team may slowly slide into a kind of stagnated state and delivery timelines will be spoken in terms of quarters instead of weeks/months. 

From a manager’s point of view, it’s reasonable to think that individuals should own their work and be self motivated. But without proper feedback from managers, the team will not know the difference between delivering a feature next week vs next quarter. If a team doesn’t trust their manager to support them in a crisis, then the team may not want to take bold steps or give optimistic timelines.

Maintaining enthusiasm in the team requires conscious effort from managers. Just conveying the deadlines is not enough, managers need to constantly communicate about the importance of the work the team is doing and how it is helping the company achieve its goals. There is a very thin line between driving the team vs driving the team crazy. Managers need to find the right balance, and tailor their communication for each individual in the team.