Why your team is angry and how it’s derailing your progress
What is anger?
Anger is one of our primary emotions, and it is triggered when we feel:
trapped or intentionally mistreated
blocked from getting something we want
something or someone is getting in our way
An example of How this shows up in our product and transformation teams
Blockers and impediments are words we use in our everyday vocabulary. They are so normal now in our ways of working that people often become a bit too blasé when they hear the words
But when a team member calls out that they are blocked or impeded from making progress, they expect that you &/or other team members will jump in and help them get unstuck. They will feel inconvenienced by the blocker or impediment, but if they get unstuck within a reasonable timeframe they will be happy and continue on their merry way, making progress on their work
If they have to wait for days or weeks - until the blocker or impediment becomes a much bigger problem - before anyone will pay attention to them, their feeling of inconvenience will become a feeling of frustration. They will think that they and their work are not important enough to warrant attention. Once unblocked, they will continue making progress but it will not be with any sense of urgency because they didn’t see any sense of urgency in others to help them
If they see that it is normal for them to have to wait for days or weeks every time they hit a blocker or impediment, they will become annoyed from the moment an obstacle arises. They may not speak up about these issues until they see them become much bigger problems. Your actions have taught them that it’s only then that you will care. All of a sudden, everything associated with your project, product or transformation is always reactive. You are constantly in firefighting mode because people no longer proactively raise problems early
If they have multiple blockers and impediments and they are not receiving much help from you or other team members, they will become angry. Angry because they feel trapped. Angry because they feel they are unimportant. Angry because they want to do good work but they can’t. Angry because there are so many things getting in the way. Angry because you keep asking why they haven’t made progress on a piece of work when you haven’t given them the help they asked for. They lose their willingness to fight to make rapid progress. You lose their trust and loyalty to go above and beyond
This is why as a product and transformation leader it’s so important to pay attention to the blockers and impediments that are being shared with you or escalated to you. When you clear them quickly and early you create a positive and resilient work environment where people know obstacles occur but the people around them have their back, those challenges will fade, they will make progress and do good work
Anger is an escalating emotion. In this example, we went from inconvenienced, to frustrated, to annoyed, and finally to angry. It’s much easier to move on from an inconvenience than it is to move on from anger. The longer a negative emotion lingers and compounds, the more risk there will be that it will derail your progress.
It never hurts to regularly ask your people the question “how can I help?” and then do what they ask
Overwhelmed by the amount of fires that you need to put out and don’t know what to do?
Let’s work on this together. Here are three ways:
Influencing for Impact: This practical 2-day workshop is for you if you want to influence a decision maker, influence a change in customer or colleague behaviour, or influence someone to buy something from you
Executive and Leadership Team Coaching: Work directly with Lai-Ling to problem solve for your specific situation in a confidential setting. This is for you if you want to develop and execute on a game plan that is 100% tailored for you
Leadership Development: Invest in the product and transformation leaders in your company with leadership development that is customised for their role. This is for you if you want to learn about people and politics