What to do when teams won’t work in the open
As managers we prize autonomous teams because there is no limit to the quality of work they can deliver, and they are teams we ourselves would like to be in. But autonomy does not imply autocracy.
When teams create private Slack channels and don’t work in the open they are crossing the line into autocracy. We don’t like it, but the truth is that in doing this, teams are finding a solution to problems that we wish they didn’t have, including but not limited to:
- us-and-them mentality because they disagree with us
- anxiety at making work in progress visible
- anxiety at being percieved to lack technical or domain knowledge, especially when it’s a new team
- unsettled team dynamics, for instance where individuals feel that their role in the team is lowlier than their “true” status
- the team has a nascent culture that they are worried won’t survive in the open
Usually to change behaviour we prefer to change minds first. For example, to support an individual to take more of a leadership role, we might invite them to think through a particular piece of work and how they might lead its delivery.
But the team cannot plan its way to finding its public identity. It’s too complicated — they just need to step out. So in this case, it is better to demand the change in behaviour first.
Do this sensitively: first invite the team, individually if necessary, to express their anxieties. Hear them and do what you can to address them. But this is also the time to be inflexible. Tell them clearly and explicitly that using a public channel is non-negotiable.