Ask the Geezers

How to Manage an "Indispensable" Team?

Question I manage a group which has few people working in it for quite a few years. Due to the headcount freeze, we can not hire replacements if people leave. My team are aware of the fact that they are indispensable to the project (because of their experience and the headcount freeze) and are taking undue advantage of it. Nothing much has changed after the issue was raised couple of times. The environment of the team is not very healthy and it will likely remain so if I can't find a good way to deal with this. Could you give some advice?

Amiram It's a classic. You have to take a few factors into consideration.

First and foremost: cemeteries around the world are filled with millions of indispensable people. It's nice to think that one cannot be replaced, but the sad truth is: everyone can be replaced. Ken Kutagari, the creator of Sony's PlayStation resigned last month. He will be replaced.

As a manager, particularly if you are not as well versed in the technology as your staff is, it is an absolute nightmare to see one of your top guys leave. In fact, what makes them think they are indispensable is probably you! During my career, I have seen quite a few top people leave. Without exception, it was never as devastating to the team as I thought it would have been. In some cases, it was a blessing. Furthermore, during my career I have built two high performance teams, and a really small part of me wanted to believe that my departure would be devastating. It wasn't.

Second: how important is the project? Hiring freeze means no growth. It doesn't necessarily mean no replacements. What happens if the entire team leaves? Do you think replacement hiring will be approved? If the project is important enough, you will be able to hire replacements. If not, well then, I guess that answers the first question as well. Many managers think that the team shrinks while its responsibility doesn't. In most cases it isn't true. In most cases, you are not expected to deliver the same with less staff.

Indeed, this isn't a very healthy situation. You are not specifying how the team is taking advantage of the perception that they are indispensable. Are individuals asking for raise and promotion they don't deserve? And are they getting it? Do you get people come into your office and say things like: "if I don't get promoted, then I will leave"? If you let yourself get pressured into promoting people not based on merits, you are making a big mistake. My assumption is that one day, one of the indispensable guys will leave, the team will recover, and the understanding that "nobody is indispensable" will dawn on them.

Sin-Yaw: For companies like Sun, no one is indispensable. If engineers feel this way, you have been managing them wrong. The "good way" has always been readily available to you.

Over the long term, only the disciplined, self-respecting, and motivated team can perform. At the same time, only your team's productivity matters to your career, not its size. For yourself and your team, you are much better off losing one or two engineers to trade for the overall team discipline and motivation. Think about if so-called replacement headcount is allowed, what would you do? You should do exactly the same, even if the loss cannot be replaced.

Lastly, there is no such thing as "hiring freeze." A highly productive team engaged with important projects will always get the required resources for their jobs. No one, including yourself, will invest on non-performing teams. If you don't shape up your team, you will gradually lose charter and head for the demise. If you keep a high-performing team, you will find projects coming your way with the resources you need.

Mike It isn't clear to me what the questioner means by "taking undue advantage" and "nothing much has changed after the issue was raised a couple of times". "Undue advantage" may be a way of saying that there are performance issues in the group, or that the questioner believes he/she has lost credibility with the group. Either case represents a problem to be dealt with. The "nothing has changed" comment is puzzling. Who raised the issue? Is the questioner saying that he/she escalated the resource issue without any results? Or that the questioner pointed out performance issues to individuals with no result? If the former were true, there may be nothing that *can* be done given a generally tight budget situation at Sun. If the latter, then here is another problem to be dealt with.

Any manager must deal with situations where employees may disagree over their current assignment, pay, coworker compatibility, and any number of situations. The performance issues that the questioner observes (by saying "take undue advantage" and "nothing changed" in the question) are exactly the results of one such situation. In general, these demand a clear, non-confrontational explanation of the situation (in this case that staffing won't change, but everyone must still do their best to make sure the group meets its goals), followed by a straightforward method of dealing with performance issues. A manager who doesn't take control in a crisis loses the opportunity to be effective.

Looking at this question in another way, the team have an opportunity to pull together and gain something from this situation. It takes time to foster the team identity and collegiality that results in very effective teams, but it is never too late to start the process. Does the manager have regular team meetings where everyone has the chance to talk openly? Are there regular 1:1s? Are the group's goals visible to everyone, and does everyone understand how each team member's work supports the goals? Do group members offer to help when one of them has more work than the others? Does the group get together outside of work? If so, is the manager involved? Are successes celebrated by the team as a whole, and its misses analyzed just as openly so that processes can be improved? This is just a short list of things that can help to build a highly performing team.

Posted at 09:52AM Jun 02, 2007 by Wen Michelle Lei in General  |  Comments[2]