Tuesday May 31, 2005
Tuesday May 31, 2005 Last week I wrote about the importance of creating a sense of community. I had also flagged a second key ingredient in my conversation with Hal Stern about how to foster teamwork: empowerment. When people get the backing and support they need, they are not likely to give up when they encounter obstacles, and they remain positive and creative in the face of difficulties. And, my theory goes, you are much more likely to team well with others when you're feeling empowered, rather than discouraged and impotent.
Sounds obvious, right? Well, it's also incredibly easy to get it wrong, and to take away - or never give - that sense of empowerment to individuals.
This thread brought to mind the conversation that was catalogued in Tim O'Reilly's "Architecture of Participation". It's been linked to a bizillion times by numerous bloggers, but if you haven't read it yet - please do. An excerpted quote, from Tim:
"Empowerment of individuals is a key part of what makes open source work, since in the end, innovations tend to come from small groups, not from large, structured efforts."
And then, further down in the "Architecture of Participation" article, Adam Turoff says:
"I briefly delved into Delphi many years ago. Attending a local Delphi users group had the feeling of a self-help group, where some people came across a key failing and traded coping strategies because there was no way to cause a change in Borland's product (at least for the product release in question). I've never sensed that feeling in a Perl Mongers meeting, because everything is up for discussion. Even if there's no Perl content in a Perl Mongers meeting, the sense is typically one of happiness and joy, not morbid resignation and praise/condemnation for the vendor."
The point is - we need to make sure that teams feel like empowered communities, where people feel that they can speak, that they have a voice, that everything is up for discussion (albeit constructively...) I don't ever want anyone close to me to feel that the politics are too difficult to navigate - that's a recipe for complacency and giving up and checking your passion at the door. Empowerment of individuals is key to fostering innovation and enabling teamwork. We should all do more of it.
Technorati Tag:OpenSolaris
Technorati Tag:Solaris
(2005-05-31 23:15:16.0) Permalink
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