Introduction

Becoming a teamlead can seem overwhelming, especially if you don't have that much experience on the team. However, fear not! This article is meant as a guide that you can read beforehand and consult during your time as a teamlead in case you don't know where to turn. A lot of these tips apply to other subteams as well. Additionally, keep in mind that you should lead in a way that you are comfortable with, so use this advice as a guide rather than a set of "laws" that you should follow. 

Getting Started

Here are some helpful ways to get started as a teamlead.

  1. Read as many relevant Wiki articles about your subteam as you can, especially about the most recent rocket that has been built. This will help you get an idea of the steps and time involved in each piece of hardware. 
  2. Organize a meeting with the previous teamlead, and come prepared with questions such as:
    1. How do I keep members involved?
    2. What are all the parts that need to be built?
    3. What should be improved from when you were a teamlead?
    4. What are the biggest challenges of being a teamlead?
    5. Etc.
  3. Start a record of notes for your personal use. This can be a Google doc, a physical notebook, whatever works best for you. You may change the way you organize things as the year progresses, but some form of record keeping is important for:
    1. Making a preliminary list of the hardware that needs to be build
    2. Once you have this list, expanding it into a flowchart showing the breakdown of tasks for each piece of hardware
    3. Making a schedule
    4. Keeping track of team members/attendance

Team Member Retention

Without enough engaged team members, you simply cannot build a rocket. Team member retention is ESSENTIAL to the functioning of your subteam. The paradox of member retention is that you have the most people in the beginning when you have the fewest tasks, and by the time you need the most help, most of your members may have already left if you haven't kept them engaged. The following points are crucial for team member retention.

Caring for your team members

  1. Make an effort to learn people's names, and write down their information (name, year, email address, technical experience).
  2. Show appreciation for the progress that your members make. Making a public post can be good, but make sure others aren't left out. When in doubt, sending a personal message saying "Good job!" is a safe bet.
  3. Organize fun events (like tea time) from time to time, especially if you sense that members of your team could use a break/are stressed out.
  4. If someone communicates to you that they're busy and can't make a meeting for some reason, be understanding. We've all been there!
  5. Never speak badly about your team members, especially if they're not around. If you notice team members doing so to each other, you should step in. 

Communicating with your team members

  1. If you're sending especially important information, use more than one method of communication to make sure you're reaching all members. Not everyone checks Slack- some people might check their emails more often. You don't have to send every message through email and Slack but in the following cases, using more than one method is good:
    1. It's the beginning of the year, and you're getting everyone oriented/emailing important information
    2. You're giving information about how to get a respirator.
    3. You need a lot of hands for a certain task, like doing a layup or integrating a part.
    4. You're organizing a social event and are letting people know where/when it is. 
  2. Organize weekly meetings and make sure as many of your members as possible can come. Whenisgood is a good way of getting people's availabilities. 
  3. If someone is lagging behind on a task, focus on what you can do to help them rather than the fact that they haven't completed a task yet. Using this approach shows that you care about them, and is more likely to get results, rather than creating more stress for them. Being understanding is an important method of teaching team members to be more comfortable reaching out to you to ask for help.
  4. On the other hand, if someone has consistently failed to get a task done, you can reassign it to someone AFTER communicating with the person.

Keeping people engaged with meaningful work

  1. Come to meetings prepared with tasks to give people, even if they're small. Even if you have the most dedicated members, they will get bored if you continuously have nothing for them to do.
  2. Keep track of people's progress in some form. This will not only help you keep track of what still has to be done, but will help you
  3. Never assign the same task to two different people unless it's clear that they're collaborating. Doing so is an insult and shows that you don't trust either to get the job done.
  4. Unless a part is absolutely critical and you must do it yourself, show trust in your team members and let them do the work after showing them how. Your main duty as teamlead is to pass on knowledge to your team members, and you can't do that if you're doing everything yourself.

Meetings

Most of your time as a teamlead will probably be spent meeting with other people. In general, there are four main types of meetings that you can expect as a teamlead. 

  1. Exec/teamlead meetings: these are meetings where you meet with other teamleads/exec members to update them about your progress, and what you need help with. The topics are usually high level, and more subteam-specific content is reserved for your subteam meeting and other smaller group meetings. In general, it's best not to get too in-depth about something that doesn't apply to everyone, as you don't want to waste people's time. If you need to interface with other teamleads, you should organize a separate meeting for that.
  2. Subteam meeting: this is the meeting that you organize after determining the availability of your team members. It should happen once a week (unless there's a holiday). Come prepared with tasks to give members, updates, and food if you can! If you're in the design phase of a part, meetings can be held in the UL, but if you need to show off hardware or have a working meeting, you should have it in lab.
  3. Individual/one-on-one meetings: These are meetings primarily between you and one of your team members. It is especially important to meet one-on-one in the following cases:
    1. You have a new member that needs you to explain some aspect of the rocket, or how rockets work in general
    2. You want to assign a task to a member and explain the task in detail to them
    3. A member is feeling stressed about a task/something else, or is confused about/doesn't like what they're working on
    4. You want to check in with a member about the status of a part/task they're working on in detail
    5. You are training a member (using software, machining, etc.) to do some task
  4. Smaller group meetings: as the year progresses, your team will break up into smaller teams based on the part they're working on. In this case, you should meet with the group and have more detailed discussions, rather than talking about specifics during the subteam meeting. This is analogous to having a subteam meeting instead of talking about things too in depth during a teamlead meeting. These meetings will get more and more important as the year progresses, as you check in with your members and members of other teams.

The first meeting

More tips about meetings:

  • If you're organizing a meeting, give people at least 24 hours in advance
  • Use whenisgood or similar tools to coordinate meetings if more than 3 people are involved
  • Remind people that the meeting is happening at least 30 minutes in advance because people forget sometimes. 
  • Don't make a habit of cancelling meetings. If you have a good excuse that's fine, but try to honor your commitments and hold others to this same expectation.

Time Management

Here are some general ways to manage your time:

  • Unless you know EXACTLY how to build a part (which you probably don't), assume that you'll need to build it 3 times before you get it right.
  • Identify all the materials you need for a part BEFORE you start building it. Too often, the cause of delaying a part comes down to the fact that it takes 2-3 weeks to arrive. 
    • Identify what you need (ask someone who's built it before if you don't know)
    • Look up the delivery time. If it's not shown, assume it takes 1 week for the part to get here.
    • Submit an order for it to the treasurer

Taking Care of Yourself

ADD STUFF

Social Events

It's important not only to manage your team technically, but take the time to organize fun events to give people a needed break from work and bond your team! You don't have to go crazy, but having a couple of events per semester is a nice thing to do, and you can get suggestions and help from your team if you don't have time to plan everything. Here are some things to keep in mind.

  • Events don't have to be fancy- something as simple as tea time is fine. The point is to bring people together and take a break from work!
  • If you plan on spending money, first ask the Social Chair/Treasurer if you can get a social budget. If not, you can ask members to chip in a reasonable amount ($3-5). Try not to spend too much money in any case. 
  • Try to make sure as many of your members can come as possible, because they've all been working hard and they all deserve to come! Sending out a whenisgood is a good way of doing this. 
  • Don't exclude people. If someone from another subteam on Rocket Team wants to come, invite them too! In the past we've had problems where people would exclude others, and this causes drama and sadness. Don't be like that! You don't have to go out of your way to invite the whole team, but in the case that someone specifically asks if they can come, be nice and say yes. 
  • Keep allergies/dietary restrictions in mind if events involve food. When in doubt, ask questions to make sure you understand what they can and can't eat.

 

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