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Teams come in many different shapes and sizes. You might be responsible for a small in-house Salesforce team, or have to lead a large group of people spread across the globe. In the SaaS world, managing one (or several) IT Service Providers is also very common, and so is having a distributed team or a citizen developer program.
Today’s challenges:
Some of the challenges managers face are ensuring high Salesforce platform performance, preventing the introduction of risks, and delivering new functionality deadlines whilst ensuring high quality standards.
High attrition rates are also a complication many Salesforce team leaders need to deal with, and even though there are ways in which hand-overs can be facilitated (such as keeping code sufficiently documented), guaranteeing qualified employee retention is no easy task.
What are developers looking for?
Employee loyalty plays a big role in a manager’s responsibility, and keeping people focused on the success of the company can be achieved in many different ways. This is why many tech giants, such as Salesforce, have provided employees more freedom in the workplace, thus adapting to the new age the COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon the world – this focuses on improving employee experience by cultivating a strong sense of culture. Developers in particular are known for loving their flexibility, so it really doesn’t come as a shock that many of them have been thriving with the new reality that is remote-working. Some companies have already adjusted, others have maintained in-office work, and others have adopted a hybrid system. Whichever your preferred option is, it’s important to provide workers with a clear strategy and a place of collaboration.
There are many qualities that a manager should possess to make their team shine. So:
What makes a great Salesforce team leader?
Empathy
It is crucial to put oneself in the other person’s shoes and understand what drives them so that you can achieve great results together. As important as delegating tasks and holding people accountable is, so is understanding: what do people value? What is important to each individual? It can vary from career growth to any number of personal preferences.
Trust
If you have surrounded yourself with dedicated Salesforce specialists that you can depend on, show them that you trust them. Avoid micromanaging at all costs. This of course doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be KPIs, targets and deadlines to adhere to, but creating a positive work environment where people’s every move is not audited and scrutinised results in higher initiative and more motivated employees.
Transparency:
In-line with the previous point, having visibility and shared KPIs across an organisation is key. Define clear, achievable objectives and make sure all processes and steps are coherent. Make sure you provide honest feedback to each member of your team.
Support
As a leader, you are not only there to demand but to help your team. Encourage personal development and help them become the best they can be. Do they need training? Can you empower them with tools or mechanisms to help them be more efficient?
Pressure management
It’s easy to get sunk into the pressures of upper management. Not transferring that stress towards your employees and still driving them towards the goals is important to maintain a healthy work environment.
Open-mindedness
Listening to your developers and taking on new ideas or process improvement suggestions into consideration is important. It can not only benefit you and the organisation, but has a positive impact on the team, and makes teammates feel valued and included.
Acknowledgement
Everyone likes to be rewarded for their work. Take a moment to recognise your employees. Brilliant leaders always prefer to be surrounded with capable people because an efficient, productive team is a direct positive reflection on their manager. Making people feel appreciated will make them want to continue being successful, and you will share in that accomplishment. Celebrate the wins, however small they may be.
Inspire
Be someone that the rest of your Salesforce team aspires to be. Advocate employee wellness and create a positive and inclusive workspace where people will be happy, thrive and perform well. This also results in employee loyalty, which helps the image of the company, and attracts talent.
In a nutshell:
Success is shared. Poor leadership can have a huge impact on team performance. Being able to drive and motivate a group of people is key to achieving company goals.
“Great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack”. A more participative management approach from the business side and general management can clearly improve the collaboration between teams.
Empowering teams with the right tools to excel at their work is a fundamental necessity. Here you can find a few examples on how Quality Clouds in particular provides support for Salesforce teams at every level.
To discuss further how Quality Clouds can help your team, book a meeting with our experts.
