WOMEN IN TECH BLOG SERIES: WHAT I WOULD TELL MY YOUNGER SELF ABOUT BUILDING TRUSTED AND TALENTED TEAMS
Written By: Sara Hobson, Senior Vice President, US Public Sector, BeyondTrust
Sara's favorite quote is, "Every woman's success should be an inspiration to another. We're strongest when we cheer each other on"
Sara’s first job was selling Security to the Federal Government, and it was love at first sale. Working with the Government to help solve problems to enable the Warfighter, Protect and Serve the Citizens, and ensure they met the mission, gave her a clear and achievable mission. Over the years she has been able to work at some amazing technology companies and be a part of the massive Technology transformation she has seen over the past 20+ years. She is proud to have served both Public and Private sector customers, learning how to partner with Small to Enterprise size businesses through the top tier Federal agencies. All customers have problems and she loves helping to solve them.
While the customer and technology have changed over her career, the common thread throughout her career has been the amazing people she has worked with. Many say, if you want to change something, Sara is the person to go on that journey with. She loves partnering with industry and customers to accelerate change and growth through collaboration and innovation. And while results are important, happy customers and team members are most important.
You won’t be remembered for what you do or the results you achieve — you will be remembered most for how you made people feel along the way.
Everyone talks about how important it is to build a high performing team. I always find this to be an interesting topic as I have learned that it takes many attributes outside of just the number to do this. Our market is constantly changing so to me, you need to look at some non-performance attributes to do this. What worked for us in the past, may not work in the future.
If I could tell my younger self what is important and how to do this here is where I would start:
Trust: To me, in order to function as a high performing team, you must have trust. This allows you to move faster, try new things, be vulnerable and to honestly handle just about anything that comes your way. What I have learned over the years is to trust what you see and not just what you hear. Actions truly speak louder than words but all too often we believe what we hear more than what we see. We always want to see the best in people, but actions don’t lie.
Diversity: This has been a massive mind shift over the past 10 years or so, but studies of diverse teams has shown that truly high performing teams are diverse. However, I think there is some misconception on what a diverse team looks like. All too often, we think of diversity in just race or sex, but I have learned that diversity is also having difference in background, skills, belief and up-bringing are key needs in building a diverse team. Your past shapes who you are today and with different views comes different ideas, different ways to challenge the status quo and look ahead.
Change Agents: I have heard that the only thing that is constant is change. Our market is always changing, and we need to surround ourselves with what has been referenced to as “change agents”. This is the willingness to be uncomfortable, the willingness to fail, the willingness to trust.
Are you a Leader or Manager: Often people use these words interchangeably and, in my opinion, they are very different. I have often been described as a servant leader; one who is willing to jump in and help, knock down barriers, help people. I consider myself just another member of the team, or maybe it’s my love of being in the deal and working with customers. But I have learned that people want to follow someone who they like, and trust and they can see in my actions (not just my words), that I am in it with them.
I think this takes me to ego: Leave it at the door. All too often I have heard, “well he/she performs so the ego is warranted”. That is death to any team. There is no “I” in team and when you allow your ego, or the ego of another teammate harm the culture of your team and performance of the team. If you surround yourself with people of different skill, background, thought (you know a diverse team) you will never be the best at everything. If you are, you need to look as to why you are surrounding yourself with people who aren’t better than you. Challenge yourself / challenge the team.
It’s a job: I have learned that people work for many different reasons… some do it because they love it, it gives them a sense of self, some do it because they just need the money, some do it because. If you don’t enjoy what you are doing, or who you are doing it with, you need to question why you are doing it. I often say, a job is here to align to what you want/need in life and if you aren’t getting what you need, change it / change the job. I also talk about the importance of how you treat people. In my younger years I was described as a bull in a China shop, was told you catch more flies with honey vs vinegar….all these people were telling me was that it is easier to move things forward with kindness and not treating people poorly.
Later in my career I had a trainer that challenged us to write our eulogy. And while this sounds dark, it was enlightening. Because as I wrote it, never did I except someone to say anything about my performance. I didn’t write about my attainment, which is what we focus so much on. I wrote about how I effected people’s lives, how I built relationships, how I made people feel.
I have learned that I can’t build a high performing team if people don’t like me. No one wants to work for an a-hole, no one will trust me, and no one will go with me.