Julia Rowan answers your management, leadership and team development questions

I recently moved into the public sector and am leading a department of 45 staff led by seven long-serving managers. The department is well-structured, and the segregation of duties is well-documented. However, motivating the team of managers is proving difficult. The word ‘change’ is a no-go area. I’m finding one-to-one meetings work, but in group settings, there is very little interaction. 

A. There is a lot going on here, and I wonder if your team senses your frustration. It can be scary for a team when an ‘outsider’ comes in to lead them, so I would take a long-term view—going slowly, supporting your team, praising what is working, and building trust.  

Read between the lines. Your one-to-ones are working, but group settings are not. What feedback are you getting here?  

Use the one-to-ones to discuss what your managers want from the team meeting. Then design these very carefully. 

Try to meet in person. Start each meeting with a simple ‘check-in’ question, something that connects with the managers’ real world. This could be, ‘what do you want from today’s meeting?’, ‘what’s your biggest challenge at the moment?’, or ‘what’s your long-term focus?’. 

Perhaps you could give each manager five minutes to update colleagues on their work. You may find some common themes coming out of the one-to-ones that could be brought to the team meeting: problems that could be aired and shared or, even better, progress made.

It could be useful to suggest a strategy session looking at what is working well and how the team can build on this, as well as current challenges. Get curious about your team’s successes and what it has achieved. 

The team would need to get a clear sense that you notice what is working and are not just ‘ticking the box’ so that you can move on to the problem areas. 

All of your managers have good-sized teams and people managers always need support. Be explicit and intentional about this. Building trust with you will help them to explore and accept change. 

My new boss joined recently from another organisation. I applied for the promotion and did not get the role. I’m okay with that and I like my new boss. He is getting his feet under the table and beginning to make suggestions about what we should do. Often, he suggests things that we have tried before (and which didn’t work) or he overlooks important issues. I don’t know how to disagree or make suggestions without sounding negative, closed or jealous.

A. This is a great example of where the feedback we want to give (like “we tried that and it didn’t work”) could sound negative, but where your intention or concern is positive (i.e. to ensure that we don’t waste time).  

Be positive. Voice the concern. Share the feedback. For example, “I think revising our service offering is a great idea. I’m not sure whether you are aware that we tried that before and our clients pushed back. Would it be useful if I talked you through what happened?”.  

Julia Rowan is Principal Consultant at Performance Matters Ltd, a leadership and 
team development consultancy. To send a question to Julia, email julia@performancematters.ie