How do I make my teamlead grow?

1 points by mongol 8y ago ↗ HN

I am managing a development team with both onshore and offshore developers, approx 15 people. This is a regular IT organization for a large, global retailer.

The team lead I recruited (contractor) did not have previous leadership experience, he was a developer prior but never for this company. I have tried to coach him, while pointing out all the "pitfalls" in our complex application landscape. The problem is that I don't feel we get good rapport. When I point out important considerations, he becomes defensive, like I criticized him. Meanwhile, I also feel he does not take in the complexities of problems, but picks up the first "firm" opinion he hears and takes it for granted. This has lead to unneccessary problems because he did not consult his developers. I wish he takes more input from different people, including members of his team.

I know I probably should let him make mistakes and learn from it, but I can't afford costly mistakes (such as unplanned service downtime). Now I feel I am micromanaging him to some extent. I wish to get away from that but may have a problem myself to "release control".

Any suggestions?

2 comments

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smt88 8y ago ↗

I've been in this position before. My strong suggestion is to fire him and hire someone who has experience (and demonstrated success) with this exact type of role. It's difficult and expensive to try to change someone, and they don't always end up changing.

dudul 8y ago ↗

> I know I probably should let him make mistakes and learn from it, but I can't afford costly mistakes

Maybe you shouldn't have hired a green team lead then. Bigger orgs can afford to grow promising people into a role. If it's not your case you need somebody who has the experience already.