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Comment by rgbrenner | Hacker News Reader

"In the case of Ted, you could start by saying something like, "I'm noticing two patterns in our meetings. First, Ted, this looks like the third time in a month where you haven't met a deadline for the team. Am I off? [Assuming Ted agrees, you continue.] The second pattern is that each time Ted says he hasn't met a deadline, I notice the rest of you — Fran, Alex, and Sheryl — sigh or shake your head, but you don't say anything to Ted. Am I on target? [Assuming people agree, you continue.] Since these meetings are the place for solving problems and the team can't meet its deadlines if Ted doesn't meet his, I'm curious, what leads you not to say something to Ted in the meetings?""

If I'm Ted, this is a very uncomfortable meeting... and from the sound of things, will be going down hill very quickly.

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(Guess I could add a little more to this.) Not only is the manager shaming Ted publicly, but he also assigned some blame to Fran, Alex, and Sheryl for not saying anything to Ted when he missed the deadline. Fran, Alex, and Sheryl aren't going to think that is fair -- it's Ted's responsibility.. so they are going to shift the blame back to Ted during the meeting.

The first thing they say is: If Ted needed help to meet the deadline, he should have asked us for help.

So now Ted is being criticized for missing the deadline, and not asking for help from his teammates.

This would be a very bad day for Ted; and Fran, Alex, and Sheryl are not going to appreciate being included in the criticism of Ted's missed deadline by their manager (ie: they'll have a more negative opinion of their manager for not assigning the blame properly/fairly).

That's not how a healthy team should work. If your team is actually working properly, there is absolutely shared responsibility. Peak productivity is way, way lower if things only happen when your manager tells you to do them.

That is the way I imagine that meeting would go if it started off with the quote from the article. I don't imagine a team with a manager like that is 'healthy'

I agree with the idea expressed the article (shifting accountability to the team as a whole instead of putting it solely on the manager).. but the way they suggest going about it is terrible (IMO).

I don't think people need to be comfortable all the time. The manager who decides to take the team out on this tightrope needs to know how to prevent everybody from falling off. He or she needs to "buck Ted up" by the end of the meeting, and everybody else as well. But if one can do that...both take a team to the edge of chaos and bring them back in one piece...I think everybody will be the better for it.

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