Four Key Lessons From My Time as a Team Lead

I served as a Team Lead for six months at Deepwatch. I learned more about leadership during this time than ever in my career.

In 2023, the Product Engineering Department started a team lead program. The program works like this. Leaders in the department select one developer from each team. This person represents their team for one to two quarters.

Two months after joining the company, the department chose me to be in the program's first cohort. Besides my regular duties as a Senior Developer, I took on the extra role of Team Lead. I attended planning and roadmap meetings with managers and directors in the department. I led team meetings, including stand-ups and sprint planning. And I also performed extra tasks behind the scenes.

I never understood what a Team Lead did until I became one. Now I know how rewarding and transformative this role can be. These are the four major lessons I learned.

1 - You don’t need a job title to lead

I used to think my job title had to start with Lead, Manager, or Director to lead. I thought, “How will people view me as a leader if it’s not in my job title?” After leading a team without any of these words in my title, I can confirm you don’t need a special title to lead.

Think about the leaders in your company. Are they all managers and directors?

Being a leader has more to do with actions than titles. You don’t become a leader the moment your job title changes. You become a leader by leading your team.

This is great news for anyone who aspires to be a formal leader or manager someday. Regardless of your level or years of experience, you can start leading. Act like a leader and your team will see you as a leader.

2 - Listen to your team

If you want to listen to your team, you need the time and space to do so even if that means adding new meetings.

Schedule 1:1s

Several years ago, I started scheduling regular one-on-ones with co-workers. I thought it would be helpful to practice this type of meeting before doing it as a manager. What I didn’t realize at the time was how much I would learn from and enjoy these meetings.

As a Team Lead, I wanted consistent one-on-one time with each team member. When someone is happy, upset, or struggling, I want to know about it. If someone has a question, I want to answer it. And if someone has feedback about my role, our processes, or anything else at the company, I want to hear about it.

Your job as a leader is to foster safety and honesty in your 1:1 meetings. When you do so, the right topics will come up for discussion. Also, people open up even more when you’re not their manager. This allows you to build strong connections with your co-workers.

Create a team chat

Another action I took after becoming a Team Lead was to create a group chat on Slack with the developers on my team. Sometimes Slack channels have too many members. Someone joins a channel for one conversation and never leaves. Managers and directors might want to be in a channel to observe. There will be times when you want to have private conversations with your team. Use a group chat or private channel for these moments.

Group chats have allowed my teams to vent, sync on projects, get help, and talk about life. That’s why this type of communication is so effective. It’s a fun and productive catch-all for team conversations. Your team can chat without judgment.

Schedule a team meeting

I also scheduled a bi-weekly team meeting. This is another place for your team to have casual and meaningful conversations.

The purpose of this meeting is to connect with your team. That’s it. This should be a no-pressure, agenda-free, attendance-optional meeting.

What’s great about this meeting is that it’s flexible and can be whatever the team wants. Some weeks you can deep dive into a work project. Other weeks you can chat about non-work topics. Or you can spend the time playing an online game.

Over time, this meeting can bond a team and make it even stronger. Empathy and support thrive when a team takes the time to get to know each other. This results in improved team collaboration and communication.

3 - Be present and transparent

One of the best ways to stay connected with your team and informed about their work is to be present. Attend as many meetings that involve your team as possible, even if you’re a bystander. This shows your team that you support them and want to help. Even if you don’t know the subject matter, you can still give feedback on your team’s ideas and plans. You can also point out any problems or issues that you notice.

Sometimes you don’t have all the answers. And other times you have to share bad news. These are hard conversations. But they’re even harder when you’re not transparent.

Do your team a favor. Be transparent and honest with them. Don't sugarcoat bad news. And don't try to answer a question when you don’t know the answer. This does more harm than good. Your team will respect you for being truthful.

4 - Be a beacon of information

Team Leads are like cell phone towers. They receive information. And they broadcast information. It’s a constant cycle of consuming and disseminating knowledge. Your job as a Team Lead is to be good at this.

Review the board

Your team should have a place where you can see what every team member is working on. For my team, it was a sprint board in Jira.

I checked the board every morning. This gave me an idea of what each developer worked on, is currently working on, and will work on next. I also checked Slack and GitHub to stay informed about projects and tasks. This morning ritual helped keep my finger on the pulse of my team.

Prepare for meetings

Leaders prepare for meetings. And they help meetings stay on track.

As a Team Lead, ask yourself these questions before every team meeting:

• What’s on the agenda?
  • If there isn’t one, there should be.
  • Knowing the agenda items will help you prepare.
• What questions do I need to ask?
  • Face-to-face time is valuable. Ask questions that you need answers to.
• What questions will others ask me?
  • Leaders get asked questions all the time. Expect them so you can provide answers.

It’s easier to prepare for recurring meetings like stand-ups and sprint planning. You already know what to expect. Give yourself at least 15-30 minutes to prepare for new meetings.

Listen

Successful leaders spend more time listening than talking. Listening helps them do their job better.

Pay attention to what your team says during meetings. This can reveal information about individual members and your team as a whole.

Team Leads should listen for anything that sounds:

• Confusing
• Clear
• Hard
• Easy
• Harmful
• Helpful

It’s impossible to listen to every word in a meeting. I can’t do this and I don’t know anyone who can. Focus on the keywords above. This will allow you to note what’s working and not working.

Ask questions

Great leaders ask the right questions at the right time. They also have no fear when it comes to this.

Somehow people in the workplace started associating question-asking with laziness and stupidity. And this made it taboo to ask questions at some companies.

Team Leads have the power to reshape this narrative. Lead by example and ask questions. Ask simple ones, ask complex ones. Show your team that asking questions isn’t bad. Answers transfer knowledge and share information.

The role of Team Lead isn't for everyone. Avoid the role if you want to stay in your comfort zone. Skip it if you never want to feel vulnerable or challenged. And say no thanks if you don’t like serving others. But if you want to be a force multiplier, say yes. If you want to foster a healthy work environment, consider it. Be a Team Lead if you want to learn to be an effective people leader.

When you serve your team, you help your team do more. You become a better communicator, listener, and decision-maker. Your team wins and so do you.

If you know someone in a Team Lead role or someone who aspires to be a leader, please share this article with them.

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David Weiss Founder • Made by DW ​Follow me on X, LinkedIn, & Instagram​

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