There are a number of ways leaders can empower their teams to see business and personal success: fostering trust, giving them agency and caring about them as people.
But micromanaging does not work.
“Micromanaging does not help leaders grow or motivate them to succeed, so I keep a close watch on myself to make sure I’m not doing that,” Kimber Dall, VP of people operations at mobile games company SciPlay, said.
Rather than providing hawk-like oversight, Dall lays out the overall vision for projects leaders on her team are working on as well as stakeholder expectations. Then she lets her team leads pick the tools, process and game plans that work best for them.
To help SciPlay leaders evolve their skills even further, the company offers leaders training opportunities through an eight-week internal program and professional development stipends. Dall shared a few examples of how team members have put those training initiatives and stipends to use with Built In Austin, below.
How do you like to work with your direct reports?
If I had to use one word to describe my management style, it would be “trusting;” fostering mutual trust between me and my direct reports. I rely on employees to tell me what we need to do to be successful based on their areas of expertise, not the other way around. I believe in leading by providing a framework of what I’d like to see and letting the team design the steps to build it out as they see fit. I stay updated on my team’s progress through weekly one-on-ones and they know I’m always available through the many communication channels we have.
It’s also important — now more than ever — for me to know how things are going at work and outside of work. What impacts our personal lives most certainly impacts how and when we work, so it’s important to find that balance and understand when we need to shift work to accommodate.
I rely on employees to tell me what we need to do to be successful based on their areas of expertise.”
What strategy have you found to be key for empowering the managers below you?
As the VP of people operations, I have an obligation to make sure our departments are hitting key company objectives while balancing the needs of our executive management team and our board of directors. Setting the tone and communicating an overall vision is vital to create the framework the leaders below me need to do their best work and meet company obligations.
To meet stakeholder needs, I give managers total autonomy in choosing their tools and overall plans. Micromanaging does not help leaders grow or motivate them to succeed, so I keep a close watch on myself to make sure I’m not doing that. Keeping communication open, providing feedback when necessary and listening to leaders about what they want out of their careers is vital to keeping them engaged. Leaders should feel like their manager wants them to be successful.
What training does SciPlay offer developing leaders to help them thrive as people managers?
We recently created an eight-week training course for new SciPlay managers and we’re in the process of rolling the program out to all of our locations. Small groups of new managers go through the program with a people operations leader at their location. It’s very interactive, and with multiple managers bringing different perspectives and styles to the table, each session leads to interesting discussions.
We also allocate an annual budget to training and development for individual employees and teams. Leaders can attend a conference and provide formal training to their teams. People operations leaders can also bring in a trainer for a group of SciPlay team leads.
Additionally, we encourage all of our employees to use our tuition and certification reimbursement program. SciPlayers have put this program toward earning project management certifications or Unity certifications for virtually-completed professional courses. Some have even completed their bachelor’s or master’s degrees with the help of the program.
