Communication Leadership Style Leading Change

Rowing in the Same Direction

Tekedra Mawakana

05.22.23

When you are embarking on something for which there is no roadmap, Tekedra believes it’s critical to set short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals and to keep your team on track. But more importantly, she makes sure to create room for flexibility when things don’t go as planned.

Rowing in the Same Direction

Summary:

When you are embarking on something for which there is no roadmap, Tekedra believes it’s critical to set short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals and to keep your team on track. But more importantly, she makes sure to create room for flexibility when things don’t go as planned.

Thuy

Waymo originally started as a moonshot project at Google, so you’re all about innovating and trying new things. What is your secret for getting team members to go along with new changes, and make sure everybody is rowing in the same direction?
Tekedra_Mawakana

Tekedra Mawakana

I think communicate, communicate, communicate. What are our goals? What are our long term goals, midterm goals, short term goals? How does that trickle down to every person, and what it is that they have to accomplish over what time horizon? I think it’s fairly standard sort of business practices, but I think to your point because it’s never been done before, also creating some flexibility when what we’re trying doesn’t work or isn’t working? How do we pivot and how do we bring the team along in those pivots? Communication. And context, I think, is also really important.
Prev Next

Related Posts

You Can’t Please Everyone

You Can’t Please Everyone

Vy Tran learned a tough lesson as a first-time manager – you can’t please everyone. Having to “drive accountability” while also being a self-described “people pleaser” required Vy to dig deep and re-think how she communicates with her team.

Failing Forward

Failing Forward

Failing forward is an essential skill not just at work but in life. For Vy Tran, learning from her mistakes has made her a more effective and influential leader.