How will you manage a team where team members are more experienced than you and hence don't respect you?

Question

How will you manage a team where team members are more experienced than you and hence don't respect you?

Asked at Amazon over a year ago

1.4k views

Leadership and Development

amazon

Leadership and Development

Asked at

amazon

1.4k views

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@Nag · Answer 1 · 2021-09-07T13:48:30+0000

The steps for answering this Amazon leadership question:

1) Acknowledege their expertise- Leverage capabilities to add value to the project

2) Show them the larger picture of the organization and their role in it.

3) Let their experience shine publicly- Give oppurtunities for team to be visible to Sr. Leadership, let them get credit for the work that they have done and let them have a say in important decisions

4) Admit what you dont know- Learn from the team

5) Learn their conventions- Learn their way rather than asking them to learn your way

6) Ask what do they need to succeed.

Note- Few points have been taken from an article titled 'How to Be an Effective Leader When Your Employees Have More Experience Than You' from Inc magazine

Clay Nichols · Answer 2 · 2022-03-29T18:54:59+0000

Try to figure out their intent. They might not respect you for other reasons. If so you'll want to address those real reasons. For this question let's pretend that their intent really is that they simply don't respect you because they are more experienced.
Make sure I understand what their needs are. A big part of my job is to understand everyone's needs and see how they all fit together. It may be easier to get them to explain their needs than to share their expertist.
Acknowledge and use their expertise. Ask them to bring you up to speed. Listen patiently and don't interrupt. Treat them like a respected teacher (since that's what you're asking them to do).
Ideally apply #3 to something they want. Ssk them to educate you on something you need to advocate for their needs.

Clay Nichols · Answer 3 · 2022-03-29T14:03:09+0000

Try to figure out their intent. They might not respect you for other reasons. If so you'll want to address those real reasons. But, I'll assume here that their intent really is that they simply don't respect you because they are more experienced.
Make sure I understand what their needs are. A big part of my job is to understand everyone's needs and see how they all fit together. It may be easier to get them to explain their needs than to share their expertist.
Acknowledge and use their expertise. Ask them to bring you up to speed. Listen patiently and don't interrupt. Treat them like a respected teacher (since that's what you're asking them to do).
Ideally apply #3 to something they want. Ssk them to educate you on something you need to advocate for their needs.