We talk with Artur Ortiz and Lluís Sáiz, founding partners of Grup Idea; and with Juan Guaita, manager of Abessis, about leadership and team management within the company. The ability to successfully execute projects and at the same time manage people and integrate their knowledge within the team is very important to meet both the individual objectives of each worker and those of the organisation as a whole.
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What do you consider to be a good working team?
AOE. A good working team is one that is efficient and effective at the same time in order to achieve the established objectives. This requires good coordination and communication between everyone, a positive attitude and the ability to adapt to change.
LSA. In order to achieve this, a good team has to bring together several factors. One of them is to have a clear mission, which must be aligned with the company’s vision. In addition, it is essential to have complementary profiles within the team and that the parts form part of a whole.
JGQ. For me, a good working group is one that, as Lluís says, forms a whole: it respects the global idea and always adds up in projects. Ultimately, it ensures that the work is an activity carried out satisfactorily both for the clients and for the company itself.
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What qualities do you think a good leader should have to manage people in a team?
AOE. From my point of view, a good leader must have solid convictions and the ability to know how to transmit them to employees and collaborators. Exemplarity, not lying, being fair but kind and listening more to the rest of the team are also traits that a good leader should have.
LSA. In addition to listening and knowing how to transmit, it is very important to be humble, to be open to dialogue and, above all, to delegate. A good leader should not impose himself, he should convince.
JCQ. I would only add that, in order to convince the team, the leader must be credible and, therefore, as honest as possible with his team.
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From your point of view, what is the greatest challenge facing leaders today?
LSA. Without a doubt, the speed with which everything happens in today’s world. One day everything seems to be working and a few hours later, no matter how well you have worked, the scenario can change. I always compare it to a tennis match. You have to return the ball and if you make a mistake, the opponent gets the point. It’s the same in business: if you miss an opportunity, your competition picks it up. And finally, you can be just one point away from winning the match, but until you miss or your opponent misses, you don’t win. You have to stay awake, be tenacious and never let your guard down no matter what the circumstances, good or bad.
JGQ. I couldn’t say what the biggest challenge is at the moment. Maybe there are too many challenges and most of them are unattainable. Personally, I have always thought in the short or medium term, considering that doing well what we have to do every day is already a success. I am of the opinion that focusing on carrying out what we already have within our reach and providing a solution to our clients is more than enough to make a difference with the competition.
LSA: You have to work hard in the short and medium term, but it is often easy to lose the initial vision and focus of the goals you have set if you don’t think long term.
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Precisely how can we incorporate innovation within our organisation without being driven by the urgency of having to innovate constantly?
AOE: In order to innovate, goals or objectives must be set (the what) and then a good strategy (the how and when) must be devised. To do this, we leaders must change our attitude, be more imaginative and creative, work hard, put all our passion and enthusiasm into it, without forgetting common sense.
LSA. I would say that in order to innovate and constantly improve, we must have a critical spirit and assume that we will make many mistakes along the way. But we should not become impatient or demotivated by this.
Regarding to this, there are two concepts that have always helped me. “When you do what most people do, you don’t innovate” and “When something is too complicated to explain, it’s wrong. In times of economic prosperity when everything seems to work, the desire to propose new ways of doing things and the critical spirit diminish.
Therefore, I would say that the best way to incorporate innovation “slowly but surely” is to create an environment of continuous improvement in the processes to obtain better results.
