Managing a Team in Difficult Situations

There can be many reasons a company or team is undergoing rough patches. The company might be going through a crunch time, or the team may be near a significant and hard deadline, and not possess the bandwidth to meet it. As a leader, it’s the responsibility of a manager to steer through these challenging situations.

Difficult times

In February 2020, nearly all companies worldwide were directly or indirectly affected by COVID-19. The aftermath of the pandemic is still present in our lives. It was a difficult time for most companies, as almost every team was affected for a very long time. For some companies, it was extremely difficult, as their revenue dropped by more than 80%.

Most engineers, particularly senior engineers, are compensated via company stocks in modern tech companies. Many tech companies went through a rough patch, with a significant drop in their stock prices during the pandemic. We also saw recessions during which stock markets tanked, which affected the overall morale of the teams.

Sometimes, unwanted attention from media houses toward a company may also result in dissatisfaction and unhappiness among employees. Sometimes, a company undergoes a major reorganization, which results in a dip in productivity.

Lastly, another reason that has been observed to ...