I'm currently working on a team made up of individuals with a very diverse set of capabilities (e.g., software developers, generalists, financial analysts). Often my teammates and I are asked to do work that is relevant to our roles and knowledge, but that we depend on others to accomplish.
I've noticed that some of my teammates tend to let work stall when colleagues from outside of our team aren't able to do the task that they are depending on (see the examples below). Some of my other teammates are, instead, quick to escalate and get issues resolved when other teams fail to deliver - and as a result are highly valued as "doers" and "problem solvers."
How can I help my colleagues who are more hesitant to ask for help when it involves escalating or calling out another team for not delivering on a promise? They are equally capable as the rest of the team, but don't receive the same praise and notice because their work is often delayed without a clear solution.
Some tangible examples:
- A teammate is responsible for a re-design of a section of our website and is waiting on the internal HTML team to implement the design. The HTML team keeps extending when they promise to have the work done.
- A teammate is responsible for a number of internal dashboards and recently discovered that the data in some of the dashboards is coming from the wrong source. The developer who implemented the dashboards has acknowledged the error, but isn't available to help.
- A teammate is responsible for overseeing implementation of a new tool that will be released to internal users before a regulator-established deadline. The deadline is approaching, and the team implementing the tool is way behind schedule for getting the work done.
How can I help my teammates be more courageous in raising these issues to the rest of our team, especially our team/department leaders?