In today’s ever competitive world, it can be quite difficult to achieve success alone. One has to work with others in order to attain set goals and meaningful growth. The term “dream team” makes a great deal of sense in this particular scenario. It is, however, very important to understand that having a team is one thing and guiding it to success is another. As a team leader, you need to have the right set of team management skills in order to achieve the aforementioned. The following are five strong tips for effective team management.
Get the Right People
Most people can be trained to become great team players; some more easily than others. Therefore, when forming a team, it is important to familiarize yourself with the kind of people you are bringing on board. Are they good team players; are they willing to give their all in order to achieve success or are they just whiners who think only of themselves. These are some of the questions that you need to ask yourself before adding an individual to your team. The kind of team members you have will greatly determine the team’s effectiveness.
Assigning Tasks
If you have a team of ten members, then chances are that every one of them has something they are good at and, therefore, enjoy doing. It is your responsibility as the team leader to find out what each member in your team is really good at. You should then use this knowledge to assign tasks appropriately. For example, an IT expert/technology enthusiast would not be any good as a sales person. Ensuring that each team member is given a set of responsibilities that are in line with their individual expertise and interests will greatly boost team morale and productivity. Employee evaluation software can be used to monitor the progress of each member according to the tasks assigned.
Mistakes are There to be Made
This is an unavoidable fact of life; employees are human beings and, therefore, expect mistakes to be made. It would be very unwise to constantly monitor every single action taken and movement made by members in an attempt to “safeguard” them from making blunders. Assign responsibilities to individuals and then let them make their own decisions; if they make mistakes encourage them to learn from the same. This will make team members feel trusted and confident. As a result, they will work towards bettering their results with every task assigned.
Work Hard but Stay Soft
For every team, the focus should be on getting things done and developing skills. This should, however, not be reason enough to shout at people in the name of motivating them; you need to be soft on people. Soft does not mean weak, just humane and understanding. As a team manager, you should not aim at instilling fear but rather mutual respect. This can only be achieved if you are likeable and not dreaded.
Avoid Favoritism
This can be quite challenging especially if some employees are better performers than others. However, you have to be professional, never make it appear as though one or two individuals are better than the rest. It is important to treat all members equally and respectfully because anything less kill morale.
About the Author
Sam Moser is a freelance web content writer who graduated from the School of Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Sam always uses Grapevine Evaluations to assess employee satisfaction.
