How to make the best out of your team
“The success story of a firm is usually scripted by an efficient and driven workforce.”
We often neglect small things because we’re busy with the big stuff. Nurturing your team can be a tiring job, especially for an operational manager who needs to lead, direct and manage the team. However, checking each team members motivation and keep them stay inspired, as well as creative, are important things to do for them to give you their best effort and produce many brilliant outcomes your company needs. You need to create a working environment designed to promote and stimulate creative thinking. In order to do that, there are some ways you can walk on. We’ve summed up several tips on how to handle your team effectively to bring out the best in your team.
Set clear and unified goals
You need to establish clear goals as the foundation of every work you and your team do. The goals will bring intrigues and capture the interest of your team members so they become more motivated. When you set goals clearly, your team members will have an open mind towards improving tasks they are working on. They can plan their working steps thoroughly, to produce better outcomes. Other than goals clarity, you also need to provide a unifying goal. The unified goals will enhance communication and collaboration within your group, and remind them that they are part of a team.
Maintain Good Communication
Good communication is the basis of a cooperative and productive team. To have good communication with your team, you need to be able to provide honest and constructive feedback. It will make them feel confident to speak up concerns and communicate with one another. Good communication contains crystal clear and transparent communication, which means everyone in the same project needs to know what’s going on. Marc de Grandpre, senior VP of Marketing at KIND Healthy Snacks, believes that transparency in the workplace is hugely important.
“How can your company learn, grow and succeed if people are afraid to be themselves, voice their opinions and genuinely show that they care about the brand and team? Having the company become a sort of safe space allows for brilliant ideas to flow and for problems in your company to be flagged and addressed head-on.” - Marc de Grandpre
By having good communication, you can have a two-way relationship. It is important to solidify trust and improve your team management techniques. However, what if your team members live so far away from you? You can handle it by using a technology that will replace the ideal face-to-face communication, such as Slack. If you also have team members who are working in different time zones, you can to set up a scheduled appointment for calls.
Monitor their work, at a proper distance
You can monitor their work to keep track of their progress but remain at a safe distance. That means you need to always check their progress but give them the freedom to do their work. Try to differentiate between being interested in their progress and intruding on their personal working approaches. Let the team members work at their own pace and try not to force any methods or ideas. Listen to what they want to say, their needs, and help them overcome any obstacles while progressing. By using this approach, your team members will gain more confidence because they can achieve something mostly on their own effort. You might be helping them, but it is still their work.
Provide tools
Make your team's job easier, not harder. We suggest you provide the right tools; Instead of criticizing or controlling their work, make them feel supported with the necessary tools to make their works easier. For example, you can provide a shared Project Boards (such as Trello) to give team members an overview of projects and responsibilities. This will enables team members to understand the role they’re playing within the bigger picture and see each other’s progress.
Reward and recognition
By recognizing the efforts of your team, it means that you are paying attention to them and appreciate their hard work. You can replace flashy rewards with simple yet special one. For example, announcing it in front of their peers or give a voucher for weekend getaway. Just remember to be consistent with this act. If not, everyone might think you have a favourite and create jealousy among the team members.
Conclusion:
Your role as project manager means more than just assigning tasks/goals to your team member. As a leader, you can use your role to facilitate discussions of what needs to be accomplished to get to the goal. Good communication will bring positivity to your team, driving your team to give out their best. The success of your company depends on how you handle your team. Don’t miss out on ideas of improvement your team can gives you.
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References
https://www.meistertask.com/blog/6-simple-tips-effective-team-management/#
https://zenkit.com/en/blog/how-to-manage-a-team-10-tips-for-success/