What is a team?
A team is a group of people who work together to accomplish a common goal or purpose, for which they all share some measure of accountability. Three essential pieces define all successful groups:
- People are working together.
- Having a common purpose.
- Mutual accountability.
Managers & Teams
As a manager, you are both a leader of teams and a member of them too. All units have leaders also (both formal and informal sometimes). As a manager, you need to be concerned about all of the following with regards to managing your group:
- Understanding the purpose and overall goals.
- Providing guidance and direction as the group develops.
- Helping members acquire the skills needed to be most effective.
- Training members, while providing them with the tools and resources they need to succeed.
- Identifying outside relationships that need to be cultivated to be more productive.
- You must remove obstacles that hinder success.
- You share authority in decision making to create an influential culture of empowerment.
Why do some teams struggle?
Sometimes teams struggle. Despite having the right tools and processes, a group might not be productive together. Some teams are just dysfunctional.
Since teams are about people working together, there could be people issues. Some of these include:
- Poor interpersonal communication.
- Lack of trust.
- Ineffective leaders.
- Lack of cooperation.
Sometimes there could be structural issues limiting success.
- Missing skills.
- Unfocused direction.
- Lack of a vision or a plan.
- Poorly defined roles and goals.
There also could be support issues thwarting a team’s ability to be effective.
- Lack of effective training.
- You are missing essential team tools.
- Lack of interest from management.
- A weak culture of ownership and accountability.
Winning as a group
The goal, like in sports, is to win. No one wants to be part of a losing culture or an ineffective group. If it feels like they are part of a poorly led or constructed team, engagement will take a hit. Soon enough, you will lose people. If you are not careful, you will lose high-potentials that you can’t afford to lose. To win as a team, a leader must:
- Learn to listen more than talk sometimes.
- Communicate clearly and concisely.
- Involve others in planning and building new initiatives.
- Help everyone overcome obstacles.
- Train and cross-train members.
- Deal with performance issues immediately.
- Focus on driving performance.
- Create a fun, engaging, and inspiring environment.
- Develop a unique culture that uses everyone’s strengths and personalities.
- Create a win-win culture for everyone.
To evolve your management skills, you need to realize that you can’t do it alone. You need to leverage the strength of teams around you. For more on managing others, including resources and lessons learned, reach out to us for help. We can be part of helping you better lead your team. For a regular dose of advice, tips, and tricks from Evolving Management, follow us on our company LinkedIn page. You can also follow me or my podcast, The Chris Hanna Show on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn or visit chrishanna.ca for more solutions. Let’s connect.
