Leadership
Most of us think of teams being highly democratic entities where every member is going to have equal contributions to the project. When the team doesn’t have a clearly defined leader, it becomes hard for the team to succeed. It is important to have a team leader because it will determine the success of a team. Team leadership and management tend to be used interchangeably, but there is a big difference between them. A manager usually plans, organizes, and controls a certain group of employees or a department. Are managers leaders? They can be, but they have to succeed in undertaking leadership responsibilities, which include motivation, communication, encouragement, guidance, and inspiration.
You need more than just an abstract commitment to teamwork when you want to build an effective team, it is key to have leaders that are going to foster it. Many people think that leadership is about taking control, but it is really about giving power away. It involves trusting and empowering your team to do what is expected of them even when you are not there. It is not about asserting your authority, but fostering trust through transparency and honesty.
Roles and responsibilities
When roles and responsibilities are clearly defined in a team, duplicate work is going to reduce. It is also going to help in reducing conflict and finger-pointing. When you look at teams that are performing well, you will notice that each member of that team has clear responsibilities. You need to make sure that employees know what is expected of them and who to collaborate with to help the team reach its goals. It is important to share duties and help other members when they are unable to do it on time or are absent. There is a compromise of effectiveness and cohesiveness when there is no clarity.
A team can become pretty unbalanced when the members have the same team roles or styles of behavior. When all the members have the same weakness, there is a good chance the team is going to have the same weakness. When the members have the same strengths, it becomes easy for them to start competing for tasks and responsibilities that they feel confident handling.
Establishing a relationship with your team
Do you know your team? What are the strengths, weaknesses, and skillsets of your team members? What motivates them? This information is very important to you as a leader because it lets you match their expertise to given tasks, which will lead to increased productivity, job satisfaction, and motivation. An employee is happy when they feel valued and this is going to resonate with your team.
Building solid relationships between your employees
It is hard to see what is working and what isn’t if the team hasn’t worked together. Interpersonal relationships are important for any team. Scrutinize the way the team works together, spend time listening, observing, and communicating. It is normal to have conflicts and conflicting opinions and it is actually healthy because it shows that the members have passion when it comes to their work and roles. You become the mediator by flipping the issues into a positive and brainstorming of solutions.
Team building events have provoked some hostile reactions in some cases. Whether it is spending the day on a go-karting track or a team-building event, these away days don’t seem to have much relevance to employees’ roles. There is a place for team-building events. The first thing is thinking about your goal – for example, if there is a new project, you can take the time to share experiences and perspectives on what lies ahead. Mix activities that include problem-solving, brainstorming, and recreational challenges and this is going to enhance camaraderie among the team members.
Purpose and goals
It is hard for a team to be successful when they don’t have a common goal. You need to have a clearly defined goal. What is it that the team needs to deliver? Note the actions you need to do by working backward from the desired goal and having a deadline for each of those steps. Try your best to involve the team when making goals. Give voice to each of the members because it is going to give you the best shot at getting clarity of purpose and commitment. Who is going to manage the work at each of those steps? Make sure you assign each step to be managed by members of the team and ensure there are clear expectations. Make sure you clearly communicate this with your team and then work on achieving the objectives.
Communication
Poor communication negatively affects every aspect of your life. When a team has good communication, it is going to reach its goals in a shorter time compared to those that have poor communication. Effective team communication is the most important thing in a team. With good communication, the team can work together as a unit. Tracktime24.com enables you to keep the lines of communication open within your team. Skillful communication is going to create awareness and understanding that lets the members complete the tasks assigned to them efficiently. Skillful communication is also about listening.
It is important for the team leader to communicate expectations, roles, and responsibilities to everyone involved. Leaders should be always promote the need for effective communication. You should keep in mind that effective communication can be different from one person to another because people process information differently. You also need to know that spoken word using intonation and tone of voice can be taken differently compared to sending it out written over messenger and email. Try your best to encourage the team to talk.
Communication is important because it is going to help in building trust which will help in creating a safe working environment. This is going to help the group meet its goals.
