The role of a team leader is to put into action the knowledge, motivation, skills, and experience of a group of people to achieve a common goal. However, no matter how well a team performs, there is always room for improvement to a higher level. Therefore, to improve the team to the next level, you must visualize the next level as a team leader.
How?
Take an objective perspective of the current team dynamics, performance, results, and time management. You may feel perfectly capable of being completely objective in your own assessment. Still, it may help to have an independent perspective if only to compare notes and validate your judgment. So, with a colleague or peer, monitor your team’s progress of tasks, who does what, who leads, who checks quality, who instigates action, and who delivers. When you have a clear picture of how you want the team to improve, follow these guidelines to make it happen:
Clarity
As a manager who wants to develop a team, an essential task is to provide clarity with goals, plans, and tactics. What exactly do you require the team to do, and how? Establish a concise outline of your strategy and objectives. If your team can visualize success and have a clear understanding of what is needed to achieve it, you demonstrate good leadership. Your role is to provide clarity.
Cohesion
A team is simply a collection of people who have a common objective and work together to achieve that common objective. When the team members fully understand what is expected of them, both as individuals and part of a team, they are much more likely to perform to their full potential. Determine individual responsibility for tasks and consider allowing the team to provide their input. Using some of their ideas will increase the sense of responsibility and desire for success.
Culture
Many teams are high-performing teams because they have ground rules or agreed standards they acknowledge and respect. A commitment to accomplishing tasks and respecting a supportive work culture with individual accountability is viewed as usual in high-performing teams. So, encourage ideas, suggestions, and open dialogue. Simply rules could be that all contributions are welcome and every team member has the right to speak and be heard. Such a positive culture can inspire confidence, better morale, commitment, plus contentment within the team.
Conflict
Is conflict a positive or negative aspect of team behavior? To my mind, it depends on how you, as a team leader, establish the boundaries and limitations of group dynamics. Disagreements and disputes between team members will happen, no matter what you say. Therefore, encourage open discussion and constructive arguments but be mindful of limiting them to relevant issues and preparing to move the debate forward. Restrict the discussions to team business and do not allow personal comments to be acceptable. If all team members feel they can speak up and voice their opinions, they will be more engaged and deal with conflicts in a healthy, respectful manner that can serve to reaffirm everyone is on the same page.
Coaching
A range of individual strengths that constitute a high-performing team can be identified and further developed by a progressive manager who wants to take the team to the next level. The better the manager knows their team, their strengths and preferences, their motivators, and their ability levels, the more focused the coaching, training, and development can be to the entire team’s benefit. The feeling of being trained, developed, and having time and attention invested in you is one of the biggest motivators at work. So, maintain close contact with the team, work with them, and offer advice, guidance, and knowledge when applicable or necessary. The knowledge that you are growing learning, developing skills, and experience will be motivating.
Constructive
High-performing teams do not waste time. When clear goals, targets, and expectations have been established, they will get on with it and produce results. Time is expensive, and not to be frittered away in meetings talking about the tasks rather than accomplishing the tasks. Yes, it would help if you allowed time for planning roles, monitoring progress, and support but make sure the time spent is productive. It’s important to remember that meetings are expensive in terms of time, money, and energy. Meetings can either propel a team forward or distract from the primary objective of getting the work done. Be specific about what needs to be achieved during meetings. Whatever type of work your organization does, it’s likely that time in meetings is time away from getting the actual job done.