Before you start the process of building a successful team, you must have a plan.
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First, congratulations on becoming a first-time manager. Your next task is building a successful team that will help you meet your goals. Being your first time, the pressure could be daunting but with a strong team behind you, you’ll cruise above those waves with grace.
The success of any coach in a football or a basketball team is determined by how the team members play their part. When the players know what they’re supposed to do and they successfully do that, the greater team will be successful.
In the following article, we’ll explore tips that first-time managers can use to help them build a successful team that gets things done.
Building a successful team starts with establishing a vision
Before you start the process of building a successful team, you must have a plan. As the manager and leader in whatever capacity you’re in, you must have a vision for where you want to go. Now that your seniors have briefed you and have onboarded you, as the captain of the ship you set the pace.
Once you have established a vision, you can set goals. To achieve these goals you need targets and timelines. This blueprint will help you communicate with your team and state your expectations.
Building a successful team starts with having people who know exactly what they need to do. You as a manager have already figured out the kind of workforce you need behind you and the qualities that will help you reach where you want.
That’s why different companies prefer the use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These are quantifiable measures of performance over time for a specific objective. Qlik.com says that they provide targets for teams to shoot for, milestones to gauge progress, and insights that help people across the organization make better decisions.
Once the expectations are set clearly from the onset and each team member agrees, there will be little room for confusion or conflict.
The MasterClass staff say that you should also give expectations of the kind of team environment you want to establish at the workplace. Tell your team members that you expect teamwork, cooperation, shared responsibility, and problem-solving. From the onset, your team members will completely understand what they’re signing up for.
Incorporate one-on-ones while building a successful team
A robust team thrives and grows when individuals feel honoured and respected as human beings. Once they feel that their talents, skills, knowledge, and gifts are valued, they will contribute towards achieving success for the greater good. As a manager, you should set up a time to have a one-on-one session with each of your team members.
A face-to-face meeting helps you establish a good rapport with them. Get to know what motivates them and who they are outside work. At the same time, be ready to receive and give feedback. Master Class staff writers intimate that the individuals who work in your team have stories of their own. Therefore, you should focus on seeing them as humans and not instruments for performing tasks.
How do one-on-ones help build a strong team?
- You establish a healthy foundation with your team.
- During this close interaction, you identify their needs and you see things that can help them thrive in their work.
- You also see the gaps in their performance and you can look for ways to help them improve where they lack. This can be done by coaching or exposure to helpful material and courses.
- It’s a nice place to diagnose small issues before they become big mountains that breed division and strife.
- You can solve conflict and understand why some members find it hard to coalesce with others.
- The foundation that you build during one-on-ones has long-term benefits. One of them is establishing a much-needed stream of feedback.
- One-on-ones help you identify hidden skills and talents that could be of benefit to the team.
- Lastly, you can also build future leaders and people who can step in when you’re not there. This is one of the most important principles that the Roman Empire used to follow. In the Roman Empire, a captain/leader/centurion had juniors who had enough capacity to represent them. If a commander had a message to send, he’d send one of his juniors. The receiver of the message would take it as if he spoke to the actual commander. This is despite talking to a junior officer.
- One-on-ones will help you know your team members in a more intimate way. Then you’ll establish a self-driven team that will ensure that tasks are completed with or without your presence.
A report by Gallup revealed that employees who feel that they have a good rapport with their boss are more engaged at work. According to the report, 55% of employees are actively engaged at work when they feel that they can talk with their manager on work-related issues.
On the contrary, the findings of that same report show that 65% of workers are actively disengaged if they feel like they can’t approach their manager with any type of questions.
Ask good questions and be an active listener
During one on ones, you should ask better questions and develop the skill of active listening. These are some of the questions you can ask:
- What has been your experience with previous managers and what do you think I should or shouldn’t do?
- What resources do you need to help you achieve your tasks better?
- How does your home environment impact the way you work? Is there anything we can do to help?
Engender team collaborations
No team will succeed if they don’t work together. You’ve heard the cliché saying, teamwork makes the dream work enough times now. But the statement still holds true regardless. Find a way to ensure that the team plays to each other’s strengths while covering each other’s shortcomings.
Help them be humble enough to ask each other for help without feeling weak. At the same time, there are people who feel motivated when there is friendly competition. At the end of the day, the whole team benefits and you achieve your common goal.
The team members also need to respect and care for each other. Master Class recommends that you encourage teammates to view each other as business partners who will work towards a shared goal, individual success, and achieving team goals.
Come up with reward systems
When a person does well, as a manager you should figure out a way to reward them. Build a culture of rewarding good performance. This could be by giving them bonuses at the end of the month. However, if you’re a small start-up with a small budget you can work on cheaper, more affordable options. For example, you can buy them lunch at a restaurant of their dream, and give them shopping vouchers. Be creative.
This reward system motivates your team members to work hard and achieve greater results. As the leader, you should also establish a culture where the rest of the team genuinely celebrates each other. You can do this by making them feel as if the success of one person is the success of everybody involved.
Modus Operandi
You can do this by organizing team lunches or getaways where you eat together and cut a cake and probably exchange gifts.
They need to feel supported
One retired US Navy captain said that “Because the crew was convinced I was on their team, there were never any issues with negative responses to constructive criticism.”
You will give your team members a major morale booster if they feel confident that you’ll vouch for them. If there is a bit of a tiff with senior management, defend your people. The balance might be tricky but once you achieve them, it’ll inspire confidence to rally behind your vision as their leader passionately.
Conclusion: Building a successful team is not easy but it’s doable
Building a team that you can work with for a long time and keep smashing targets is no easy feat. As they say, if it was easy everybody would do it. You need to study material on leadership, and take courses such as Master Class so that you can better understand management.
Speak to senior more experienced managers and ask for advice on people management. People are diverse and they come from different backgrounds/beliefs. As a manager, with zeal, determination, empathy, and knowledge, you’ll be able to harness those differences and make them work effectively for your company.
