Skills and techniques are easier to teach, but values, beliefs, and attitudes are much harder to train – and harder for managers to learn. And it is precisely these inner qualities and also skills that you will need to have in order to obtain a successful team management and also strong leadership skills.
Small and medium-sized businesses are the salt and pepper in most economies around the world, which means that many small and strong teams work individually and together every day. The dynamics and limits in teams with few members are very different from large, corporate teams.
Managing a team can sometimes be difficult, and the role of the manager is not always smooth sailing on calm seas. The ability to successfully manage a small group of people within an organization depends to a large extent on the ability of the team leader to understand the different principles of team leadership. The ability of a team leader to lead team members depends successfully on a number of factors and personal and professional experience.
What skills does an excellent team manager have?
Especially when you are at the beginning of the road, it is important to know the qualities and skills that define a good manager, so that you know what landmarks you should take. Here are some of the basic concepts in this regard:
- planning – building a medium and long term strategy, so that the objectives you propose are met; it is important to be organized and communicate transparently with the people in your team; In this sense, you can use various display systems, from physical to electronic, to present your ideas as clearly and orderly as possible;
- organization – designation of responsibilities, identification of resources (human and material), obtaining and allocating them efficiently; so that everything is very clear, building a diagram and highlighting the role of each with arrows, different colors (each person can return a certain color), stickers, post-its; present information to people on physical media, face to face, and then save everything in digital format;
- direction – a manager is efficient when he is involved in projects, not when he stands aside and gives orders; it is essential to motivate your people and provide them with the necessary assistance;
- control – control refers to coordination, using measurement and organization tools; a good manager has to monitor the progress made by his team and he has to set standards for evaluating the team’s performance. He also adapts the planning, organization, and directions you give, depending on the needs that arise along the way.
As you can see a team leader has to have quite some skills in order to be successful. Team management can require skills like the ability to plan, an analytic and strategy-oriented mind, be creative, decisive, solution-oriented, and have an overview of short, medium, and long-term objectives.
Eight helpful skills for team management that will make your job much easier
Leadership is like beauty: hard to define, but you recognize it when you see it. Managers and the way they manage their reporting staff set the tone for the entire business operation. They are the front-line representation of your business. Please note that as a business owner, you promote or select managers to manage people as best as possible.
See what qualities you need to have in order to become a successful entrepreneur.
Team management can be tricky and it can require quite some skills. The good news is that with these easy tips, you can understand it better and make your life easier.
1. Hire the right people
Finding the right team members for your team can be difficult and time-consuming, but it is crucial for your team and project productivity. In the hiring process, you need to assess the competencies of potential candidates in terms of professional qualifications and skills. The details of the engagement help to match certain potential candidates with the specific tasks or positions of the team, thus ensuring that they are composed competently.
The team should also be well-balanced on critical lines, such as gender, professional qualifications, age, and skillsets, among other elements of team dynamics and diversity. We recommend that you get to know the candidates individually to learn more about their talents, abilities, and strengths. And don’t forget about the integration of new employees.
2. Set achievable goals for the team
Every team member should know their goals on a daily basis in a clear, concise, and articulate manner. Otherwise, they are more likely to miss deadlines, forget their tasks or feel that their work is in vain. If you want your team to work together, then give them something to work on together. Set goals as a team, and discuss individual goals with each person to confirm that you’re all on the same page.
No doubt, daily goals are important, but your team needs to achieve and achieve long-term follow-up. Open a discussion for your team members to provide information or suggestions on this issue. Use this feedback to set a team mission to work on every day.
3. Maintain an open communication
Employees want to be kept informed of ongoing projects, goals, and deadlines. You need to communicate well with them and inform them about the organization’s progress.
Keeping communication channels open is vital to the success of any project. Communication is the most critical aspect of teamwork. It defines the ability of all team members to channel crucial information to each other. Good communication practices ensure that each team member is assigned tasks that are then completed effectively.
Good team communication allows your project to run smoothly and avoid the responsibility of overlapping or missing deadlines. This is one of the most important skills a person should have in order to succeed in the team management area.
Learn how to use assertive communication in the workplace for the best results.
4. Encourage a positive atmosphere in your team
Your job as a team manager is to maintain a positive atmosphere in your office space. Also, you can promote a positive work environment by offering compliments and recognition when someone excels in their position.
As a manager, you are the soul and spirit of your team every day. Everyone on your team should be appreciated for all the hard work they put in. It is your duty to make sure they have a sense of accomplishment. Motivate your group with short discussions or individual encouragement sessions to boost team morale.
5. Delegate responsibilities in a balanced way
It is so easy for tasks and responsibilities to fall by the wayside. This can happen especially when multiple people are working on the same project. It is vital that you, as a team leader, build a relationship with your team. In this way you get to know its members individually is for you. This will allow you to assess their strengths. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses will make things easier like distributing tasks appropriately within the team.
Staff will perform better and be more involved in roles where they feel they are using their key skills. Delegating the right functions to each will have a significant impact on team productivity. A balanced delegation of tasks ensures that team members can perform competently without compromising the deadline and quality.
6. Team management skills – problem-solving orientation – Discuss team tasks and resolve issues
Effective leaders actively listen, are responsible, ask questions, and discuss the team’s work plan. Responsibility is essential for maintaining a proper working environment. That is why you should organize performance assessments whenever possible and at least once a year. During these meetings, you should address the contributions of each team member.
Team members may disagree on certain issues from time to time and these may not always be resolved on their own. There may be times when you need to step in and help those involved in order to reach a healthy compromise.
7. Team management skills – Master conflict management
Bringing different personalities to work together in a team is a challenge, and conflicts can arise from time to time. Closing your eyes could lead to a negative atmosphere, which could have an impact on staff productivity, and communication between the team may suffer. When a problem arises, you need to address it immediately before it builds up. In order to maintain a proper and friendly work environment, without any stress, we should organize team-building activities to help team members work together as a team.
You can use also our guide to manage conflicts in 4 easy steps.
8. Be enthusiastic, celebrate victories
All good managers know that a good mood is contagious to those around them. There will be times when work is predominant or challenging. Find ways to maintain a positive attitude within your group. You should be ready and available to reward hard work whenever your team’s goals and missions are met or exceeded. Schedule a team party or find ways to honor your individual team as a triumph over their goals.
BONUS: Remote team management solutions
One of the biggest challenges for a team manager is the growing need for companies and employees to adopt a remote work system. This allows, on the one hand, to reduce spending on resources, but also a program of flexible work and autonomy, on the other hand. It comes with a number of problems, such as lack of physical interaction, difficult access to information and resources, social isolation, and low concentration. When working remote team management will require you to up your game and improve skills like flexibility, creativity, problem-solving, and communication. For all these, there are effective solutions that you can adopt, such as:
- set up daily verification meetings – in the morning, at lunch, and in the evening, organize online meetings, of 10-15 minutes, with the whole team and see what is the status of the tasks that each person has; identify problems and solve them quickly;
- uses efficient communication tools – communicates permanently with the team and outside the verification meetings; if you find that there is a specific problem, arrange small meetings with the people involved; use presentation displays, digitized slides, and any other means to make your ideas easier to navigate and remember;
- prove that you are a flexible person – in the remote work system, there may be certain times in which the people in the team will work according to their needs; as long as they do their job efficiently and are available when emergencies arise, be flexible;
- encourages remote interaction – organize remote team building, activities that people can do online at the same time, but also relaxing meetings, in which there is interaction, even if not physical.
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