Managing A Team Is Not Easy, But It Is Vital For Your Business’s Success.
Managing a high performing, effective team is no easy task. Effective teams require strong relationships, which encourage collaboration, communication, and much more. At The Brookeside Group, we believe so strongly in the importance of teamwork that we offer a variety of workshops to teach you all about teamwork.
What Category Does Your Team Fall Into?
There are 4 categories your team could fall into: working team, dysfunctional team, functional team, or high performing team.
A working team typically has one leader and is made up of individuals pursuing personal and work projects. Usually there is very little collaboration.
A dysfunctional team often has personal issues, with a lack of trust or interpersonal differences that lead to destructive conflict.
A functional team typically has members who share a common goal and frequently collaborate in making decisions and owning accountability.
A high performing team has a high degree of trust amongst members who are also committed to supporting one another’s success and strengths.
A High Performing Team Should Be The Goal
A high performing team should be your goal whether you’re a CEO, manager, or team member. These high performing teams require great relationships that provide room for collaboration, feedback, and growth.
Research Shows That Good Team Work = A Successful Business
Our research shows companies and organizations that communicate effectively are 4.5x more likely to retain the best employees. We also found that for many companies, employees spend 80% or more of their time collaborating with one another. As a team leader, it is important to be trained in building and leading a high performing team. To do so, it is very important to be familiar with teamwork fundamentals. Some of these fundamentals include:
Establishing grounds rules
Knowing what motivates employees
Maximizing individual strengths
Setting clear expectations
Communicating effectively
Facilitating healthy conflict
Let’s Learn About The Coaching Model!
At The Brookeside Group, we effectively teach and practice these fundamentals through our Coaching Model, a model consisting of: setting clear expectations, providing ongoing feedback, and assessing performance, all while continuing to build trust.
Are Your Expectations Clear?
When setting clear expectations, begin by ensuring each of your team members knows what’s expected of them. After delegating tasks on a project, have each team member restate or even email you their assignment. This will help minimize work overlapping by making sure everyone is on the same page. When stating expectations, be specific, avoid mixed messages, and provide your team with big picture goals. Set goals that challenge your team members to new achievements. You want your team to work efficiently and effectively, but you also want to be sure your team members are continuing to learn and grow in their field. Expectations should be set when starting a new project, reviewing a milestone, or changing the project.
Continue To Provide Feedback!
The next step in The Coaching Model is providing ongoing feedback. Feedback develops your team members skills and ensures the project stays on track. The Head, Heart, Hands framework will allow you to assess your teammates struggles and provide feedback to help your team members overcome these setbacks. The Head raises the question, does your team member know what is expected of them? The Heart raises the question, does your team member know why this expectation is so important? The Hand raises the question, does your team member have the training and experience needed to accomplish this expectation? By following this framework, you will continue to provide support to your team members and build trust needed to strengthen your relationship. To learn more about feedback, check out our feedback blog series here!
Be Sure To Follow Up With What Was Accomplished.
If the first two steps in The Coaching Model are properly provided, the third step should be the easiest. When assessing team and individual performance, be sure to evaluate the goals achieved compared to what was expected. Document feedback and lessons learned when assessing performance for future projects. Performance reviews can be stressful for employees, making it very important to assess achievements in terms of the expectations you set for your team.
How Are You Going To Hit The Bullseye?
We often assess performance with the bullseye analogy: did your team member miss the target, just hit the target, or did they make a bullseye? If they made that bullseye, do you know how your team member would want to be recognized for a job well done? Recognition is important to building trusting relationships, but you must know what type of recognition your team member responds well to. Some employees like public recognition, while others prefer to be applauded in private.
High Performing Teams Are Continuously Building Trust.
Throughout each step of The Coaching Model, remember to continue building trust. Trust is very difficult to build, but very easy to break. To avoid breaking trust, uphold promises, avoid humiliation, and be honest. In doing so, you will create a psychologically safe environment for your team mates. Psychological safety is when there is a shared belief within a team that the climate is safe enough for interpersonal risk taking. This will encourage team members to take risks and learn from them. Psychological safe environments also allow for asking questions, expressing dissenting views, and admitting mistakes.
Management is hard work, and it is ten times more difficult when you aren’t managing from a place of formal authority. That’s why it is imperative for team leaders to maximize employee engagement and overall team effectiveness from a place of informal authority. Whether you are responsible for leading a team on a daily basis, you were just named team lead on a specific project or initiative, or you want to be a more impactful member from within a team, our Leading High Performing Teams eLearning course provides the knowledge, skills and tools needed to do just that.
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