Posts Tagged ‘managing a team’

If you are good at what you do, the chances are you will find yourself in a position where you have to manage a team sooner than you expected.

One would think that managing a team should not be that difficult, yet in reality there are many challenges. Here are 10 of the challenges I notice and have experience from managing teams.

1. Collaborating is not the norm. If you think about it, education, applying for a job and getting picked to represent your country in sports are all competitive. There are winners and losers.
2. Everyone has a view but not everyone is willing to take action or put in the effort to make the great idea a reality. It’s easier for some people to stand on the sidelines and criticise.
3. Trust is really difficult to earn and even tougher to maintain.
4. Hindsight is a great thing and people and the media are often always wise after the event.
5. People tend to remember the few times you messed up rather than the 99% of the time you did well.
6. People want to have influence but are not always willing to take responsibility for the consequences.
7. You rarely get the opportunity to hand pick your own team and more often than not you have to get by with what you inherit.
8. You have to be willing to delegate, which brings with it risk and insecurity.
9. People have short term memories and sometimes quickly forget what you have done for the team in the past.
10. You are piggy in the middle. By that I mean you have subordinates who have expectations of you as well as superiors. It can feel like a no-win situation at times.

The Bottom Line: Managing a team is both hugely rewarding and hugely demanding.

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As a manager you know that to deliver great results consistently you need to get the best from those that you manage.  So what steps can you take to bring out the best from your team?

 

1.                  Set crystal clear objectives

 

The start point of getting the best from people that you manage is to make it clear to them what they are expected to deliver.  Often managers become stuck in the long list of activities that are contained in a job description.  While this provides some important content, make a point of spelling out the 5 key results that you expect individuals in the team you manage to deliver.

 

2.                  Help them solve their own problems

 

As a busy manager it is sometimes highly tempting to solve problems for people so that you get them away from your desk as quickly as possible.  The trouble is that if you always do this, people will stop thinking for themselves and just come to you for the answers.  Use questions to coach people to find their own solutions to problems and challenges.

 

3.                  Take the time to praise

 

Few people (if any) turn up for work with the intention of doing a bad job.  Yet managers often forget this and fail to recognise the efforts and achievements of their people.  Make a point of praising achievement and acknowledging efforts as it will motivate.

 

4.                  Delegate whenever you can

 

There are few managers who could be accused of over delegating.  In fact it is generally the complete opposite.  Delegating does not just provide benefits to you in terms of freeing up time but also provides scope for those that you manage to take on new challenges.

 

5.                  Treat people fairly

 

Treat people well and chances are that the majority will go to exceptional lengths to deliver for you. A good rule of thumb to check this out is to ask whether you are treating others the way you would like to be treated in the given situation.

 

Bottom Line – Managing is tough at times but by bringing out the best in others you can achieve greater success. 

As a manager one of your primary goals is to get results through others.  So what mistakes might you be making in managing your team?

1. Not setting clear expectations
2. Not delegating work
3. Failing to provide challenging or motivating work for staff
4. Focusing all of your attention on getting things done without considering the needs of your people
5. Failing to stand back periodically and look for areas where you could improve how you work

Do any of the above apply to you and what else would you add to the list?