13 Effective Team Management Techniques For Managers
Being a leader is tiring and demanding. You’ve got so many pieces moving around at the same time. You’ve got deadlines to meet, you’ve got clients to attend, you’ve got resources to track, and most importantly, you’ve got a team that needs to be managed and motivated properly to ensure success in the given venture.
It is overwhelming. Agreed. But there are ways to make team management much simpler and more rewarding. Now, in this particular post, we have put together a list of tips and hacks that you, as a leader and manager, can put to practice to ensure effective team management.
1. Hire the Right People
Finding the right team members for your team is difficult, but it’s also crucial. Having the right talent in your team helps you keep your project’s productivity at its highest level. You can use the initial interview sessions to get to know potential candidates one-on-one to learn more about their talents, skills, and strengths. And you can use the gathered intel to make informed decisions when adjusting positions and responsibilities.
2. Set Achievable Goals
Effective goal-setting should be a crucial part of your team management strategy. Everyone on your team should clearly understand what they are striving for daily. Keep in mind that without clear, concise goals (short-term and long-term), your team is very likely to miss deadlines. Try to set goals as a team with a lot of discussion and brainstorming. Include every individual in the process to confirm you are all on the same page.
3. Establish a Team Mission
Having a good team management strategy is a complete waste is your team doesn’t even feel like a team at all. So, before you assign roles and goals to your team, establish a team mission that brings everyone together. Open up constructive discussion within the team and encourage everyone on the team to provide insight or suggestions to each other. Also, use those feedback and insights yourself to set a team mission for everyone to work toward together every day.
4. Delegate Tasks Effectively
It’s easy for a team to fall by the wayside when tasks and responsibilities are not assigned responsibly. With multiple people working on the same project, you have to ensure that you delegate the right roles and responsibilities to the right person. As a part of your team management strategy, you must ensure that each member of the team has a workload that fits their skills and strengths and keeps them engaged.
5. Maintain Open Communication
Keeping communication channels wide open is important to the success of any business. Using a tool like ProofHub can help your team be aware of every aspect of the project and discuss details with one another via one-to-one/group chat and discussion topics. These collaborative features of ProofHub allow you, your team, and your project to run smoothly and avoid deadlines from being missed.
6. Manage Time Wisely
Every individual, a manager or a team member, tend to feel like there are never enough hours in the day, making effective time management a matter of great importance. Avoid time-wasting activities like too many meetings, too much social media use, too many phone calls, etc should be a part of your team management plan. Keep your team’s priorities in check so that they can keep their productivity and performance in check.
7. Discuss Teamwork in Performance Reviews
A team must be held accountable for their roles and responsibilities. Accountability is essential to maintaining an effective work environment for a team. That’s why you, as a manager/leader, should discuss each individual’s contributions to the team and how well they are staying involved more frequently. Make it a habit to appreciate them for their positive contribution and explore ways they can improve upon any shortcomings within the workplace.
8. Provide Feedback More Often
Hiring the right talent isn’t enough to make effective team management a reality. You have to keep them motivated at all times. Providing sincere praise is one of the best ways to keep motivation and drive up for your team members. Conduct more frequent and constructive performance reviews. Also, give your team members a chance to provide you with feedback on your leadership tactics to ensure you are doing all that is necessary as a manager. And take their feedback into consideration with a positive mindset.
9. Resolve Team Issue ASAP
Teams are expected to work together. Unfortunately, there are often times when teams disagree on things, which can even lead to workplace conflicts. That’s what makes conflict resolution an important aspect of your job as a manager. You have to understand the fact that workplace issues and conflicts don’t always work themselves out, so you need to step in and help those involved find a solution or reach a compromise right away.
10. Hold Team Building Events
If you want to add a bit of fun to your whole team management campaign, team building activities are the perfect way to go. And there is an array of activities that your team can enjoy both inside and outside of the office. While they don’t have to be best friends, organizing team building activities can drastically boost team engagement, workplace collaboration, and employee engagement. You can host activities that help your team see each other in real-life scenarios, making it easier for them to communicate and work together as a team.
11. Cheer on Your Team
As the team manager, you are your team’s biggest cheerleader. You are the one who should make the team feel appreciated for all of the hard work they do. You should ensure they get that sense of accomplishment that they need to bring out the best version of themselves in the workplace. So, as a part of your team management strategy, keep motivating your team with short pep talks every now and then or hold one-on-one encouragement sessions after every 2 months.
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12. Keep Positive Vibes in the Office
In addition to being the biggest cheerleader for your team, it is important that you uphold a positive vibe in your office. Find ways to promote a positive work environment where people are willing to work together to the best of their abilities. If you are having a hard time figuring out where to start, you can start by making some comfy, positive adjustments to your workplace.
13. Celebrate Wins
Achieving success isn’t enough. If you really want to make your teamwork effectively and efficiently, you have to celebrate their achievements — large or small. Whenever a goal or milestone is achieved or surpassed, be ready and available to reward every individual involved. Find ways to celebrate and honor your team individually and as a group as a triumph over their goals.
As a manager or a leader, you have a lot on your shoulders. Following these 13 simple team management tips will definitely make your job a little easier.
Your Turn
Are you a leader? What do you do to keep your team challenged and productive at the same time? Share your team management hacks and experiences with us in the comments below!
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