TEAM MANAGEMENT SKILLS

TEAM MANAGEMENT SKILLS

This article looks at some of the key things that team managers need to do if their team is to thrive and succeed. These range from choosing the right people and deciding who does what, to communicating with, developing and motivating people. It also covers some of the most common pitfalls to be avoided.

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF DELEGATION 

 

The top priority for team managers is delegation. No matter how skilled you are, there's only so much you can achieve working on your own. With a team behind you, you can achieve so much more: that's why it's so important that you delegate effectively!

Successful delegation starts with matching people and tasks, so you first need to understand fully what the team's role and goals are. A good way of doing this is to put together a team charter, which sets out the purpose of the team and how it will work. Not only does this help you get your team off to a great start, it can also be useful in bringing the team back on track if it's veering off course.

Only then will you be in a position to analyze the skills, experience and competencies within your team, and start matching people to tasks. Read our article on task allocation for more detail on how to go about this, and to find out how to deal with real-world challenges, such as managing the gaps between team members' skill sets.

MOTIVATING YOUR TEAM

Another key duty you have as a manager is to motivate team members. Our article on Theory X and Theory Y explains two very different approaches to motivation, which depend on the fundamental assumptions that you make about the people who work for you. If you believe that they're intrinsically lazy, you believe in Theory X, while if you believe that most are happy to work, you'll tend towards Theory Y. Make sure that you understand this article – it will fundamentally affect your success in motivating people. 

You can find out much more about motivation with our quiz How Good Are Your Motivation Skills?

Whatever approach you prefer to adopt, you also need to bear in mind that different people have different needs when it comes to motivation. Some individuals are highly self-motivated, while others will under-perform without managerial input. Use our article on Pygmalion Motivation to understand how to manage these different groups of people.

DEVELOPING YOUR TEAM

Teams are made up of individuals who have different outlooks and abilities, and are at different stages of their careers. Some may find that the tasks you've allocated to them are challenging, and they may need support. Others may be "old hands" at what they're doing, and may be looking for opportunities to stretch their skills. Either way, your responsibility as a manager is to develop all of your people.

Your skills in this aspect of management will define your long-term success as a manager. If you can help team members to become better at what they do, you will soon become known as a manager who other people want to work for, and you'll be making a great contribution to your organization too.

The most effective way of developing your people is ensuring that you give regular feedback to members of your team on their work. Many of us are nervous of giving feedback, especially when it has to be negative. However, if you give and receive feedback regularly, everyone will come to benefit from improved performance.

Beyond this, our article on Understanding Developmental Needs will help you develop individual team members, so that they can perform at their best.

COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR TEAM

Communication skills are essential for success in almost any role, but there are particular skills and techniques that you'll use more as a manager than you did as a regular worker. These fall under two headings: communicating with team members, and communicating with people outside your team. We'll look at each in turn.

As a team manager, you're likely to be chairing regular sessions as well as one-off meetings. Meeting of all kinds, and regular ones in particular, are notorious for their capacity to waste people's time, so it's well worth mastering the skill of running effective meetings.

Many meetings include brainstorming sessions, and as team manager, you'll often have to facilitate these, so you'll need to be comfortable with how to do this. There's more to it than simply coming up with creative ideas, as you do when you're just a regular participant in such a session: read our article to find out how to run brainstorming sessions. Make sure that you understand where they can go wrong, and what you can do to avoid this.

Active listening is another important skill for managers – and others – to master. When you're in charge, it can be easy to think that you know what others are going to say, or that listening is less important because you've thought of a solution anyway. 

Don't fall into this trap. Most good managers are active listeners: it helps them detect problems early (while they're still easy to deal with), avoid costly misunderstandings, and build trust within their teams.