I wanted to take this topic and provide my experience with team management, mostly from my failures, than my successes.
In my career, I’ve always worked within a team. In my personal life, I’ve worked or enjoyed sports that were team based more than individualistic opportunities. One of my favorite mottos is that behind any excellent team is an excellent coach pushing their team to greatness. I think the idea of this, entices you to think about how much power a leader or a manager has in getting the most out of each individual on the team.
Communication is Key.
Generally, when you ask your team where a problem lies, the overall consensus tends to be in communication. What’s interesting about communication, is you could feel like you’re doing the best job communicating, whether it’s through emails, or meetings, or one-on-ones, but what it really comes down to, is having someone connect with you and what you’re trying to do. You cannot influence someone unless they’re connected with you. But I always like hearing that if somebody is not following you, then you’re not a leader. You know that you’re a leader when you turn around and see who’s actually connected and invested in your message. If they’re not aligned with your message, that’s when you come to the realization that you need to grow in your communication efforts.
Motivate Your Team With Clear Objectives.
The second thing I believe to be important in team management is creating a really clear objective or success path for each individual. It’s easy to do that individually, it might be a little bit more difficult to do that with a team of two to three, but when you’re leading 10, 20, 30, 100, 200 people, that path to success and the vision for what we are trying to accomplish needs to be super clear.
Organize Your Team.
Getting your team organized is crucial for success. Just like in a football team with offense, defense, and special teams, team management involves organizing different departments to lead towards success. To maximize team performance, it’s important to understand each individual’s goals, passions, and strengths when assembling the team. Avoid the common mistake of assigning roles that people aren’t passionate about or skilled in. A great leader knows how to organize the team and play to their strengths, just like placing the right players in the right positions. Aligning with the concept of “Good to Great,” it’s not just about putting the right people on the bus, but also ensuring they are in the right seats to reach the goal line.
Controversially, high expectations drive the best teams. When people raise their standards, their output improves. Healthy conflict is a part of great teams, as they challenge and push each other to excel. Creating an environment of mutual respect and care allows you to extract the most from your team.
Based on my experience in team leadership, clear communication, articulating objectives, and effective organization are key to achieving success with your team. By understanding their goals, leveraging their strengths, and fostering a culture of high expectations and healthy conflict, you can create a great team that consistently delivers exceptional results.
By: Ryan Choura, CEO & Founder, Choura
