(Newswire.net — April 24, 2018) — As a team leader, it is up to you to set the stage for an effective team. This means that your part is an integral part of the ongoing successes of your business. Whether you are leading a small team as the company director of a small business or you are a team leader within a large corporate enterprise, any company is only as successful as the teams that play their parts. Whether you are a front or backend team leader, here are six ways you can improve your team’s effectiveness.
1. Create a Team Culture
Team building exercises are always a vital part of forming a cohesive team. While competition is a necessary component of personal and business growth, a team culture should always recognize that the success of the team as a whole outweighs personal growth. If the team fails, everyone is at fault. If the team succeeds, everyone is recognized. However, don’t let that key team member who played the biggest part in your team’s success go unnoticed (more about that later).
2. Grow Your Leadership Skills
Few people are actually born leaders. While you may have heard it said more often than you can count that a person is a ‘born leader,’ there are skills which probably don’t come naturally. For example, some people simply have charismatic personalities that make people want to follow their lead. Others are, by nature, quiet and unassuming.
A team leader must have a little of both in his or her makeup. Being a leader may mean finding ways to reconcile the two traits, which comes in handy from time to time. Leadership skills often entail a willingness to get your hands dirty. Don’t be a “Do as I say” leader but one who models the behaviors expected of the team. If you want to build an effective team, you must be effective at what it is the team does. You must be an effective leader, so never pass by opportunities for personal growth.
3. Eliminate Waste
If you aren’t already operating Lean, it’s time to look at the key advantages of Lean strategies. One of the core components of Lean that began more than 60 years ago in Japan, is the reduction or elimination of waste wherever possible. As a team leader or director, you should investigate Lean processes, which are part of an online Kanban board. Quite similar to an ERP, Kanban is a project management system, but it is also so much more. The largest amount of waste most companies realize is waste in the productivity of workers. If you don’t have Kanban board online, and if you are not the person with buying power, talk to the Board of Directors or your immediate boss. If you can show just how effective Kanban is in eliminating waste and keeping projects going on schedule and within budget, chances are good that your company will soon be using this platform. They do, after all, want to grow their bottom line.
4. Improve Communications
A Kanban board is a good way to help improve communication as well. Not only does it work through Kanban cards that give each team member an overview of their current duties, but the platform also leaves room for team members to communicate directly with other members of staff, and most especially with you. Instead of stepping away from their tasks, they can quickly highlight or email concerns they might have. Always leave the door open for personal communications as well. Quite often, a breakdown in communication is the ultimate reason for a project’s failure, and so you must encourage communication to ensure team members can get the answers they need.
5. Recognize Jobs Well Done
As mentioned above, when a team goes above and beyond, the powers that be will recognize the entire team. Rarely will they single out a key player in that success, so it is up to the team leader to recognize that key player. There is nothing quite like recognition from the boss to inspire workers to give 100%+ effort on a job because they all want to be the next one to be acknowledged.
6. Provide Opportunities for Growth
If you want to improve team effectiveness, don’t underestimate the necessity of providing opportunities for growth. Many companies give financial aid to workers seeking continuing education or advanced degrees. Even one team member advancing in their profession can carry an entire team farther and faster towards meeting team goals, and that benefits everyone from the staff member right up to corporate level. Also, personal growth inspires a team player to encourage growth in others as well. As the team grows, so too will the company grow, and that is a vital component in overall success.
Any company is only as successful as its teams are effective. That, in a nutshell, is your key takeaway!