Raise your hand if you want to be part of a losing team.
Didn’t think so.
But poor communication, outdated processes and murky goals can all contribute to a team output that is less than desirable. So what does it take to have a team running like a well-oiled machine?
We turned to ten team leads to find out what their top tip is for managing a team and ensuring maximum productivity.
Online Communication Tools
The basis of a cooperative and productive team is good communication. Use a consistent form of communication to make sure your team is staying in touch. Using an online communication platform like Threads, enables teams to stay on the same page, collaborate efficiently, and make decisions across different locales and time zones all in one place.
John Yardley, Threads
Identify Strengths
To run an effective team, you must work on your team’s strengths. Identifying and understanding that each employee will bring a different set of skills to the team is crucial. Be sure each team member feels valued and is given responsibilities that match their skill set.
Jon Schneider, Recruiterie
Prevent Burnout
As the leader of a team, it is your responsibility to prevent team burnout. Set boundaries on answering emails after work hours, put an emphasis on the importance of mental health, and allow your employees to take a break after a hard goal was accomplished. Maximum productivity will not be accomplished by overworked and drained employees.
Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional
Get to Know Your Team Members First
Everyone does their job differently. Thus, the universal approach won’t work here. Identify who likes what and then tailor the process to these preferences. Some *actually* like to be sort-of micro-managed with constant checks and some prefer to be left alone for days.
Jakub Kliszczak, Channels
Capitalize Off Software
I’d highly recommend using software tools to help maintain team productivity. You’re only human and you will likely miss things from time to time. For me, Asana is a lifesaver as a project management tool that automates the mundane tasks and keeps you on track to keep progressing! It’s helped me increase our content production rate by 25% over the last quarter!
Ahmed Mir, Nature and Bloom
Understand What Motivates Each Person
Understanding what motivates each person will provide critical insight into how they think, what matters most to them, and why they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the status quo. Each person is different – people can be motivated most strongly by company mission, business growth, professional learning, or a specific work environment. Once you understand what motivates each person, you can use this knowledge as a north star to ensure that the team is engaged and productivity is strong.
Bruce Hogan, SoftwarePundit
Manage Through Objectives
Many managers tell their employees what to do. But that robs employees of initiative and deprives the organization of creativity. Instead, I manage teams by describing the outcome I want. It starts by ensuring that everyone understands the why of what we are reaching for, and by giving them broad objectives. With that information, team members invent their own approaches and projects. They don’t need micromanagement, Instead, they can ask for any resource, guidance or help –or they can ask for none at all. I love seeing how they solve problems. They regularly exceed my expectations.
Amie Devero, Beyond Better
Keep Employees Accountable
I recommend all leaders have a five-minute daily huddle every day at the same time. If you are remote, require people to turn on video. Have them go through the three things they did yesterday and the three things they will do today.
Trevor Rappleye, CorporateFilming
You Must Be Much Metric-Driven
It’s very tempting to have metrics that sound good but if you can’t easily measure it you have no business holding your employees accountable to it. These types of metrics are quickly ignored. In many environments, especially with geographically dispersed teams, it’s extremely difficult to measure employee effort and time working. You have to rely heavily on output metrics. Being able to craft effective metrics, rally your team around them, and manage your team to achieve them is a skillset many traditional managers would do well to develop.
Adam Sanders, Successful Release
Have a Constant Stream of Communication
Having a constant stream of open communication and adjusting workloads according to feedback has been the most productive style of management for my team. Without input from the team, making assumptions about work capacity to create goals can backfire and set the team up for failure. Be open to feedback to modify processes, change your management style, and keep team members engaged and motivated.
Raquel Thoesen, Phoenix SEO Company