Team management: definition and tips to develop this skill
Are you the leader of a team that manages several projects? Today we share what you should know about a critical skill for success: team management. Find out how to achieve it with the following list of tips.
What is team management and how to take advantage of it?
Team management is a soft skill of a leader, which consists of the ability to organize and coordinate the members of a team to execute tasks based on a common goal.
The key to effective management is to focus on the people, the members of the team, since the latter will be only as good as the members that compose it. Therefore, it is always important to try to get everyone to give their best.
In short, this skill requires the improvement of many others, namely: efficient leadership, empathy and emotional intelligence, active listening, good communication, conflict resolution, negotiation and delegation.
7 tips for good team management
1. Transparency
Get used to being transparent: do not hide information from the team, always transmit the truth, completely and specifically. Everyone has to understand the goal to be achieved and the current state of affairs. Remember to communicate the tasks with all the information you have so that the team can work freely and make good decisions.
2. Communication
Effective communication between all team members is key to success, even more so if team members are in different locations and with different time zones. When you include a new member to the team, take care of the way you communicate (respect and kindness above all), and thus avoid possible rudeness. Over time, as the team gets to know each other, communication will become more fluid and daily.
3. Continuous feedback
Actively listening to each member and offering opinions, advice and constructive criticism is a key factor for the functioning of the team and the professional growth of each member. Feedback should always be constructive: if, for example, there was an error, review why it happened and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.
4. Confidence
Show confidence in your team and lead by example (in communication, treatment, attitudes, commitment, etc.). You must give them the necessary space to take the initiative, otherwise the team will not be autonomous and will depend too much on their leader for each decision they have to make.
5. Balance
Avoid putting too much pressure: it could lead to the exhaustion of the team and a very difficult situation to come back from. Seek to balance the workload so that an efficient use of time is made, without reaching exhaustion. Do not ask for the impossible, the ideal is to assign reasonable times and maintain a balance between relaxation and work pressure. It would also be interesting to use some tool to manage times and measure workloads.
6. Team Knowledge
There are many personality styles, and surely several of them make up your team. Try to identify them, know their expectations, their concerns and their desires. This will tell you how to lead and what to expect from each team member. Get to know each member and get involved to find out what she is looking for both personally and professionally.
7. Motivation
Establish clear guidelines that motivate the team. Intrinsic motivation (related to personal growth, the satisfaction of doing tasks you like) is always better than extrinsic motivation (rewards in money or in kind), although both are useful in different circumstances.
We hope that this list of tips will help you develop team management skills. Listening, knowing how to communicate and finding a balance at work are some of the keys to achieving a motivated and efficient team. Remember that, in addition, a good management tool could help you.