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| ... And from the Career Excellence Club
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| Editors' Choice Article Team Management Skills The Core Skills and Tools Needed to Manage Your Team
First Things First But before that, some definitions are useful. What is management, exactly? And how does it differ from leadership? A good starting point is the Warren G Bennis' quote that "Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right." Leadership involves creating a compelling vision of the future, communicating that vision, and helping people understand and commit to it. Managers, on the other hand, are responsible for ensuring that the vision is implemented efficiently and successfully. Of course, these two roles overlap - and, to be fully effective, you need to fulfill both roles. However, the focus of this article is on the specific skills and responsibilities of managers, and on the tools available to them. After all, there's no point energizing people to work towards a fabulous vision of the future, only to fall flat on your face when it comes to implementation. 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 (members only) 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.
You can also find out more about the aspects of motivating other people that you can improve on with our How Good Are Your Motivation Skills? quiz. 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 (members only) to understand how to motivate 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, and maximize their performance.
Communicating and Working with Your Team - and with Others 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. Communicating with People in Your Team
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. Communicating with People Outside Your Team Your boss is probably the most important person you need to communicate with. Take time to understand fully what your boss wants from you and your team - if you know exactly what she likes, and how she prefers it to be delivered, you'll be better able to meet with her approval. Don't be afraid to ask your boss to coach or mentor you: you can usually learn a lot from him, but he may not be proactive about offering this. If you're approaching your boss for advice, make sure you've thought things through as far as you can. Introduce the subject with a summary of your thinking, and then say where you need help. Also, as a manager, part of your job is to look after your team and protect it from unreasonable pressure. Learn skills like assertiveness and win-win negotiation so that you can either turn work away, or negotiate additional resources. Another part of your job is to manage the way your team interacts with other groups. Use Stakeholder Analysis to identify the groups you need to deal with. Then talk to these people to find out what they want from you and what they can do to help you. Managing Discipline
Obvious breaches of the law or of company policy are easy to identify and deal with. But what of other situations? On one hand you don't want to feel or seem petty. On the other hand, you can't let things go that should be dealt with. Use these rules-of-thumb to help you decide whether you need to take action. If the answer to any is yes, then you need to arrange a time to speak to the employee in private.
Traps to Avoid There are a number of common mistakes that new managers tend to make. Take care to avoid them! These are:
Key Points: When you move from being a worker to a line manager, you need to develop a new set of skills, and make use of new tools and techniques. These will help you with the key management areas of organizing, motivating, developing and communicating with your team. Above all, learn how to delegate effectively. However, also learn how to motivate people, develop team members, communicate effectively with people inside and outside your team, and manage discipline effectively. And make sure that you avoid the mistakes that so many new managers make! |
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| A Final Note from James Thank you to everyone who has given us feedback over the last year - it was great to be able to use your input as we were building the new site. Enjoy using it! In our next newsletter we're taking a fresh look at how you can apply a SWOT Analysis for your organization, team, or project. Whether you're new to SWOT, or a seasoned strategist, you're sure to find insights that are extremely useful! All the best!
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