For the month of September I thought I would make it “Ten Tips Month.” I will share with our readers ten tips to enhance team building ideas, customer service skills, leadership development and sales coaching skills. Some of these tips may be new ideas to you and others may be reminders of the importance of the things you are already doing.
Building Powerful Teams
Often companies will take their team offsite for team building exercises. There are many activities for building teams at the workplace and while these events are very effective, it doesn’t stop there. To build a powerful team requires a congruent message from management back at the office too. I have listed ten ways to build stronger teams:
1) Clearly defined goals – employees need to have the company and manager’s performance expectations defined in a way that the employees know what is expected of them and have the support and resources to their job effectively.
2) Know area of responsibility – strong teams are built with the support of many people and it is critical that each person knows their area of responsibility. It also helps employee motivation when they understand how their contribution affects the success of the whole company.
3) Regular feedback – effective managers know the importance of regular feedback versus waiting for the annual review. Acknowledging for a job well done will communicate to the employee they are a valued member of the team.
4) Have regular meetings – getting your team together periodically to update status is another effective way to keep the lines of communication open. It is important the meetings are scheduled, relevant, have an agenda and stay on track for people to be motivated to attend.
5) Set reasonable due dates/deadlines – make sure when you are setting timelines for projects that timelines are reasonable. If the majority of your projects have reasonable timelines then when you need your employees to go above and beyond they are more likely to jump in and go the extra mile.
6) Encourage activities that develop relationships – regularly conduct activities (possibly after hours) where employees can socialize and get to know one another.
7) Reward and Recognize – have a program to reward and recognize performance and tenure. Many companies have programs to publically recognize outstanding achievements and years of service. Effective managers don’t wait for these events and will recognize accomplishments regularly.
8) Empowerment and Encouragement – having employees who feel empowered in their positions and managers that encourage (mentor/coach) them will increase employee engagement. Often employees don’t feel like they are heard. While you may not be able to implement everyone’s suggestions, having employees who feel they are contributing will increase engagement.
9) Ongoing training – ensuring your employees have the skills to do their job is critical. Often when employees are promoted from within they don’t get the proper training to succeed. Regularly scheduled training for all employees is another great way to communicate their importance to the organization.
10) Be open to feedback – effective managers are not perfect and sometimes they may do things that negatively impact their team. Be open to hearing from your team areas were you too can improve your performance and leadership.
By Cindy Stradling CSP, CPC
