Being on the same page in terms of expectations as the rest of your team mates is crucial. Setting the standards and expectations from the onset is the way to do it. Don’t wait around and introduce expected principles half way through a project as......
Rewarding a team goes a long way. What you get back in return far outweighs what you give. Rewards can either be financial or non-financial – depending on if you are in position where you possess enough power to control pay. You have to find......
The outcomes of this process pay off in quality, productivity and enhanced customer satisfaction. A set of multi-dimensional measures must be used in order to evaluate team performance effectively to have a more encompassing picture. Certain, experienced managers won’t need to carry out any formal......
As a leader you want to make sure that your team reaches peak performance. Before focusing on any outcome, you need to make sure that the given set of people are working together as a ‘TEAM’ and not as individuals. To ensure this happens, frequent......
All managers want to maximise the performance of their teams, but many contradictory methods of achieving this exist. Ultimately, the challenge is to focus, motivate and challenge your employees in order for them to perform at the highest level and hence the organisation succeeds in......
Recruitment is a core function for Human Resource Management. Without effective recruitment, a business will struggle to succeed in the long run, no matter how good their values, business plan and strategy is. Effective recruitment is done in a cost effective manner – getting it......
Employees struggling to manage their workload is often cited as the key reason for poor performance and this is no different for a team as a whole. A team has objectives and responsibilities just like any individual, only, perhaps more worryingly, there is not always......
Micro-Management is an easy trap to fall into as a team manager. Effective management takes time and effort to master. Micro-Management refers to a leader that does more than they are expected to. A manager’s role involves overseeing collaboration of their team and helping team......
Delegation and Empowerment are both very useful management tools and techniques. Although both used for the same purpose of employee management, they have some differences. Both techniques have their benefits if used effectively, however they are most effective when used specifically for a particular situation......
An empowered team performs in a completely different way to how a traditional team operates. Empowering your team is replacing traditional forms of corporate hierarchy, where team members report back to whoever is boss. An empowered team has increased levels of responsibility and authority over......
Delegation is one of the most important management skills. Good delegation saves you time, develops employees, grooms a successor, and motivates. Poor delegation will cause you frustration, de-motivates and confuses the other person, and fails to achieve the task or purpose itself. It is a......
1. Define the task Confirm in your own mind that the task is suitable to be delegated. 2. Select the individual or team What are your reasons for delegating to this person or team? What are they going to get out of it? What are......
A team contract outlines the standards that are expected to be met by all team members. It is agreed to at a team meeting and signed by all members. The idea behind it is to encourage a collaborative and supportive environment amongst the team, as......
The people of a business is the most important and most valuable resource they have. In order to retain employees and get the most out of them, they have to be motivated and engaged in what they do on a day to day basis. So......
The Harvard business review (2014) states that you can’t be a great manager if you aren’t a good coach. In other words, you can only be a good manager if you are a good coach. There are several benefits of coaching a team; Strengthens bond......
Multi-Skilling is a talent that can prove to be very beneficial and effective in the workplace. This skill is valuable for both employee and employer, especially in today’s fast-paced nature of modern organisations. The philosophy in the workplace nowadays is no longer about concentrating only......
As a leader managing the talent within your team is a very important job. Getting the most out of your resources, i.e. your people, is a skill that will ensure you continued success. For this reason, how you recruit talent, identify high performers within your......
Here are some useful tips to try when giving feedback: 1. Be clear about what you want to say before you say it You might have already sensed what feedback you want to convey. However, you should be clear to yourself about what you want......
Some of us are really good at giving positive feedback. Others are really good at giving negative feedback. Not many seem skilled in providing both, what we call balanced feedback. Too little positive feedback When most or all feedback is negative, people know what you......
The Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R) is a model that explores employee well-being. It is used by managers to predict employee engagement and employee burnout. The model categorises working conditions into two groups 1) Job demands 2) Job resources/positives. This model essentially states that when job......
Identifying Strengths of your fellow team mates helps in maximising team performance. Before attempting to recognise and appreciate the strengths of others, you should be able to distinguish your own strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully this will aid and assist your ability in detecting strengths. This......
Teams that stand still and do not progress as a group will never be considered as high-performing over a long period of time. It is essential for continued success to ensure team members continue to acquire knowledge and skills over time. As a manager you......
Team Briefings are used to outline the objectives of the team, assess past performance and discuss any possible queries the team may have. It is also an opportunity to communicate wider organisational messages to your team members. Briefings should be undertaken regularly in order to......
The Johari Window, developed by Luft and Ingham (1995), is a model used to assess the level of communication and awareness within a team. The diagram shows four boxes and the size of each box acts as a measure for each variable inside it (the......
Richard Beckhard’s model is an approached used to increase effectiveness of team development and a formula used for leading high-performance teams. It can also purposely serve for identifying potential causes of team dysfunction and raising awareness about performance issues within a team. The four main......
The Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) is a process that explores how leaders and members develop relationships that can either contribute to growth or hinder personal development. This theory involves a three step process: Role Taking Role Making Routinization The first step – Role Taking –......
Team Exercises are aimed to either eliminate team conflicts or to strengthen team bonds. If the same behaviours are still adopted succeeding a Team Exercise, it hasn’t served its purpose. How do teams benefit from Team Exercises? Increased morale Increased motivation Stronger teams Improved communication......
Trust does not develop overnight. It requires effort, loyalty, diligence and most importantly – time. There are numerous factors that can enhance the development of trust between individuals, however at the end of the day, it all comes down to individual behaviours. Evidently, the more......
Creating a collaborative environment within your team and between teams can often be the key to success. Individuals can learn from each other, motivate each other and help each other with workloads when a collaborative environment exists. The benefits are clear, however, creating this environment......
1) Get them to know and understand you… People trust people that they know and understand. So, share your background and what makes you tick. Encourage team members to do the same. The Personal Histories exercise is great for this, and for sharing vulnerabilities (a......
Cog’s Ladder is a model used represent the formation and behaviour of groups, developed by Proctor and Gamble manager George Charrier, in 1972. The author noted how groups interacted, from their initial meeting all the way to becoming a high performing team, and what pattern......
Julian Birkinshaw, a leading global management thinker from the London Business School, produced the Four Dimensions of Management model in his 2010 book ‘Reinventing Management’. The author believed far too many organisational processes were dictated by the status quo and hence weren’t being effectively aligned......
When Dr Meredith Belbin decided to investigate the way teams of executives tackled a team-oriented task at the Henley Management College in the 1960s, it is unlikely he expected the results to still be used all over the world 50 years later. However, the Belbin......
John Adair’s Action-Centred Leadership contains three core management responsibilities: Achieving the task Managing the team or group Managing individuals When using the model in your own environment think about the aspects of performance necessary for success in your own situation, and incorporate local relevant factors......
A team does not become high performing from day one, uniting them and aligning the team around a common goal takes time. They normally go through a developmental sequence which Bruce Tuckman identified as: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. Understanding the way groups form can......
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team outlines the root causes of politics and dysfunction on the teams where you work, and the keys to overcoming them. Counter to conventional wisdom, the causes of dysfunction are both identifiable and curable. However, they don’t die easily. Making......