The document discusses managing teams and provides guidance on key aspects of team management including:
1) Defining what a team is and when to create teams such as when specialized skills are needed or interdependence is high.
2) How teams can benefit an organization through increased performance, flexibility, and learning.
3) Effective techniques for managing teams such as embracing diversity and goals while also fostering support and confrontation among members.
5. How to manage a team? Embrace individual differences Embrace group identity and goals Foster support among team members Foster confrontation among team members Focus on current team performance Focus on team learning and development Emphasize your managerial authority Emphasize team members' discretion and autonomy
6. Managing styles Emphasize team members' discretion and autonomy Beginner Disillusioned Reluctant Peak performance DEVELOPMENTAL/ COMMITMENT LEVEL SCENARIO APPROPRIATE MANAGERIAL STYLE A team member is just starting out in his or her career, or is taking on a new position or task A team member feels bitter or resentful about problems in the team. A team member lacks confidence to fully engage in the work at hand. A team member is at the top of his/her "game." Directive: You monitor the person more closely and provide more explicit instructions and demands. Coaching : You identify the person's concerns and work together with him or her to move past them. Supportive: You encourage the person to identify his or her strengths and build on them, and to gradually take more risks. Delegating: You give the person significant latitude and entrust him or her with key task responsibilities and decision making.
7. Management vs. Leadership MANAGING LEADING Planning and budgeting Setting a direction Organizing and staffing Aligning people Controlling and problem solving Motivating and inspiring
Organizations form different teams for different purposes. For example, as a manager, you might assemble a: Task force to implement a plan for addressing a problem or leveraging an opportunity Self-directed work team to meet together on an ongoing, daily basis to perform a specific work process
Many of these advantages flow from the synergy of team members' skills and experiences. In addition, teams tend to establish new communication processes that encourage ongoing problem-solving. Finally, many people enjoy, and are motivated by, working in teams. As a result, they deliver their best performance in a team setting.
Adapting your managerial style to fit a team situation doesn't have to mean "tacking on" a whole new approach that will feel unnatural, artificial, or phony to you. Rather, it's more like fine-tuning behaviors you're already doing, and weaving in some new behaviors that will help you better lead your team. In the above scheme, called "team-leadership continua“, each continua illustrates a pair of conflicting forces, or tensions, that lie at the heart of team life. And, for each criterion, sometimes it's appropriate to gravitate toward one or the other polar end. Other times, it's appropriate to settle somewhere in the middle. It all depends on the needs of your team. If you spend too much time stuck at either end of a continuum, your team's performance will suffer.
Just as it's important to adjust your team-management style, you need to adapt the way you lead different individuals within your group. That is, you need to provide different kinds of leadership for each individual, depending on, for example, his or her level of professional development or commitment to the job. Example If you are a regional sales manager with a team of salespeople, you need to assess what each team member needs from you—and those needs will be very different! A new hire will take more of your time, requiring careful instructions and guidance. You will need to observe him often as he tackles the new skills, giving him suggestions, feedback, and guidance. If, however, you let this person go on his own, he will likely make many mistakes, feel abandoned and discouraged. On the other hand, the top salesperson who has been on the job for fifteen years needs little guidance. Just give this person all the room she needs to carry on and do the best job possible. You might even ask her to be a mentor for the new hire. If you misjudge what she needs and manage her too closely as though she were a new hire, she will become frustrated, even angry about your lack of trust in her. Individuals experience degrees of professional development and commitment. Therefore, you apply degrees of direction, coaching, support, and delegation as appropriate. When you adapt your management style to fit the situation or individual needs, people will trust you and accept your versatility of styles.
It is important to understand the difference between management and leadership. They are two distinct and complementary systems of action. Management involves coping with complexity ; leadership, coping with change . Managing requires bringing order and predictability to a situation, while leading requires adapting to changing circumstances—an increasingly important skill in today’s volatile and competitive business environment.
Motivation: The ability to pursue goals with energy and persistence, for reasons that go beyond money or status. It must be a persistent process of maintaining a positive, focused attitude in pursuing a goal, despite obstacles. Motivating and inspiring energizes people not by pushing or pulling them in the right direction, but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement—a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, and having control over one’s life. Management skills are essential. But in response to an ever-changing economic and social marketplace, managers are increasingly being called upon to be leaders as well. As a result, the ability to lead—that is, identify a vision, align people to it, and motivate them to achieve it—has become even more critical for today’s managers.
Motivation process begin with the first step of a business – corporate vision. Vision motivates people to take action in the right direction, even if it is personally difficult: The alterations required to support a vision are often not easy. Often, people are asked to learn new skills quickly or work with constrained resources for a length of time. An effective vision helps to overcome people’s reluctance to do what is necessary by providing hope and inspiration for the future.
There are numerous ways to get people motivated. One popular approach relies on enhancing or improving factors that are external to the specific job a person performs. These “external” factors are aspects of a job that are related to job environment , not the job content itself. External factors include: Company policies and benefits Working conditions Salary and other forms of compensation Status Job security Some experts have demonstrated that externally focused incentives provide only a short-term means of motivation. They argue that, to be effective and keep people moving forward, leaders need to continuously provide these rewards—while upping the ante each time. Using only external factors to motivate employees, therefore, can become increasingly costly over time.
An alternative and more sustainable approach to motivation draws upon tapping into employees’ desire to perform. Using this approach, leaders try to inspire people by enriching their jobs and giving them broad responsibilities that increase their overall job satisfaction. This type of intrinsic motivation relies on “internal” factors that are related to job content (the nature of the work itself), and comes from within employees. Internal motivational factors include: Achievement on the job Direct feedback from people internal and external to the company about the quality of their work The work itself A sense of responsibility for the work they are doing Opportunities for growth or learning Some experts note that the presence of a strong external reward structure diminishes an individual’s ability to react to internal motivators. Others maintain that these two means of motivating people are complementary, and that leaders should strive to provide both where possible. One thing is certain: All people have individual drives, needs, and desires. Because of this, they will be motivated by different factors. Finding out what motivates people on an individual level is critical. Taking the time to discover what inspires each of your key stakeholders, and devising the plan that best meets their needs, will help ensure that people stay motivated for the long term.
Celebrating milestones, whether large or small, is critical to keeping people motivated. Good leaders not only recognize individuals for their efforts, but also the successful completion of goals on the group, unit, and organizational level. Broadcast every milestone reached or project completed to upper management, colleagues, and even outside stakeholders. Recognize everyone responsible for achieving the milestone, and strive to provide each person the type of “reward” that best motivates him or her. Taking the time to celebrate is essential because it acknowledges people’s hard work, boosts morale and helps keep up the momentum necessary to achieve your vision.
In an ideal world, everyone in your organization would be inspired by your vision and willing to work toward your end goals. However, in reality, you will likely find people who do not want to follow your lead. In trying to motivate intractable employees, inexperienced leaders often make the mistake of forgetting that everyone has different motivational drivers, values, and biases. To successfully motivate problem employees you must uncover their inherent motivations. Everyone has motivational energy—whether it be to run a marathon, start a book club, or simply stick to a diet—it just may not be directed effectively in the workplace. As a leader, then, your role is not to try to motivate your problem employees; rather it’s to help them motivate themselves . Instead of trying to impose a solution on your employees, work with them to uncover the barriers that prevent them from achieving desired goals.
A three-step approach to motivating a problem employee : Flesh out your picture of the employee and the problem. Try to gain a better understanding of the issue. Attempt to see the situation from the employee’s vantage point. Pinpoint any context or relationships that may be influencing his behavior. Consider these factors individually: The person who lacks motivation. Through informal conversations with the employee and other colleagues, find out her drives and passions and what could be blocking them at your workplace. Ask yourself what could result if those impediments were somehow removed. Yourself. Ask yourself how you might be contributing to the problem. You may discover that you are the person’s chief demotivator. The context. Ask yourself if there is anything about the current situation that might be bringing out the worst in the person—or you. Is there something happening or that recently happened at your organization, such as a restructuring or a layoff, which may be adding stress? 2. Consider a range of outcomes. Actively switch your mindset from trying to achieve a single, predetermined “solution” to the employee’s problem to considering several different possibilities (e.g., he should be moved to a different department/function or he needs better coaching). 3. Meet to discuss the problem and reach a resolution. This process culminates in a face-to-face meeting with the problem worker, ideally held in a neutral space like a conference room. During the meeting, you should: Affirm the person’s value to your organization to get the meeting off on the right foot. Describe the problem from your perspective and point out that that it cannot continue. Ask probing questions to test the assumptions you’ve made about the situation. Is the individual clear about his role or expectations? These questions will likely expose your differences but will also reveal areas of agreement. Work with the individual to help him “solve” the problem. Invite the employee to suggest tactics for resolving the issue. Use the insight you have gained into what motivates him to guide the process. The resolution you mutually determine should play to the individual’s drives.
When leaders offer their vision of a new future, they recognize that the change required comes with inherent challenges. They recognize that a certain level of stress is healthy and necessary for change to occur. However, they also know that people can’t—or won’t—learn new ways of doing things if they are feeling anxious or overwhelmed. To help motivate people without immobilizing them, create a holding environment —a “safe” organizational space in which the conflicts, emotions, and stresses related to the change associated with your vision can be worked out. In the early stages of implementing a vision, a leader may establish a holding environment for the team to talk openly about the initial challenges, to frame and debate issues, and to clarify assumptions.
Tips for Creating an Inspiring Work Environment: Articulate a vision in a manner that stresses the values of their audience Regularly explain to your staff the importance of their work to the company’s larger goals Break long-term assignments down into clear, achievable, short-term goals Demonstrate confidence in your staff’s ability to overcome problems At regular intervals, take staff members aside and ask them if they feel challenged, listened to, and recognized When giving feedback, balance negative criticism with comments that also accentuate the positive. Recognize and reward success If possible, improve your staff’s physical workspace
In an environment of change, a leader is responsible for regulating the distress that team members are feeling; this entails ensuring that the team members remain motivated and in control of their workloads. Effective leaders are masters of sequencing and pacing work. They know how to prioritize and order tasks to minimize confusion and chaos. Successful leaders do not strive to eliminate all of their team’s stressors, but instead help team members manage them. You can establish a holding environment that fosters motivation by: Treating everyone, at every level of the organization, with the same respect Giving everyone’s ideas serious consideration Being fair, kind, and courteous at all times Being honest, admitting when you make a mistake or when you don’t have an answer Never putting other people down Protecting your unit or group by defining a boundary around your people and sheltering them from interference, going to bat for your team to get the resources you need, and showing courage in sticking up for your people Not tolerating scapegoating or misapplied blame Using every reasonable opportunity to foster others’ professional growth
While a certain level of conflict is likely to be the norm, it is your responsibility as a leader to identify whether it is destructive or constructive . Destructive conflict undermines the trust that is vital to a working relationship and includes: Personal attacks, either directly or through gossip Scapegoating (blaming something on a particular person or group of people whether or not they are responsible) Pointless griping about irrelevant issues or external forces that cannot be controlled Handle destructive conflict by acknowledging the problem and using persuasion, reminding others of the vision, or otherwise deploying your power as a leader to resolve the conflict. Constructive conflict, on the other hand, concerns divergent perspectives on your most important tasks or priorities—and needs to be incorporated into your vision. Ask pointed questions to draw the issues out, then insist that your employees discuss them openly and work out solutions.
As a manager, you'll provide your direct reports with coaching and feedback. At times, you will do the same for your supervisor and peers as well. Thus, your role is to be a mentor on many levels. Coaching is a partnership between two people—usually the manager and a direct report—in which both parties share knowledge and experience in order to maximize the coachee's potential and help him or her achieve agreed-upon goals. It is a shared act in which the coachee actively and willingly participates
You and a direct report may agree to form a coaching relationship when both of you believe that working together will lead to improved performance. Examples for each above motivations build on analytical skills reduce a fear of public speaking develop more advanced communication skills acquiring leadership skills find ways to improve their use of time learn to set more realistic goals Because coaching is based on mutual agreement, it is appropriate only in certain circumstances. You may need to use more direct intervention by asserting your authority when: A direct report has clearly violated company policy or organizational values A new or inexperienced employee requires more direction on a task Coaching fails to generate performance improvements
In business, feedback is the sharing of observations about job performance or work-related behaviors for the purpose of reinforcing effective behaviors and changing ineffective ones. Although similar to coaching in some ways, feedback is a more direct form of intervention and can occur with or without consent of the recipient. Feedback is helpful and constructive, not critical and judgmental. It offers advice on ways to improve, not an enumeration of faults.
By providing effective feedback to someone else, you: Redirect that person's behavior or point out a more productive path of action Reinforce or encourage an effective way of working Coach the person so that he or she achieves better performance Skillful giving and receiving of feedback can contribute to strong working relationships with your group, your boss, and your peers.
One way to think about the need to adapt your team-management and individual-management styles is to imagine a triangle made up of three sets of relationships: Your relationship to your team as a whole Your relationship to each of your team's members as individuals Individual members' relationship to the team as a whole
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