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The number of teams or departments can be very high in large corporations. Except for small firms with only a handful of people, all other organisations have different teams working on different tasks. It is better to work in separate teams than everyone working under the same manager. Teams help get tasks completed more easily and efficiently. But every team must also have a leader capable of managing them and completing work. A set of team management skills help these managers keep the members together and achieve the team’s goals
You will learn a lot about team management and the skills needed for it in the Executive Development Programme In General Management. All the details about this course are available on our website.
What Is Team Management?
Before looking at team management skills, we must first understand the task and why it is very important. Team management is a set of activities and strategies executed by the team’s leader to get work done by a group of people and achieve a common goal. Teams are important in a company because it helps foster good relationships and communication between employees. When working in a team, people learn from each other and improve themselves in many respects. Team leaders motivate the members to put in their best efforts.
As the members come from different backgrounds, there can be a lack of communication between them. Team management is required to take care of this and ensure that everyone understands their jobs and how they must cooperate with others. Another task of managers is ensuring that people work together without conflicts. When there are a group of employees, there is bound to be a difference of opinion, and the leaders must use their team management skills to resolve them. Good leadership helps to improve the productivity of the team.
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Importance Of Team Management
Keeps Employees Happy
Happy employees are essential for every organisation as they contribute better to the company’s overall growth. Employees must feel good about what they do because it positively affects the firm’s success. Employee retention levels will also increase when the team members feel good about working for the company. It is very important as recruitment is expensive and time-consuming. Establishments that have happy workers give better service to their customers. It will help get more loyal customers and consequently more business. Learning team management skills helps managers keep workers happy.
Improves Productivity
Good team management helps to improve the productivity of employees. It is essential if the company must achieve its business goals and move towards better growth. Good managers create an environment that helps workers focus on the common goal instead of worrying about external problems. One of the team management skills that leaders must possess to improve productivity is maintaining personal relationships with every team member. They must also show appreciation and excitement at the team’s progress. Leaders must also openly discuss the company’s higher goals with the employees to improve interest in their job.
Reduces Employee Turnover
Another important function of team management is to retain people. Hiring is an expensive process, and companies want to reduce this as much as possible. An important reason people leave an organisation is the poor relationship between the team and its leaders. Good team management skills will certainly help improve this relationship and keep the employees happy in their jobs. Good relationships will also help employees speak openly about their problems and seek solutions. When people trust their leaders, they will likely stay in the company for longer.
Enrolling with the Executive Development Programme In General Management helps you learn the importance of team management. You can also learn all the skills needed for the job in this course. Please visit our website to know more details about this programme.
Skills Needed For Team Management
- Getting The Best Out Of Members
As a team leader, it is not just the work you are responsible for. You must ensure that the whole team performs to their best capabilities. For this, it is necessary to ensure that every member uses their full potential and contributes to the team’s success. For this, you must sit and listen to their ideas. It will help you evaluate the abilities of each employee in the team. The team leader also has to make individual development plans for them. Bringing out the best in workers is one of the important team management skills.
- Giving Feedback
Not everyone knows what they are good at. Team leaders must assess each team member’s performance and give them constructive feedback. Giving positive feedback will motivate the person to do better. But team managers must also give negative feedback when someone performs below the desired level. One of the team management skills you must learn is to convey negative feedback without hurting the person. It is best to say what went wrong instead of telling them they did something wrong.
- Delegating Effectively
One of the jobs of the team leader is to get work done by the employees. Delegation is good for the leader as well as the employees. The employees learn new tasks, and managers expand their capabilities through the team. Another important benefit of delegating work is that employees feel that you trust them with crucial jobs. The effective way to delegate work is to make them understand the value of the task and how it will impact the company’s growth.
- Interacting With Different People
Team members can avoid others who they may not like. But a team manager must interact with everyone in the team even if some people rub them the wrong way. One of the ways to do this successfully is to avoid discussing the differences and stress the common aspects. You must also listen to them and understand their feelings. It is one of the important team management skills that will help you get work done by the staff members.
- Understanding Different Workstyles
Not everyone works in the same manner. Even the time of the days when people are most productive differs from person to person. It means that the team leader must know every member’s work style and preferences. They must assign work that will make the employee excited. Observing the workers keenly is one way to understand their workstyles and preferences. It helps get the best out of everyone.
- Resolve Problems Proactively
There can be problems in every work. It is all the more true when a team works towards the same goal. Everyone may think it is the other person’s responsibility to discuss the problem and find a solution. Detecting these problems before they assume huge proportions is one of the team management skills that every leader must possess. Talking individually to team members can help discover problems early.
- Conflict Resolution
When people from different backgrounds work together, conflicts are possible. Unless these are resolved, the team will not achieve the goal it should. It is not good avoiding the issue. Team managers must admit the problem and do their best to resolve it. The best way is to allow all members to voice their opinions and find a middle ground that is acceptable to all. You must ensure that everyone is agreeable to the solution.
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- Serving Before Leading
Being a servant before showing yourself as a leader gets better employee engagement. Your team members start respecting and trusting you. One way to do this is to be humble and give credit to the team for any good work. You must also be transparent and tell the employees your plans so that nothing comes as a surprise. Offer career development plans to the subordinates to enable their growth in the organisation.
- Unite The Members
One of the most critical team management skills is to keep the team united. If everyone interacts well with others, your work as a leader is very easy. Moreover, work will also get done as you want. One of the tricks to do this is to hold team-building activities regularly. Pairing new employees with experienced ones will quickly make them feel at home. You can also conduct brainstorming sessions, so everyone understands the others’ communication styles.
- Being Approachable
If you want your team to talk to you freely about work problems or even their issues, then you must be approachable to them. If you develop this quality, it is easy for you to get information from the team. One of the ways is to get out of your office and greet the employees at their workstations. Be an active listener to any problem that your team members bring to you, however small it may be. This quality will also help you know about issues before they become unmanageable.
- Represent The Team
It is not enough to lead the team. You must develop the capability of talking to others about your team. When employees want something to be conveyed to the top management, you must become their spokesperson. You must also regularly talk about the team’s good work to your bosses. When someone expresses a good idea, make sure to share it in the company’s internal network. This is one of the team management skills that will earn you the great trust of the team. You must also actively advocate for promotions and salary hikes for your team members.
- Take Inputs
Another skill that every team manager must acquire is the ability to accept input from the team. It doesn’t need to be the leader who gives out instructions and suggestions always. There are many occasions when employees come out with an excellent idea. Take this input and try it honestly. If it works, give due credit to the person who came up with the solution. You don’t need to wait for them to come up with ideas. You can actively seek their opinions on various matters.
- Deal With Unpleasant Comments
Your team may love and respect you a lot, but it is possible that, in certain circumstances, someone will make an adverse comment about you. One of the team management skills that you must certainly acquire is the patience to deal with such talk. You must not take it emotionally and see the reason behind such comments. Address the root cause instead of taking the comment personally.
- Prevent Burnouts
It always happens that some people in the team have too much work leading to burnout. It is not good to have exhausted employees before the task is completed. Regularly check the workload that every employee has and ensure that the tasks are distributed evenly among the members. If there are less skilled people to handle certain tasks, make sure to train others and remove some burden from those handling the job.
- Establish The Norms
Even when you are friendly and open with the team, you must also be firm in establishing and implementing team norms. The team must know the spoken and unspoken regulations that guide them. Your team must have a norm that regulates workplace interactions, and these must be established early on so that everyone doesn’t follow different rules. While developing your team management skills, make sure to learn the ability to enforce norms in the group.
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- Motivate The Team
There are two ways to motivate your team. One is by way of recognition and rewards, and the other by making them feel satisfied in their work. Instilling a sense of satisfaction in your workers is difficult but pays more than rewards. If you can make them feel happy in completing their jobs successfully, they will find the problems for various solutions. They will also come up with ideas to finish work more efficiently and quickly.
- Recognise And Reward
Everyone wants their work to be recognised. They also expect to get rewards for good work. As a team manager, you must ensure that you recognise and appreciate the work done by your team members. It is quite important to make sure that everyone, including your team members and the top management, knows about your employees’ achievements. This is one of the important team management skills that will help you get the best out of your staff members.
- Emotional Intelligence
As a team manager, you deal with people with different personal and professional problems. You must help them get over it with a lot of empathy. Emotional intelligence is one of the pivotal team management skills that help you deal with situations with dignity and grace. This skill is defined as the ability to correctly understand expressions of feelings and respond to them in the right way. This skill helps you connect with employees and earn their trust very quickly.
- Organising Skills
Remaining organised is crucial for all team managers. There will be so many activities going on in your department that it is easy to forget something. When you are organised well, you can check with your team members to make sure that all the tasks are completed without any delay. Being organised also helps you present any report to the top management whenever asked for. When you are organised, you can think clearly and find solutions to any problem. This gives confidence to your team members.
- Decision Making
It is one of the obvious team management skills that every manager must possess. There are various occasions when you need to make quick decisions. If you can make those decisions, you can get the task completed without any delay. The ability to make decisions correctly also earns the respect of your subordinates. You can also help them make decisions when there are tough situations. When you help them in such circumstances, they will put in their best efforts to achieve the team’s goals.
- Technical Proficiency
Whether you need technical knowledge in your job or not, it is best to be familiar with all modern technology. Various tools are available for completing your job and keeping track of others’ tasks. Such tools help you save a lot of time and give you the space to think of innovative solutions. Tracking the tasks of your staff members also ensures that no job is left unattended. It will also help you present the status of your project at any time to your bosses.
All these skills are taught in the Executive Development Programme In General Management offered by prestigious institutions. You can learn about such courses on our website.
Conclusion
Being able to manage a team well and getting your work completed successfully not only gives you satisfaction but also elevates you in front of the top management. It is one way of making sure that you progress quickly in your career and achieve your professional goals. But team management is not an easy task. This has been made tougher with the introduction of remote members to the team. But with the right skills and the correct tools, you can do the job well. Attending a good course is one way to ensure that you are successful as a manager.
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