Team Management Skills

So you've just got a new job as a manager or supervisor.Congratulations! Or, maybe you've just been given the task ofpulling a new team together. What a challenge!

Either way, whether your team exists already, or whether it'syour responsibility to create it, what do you do next?

This article looks at some of the key things that team managersneed to do if their team is to thrive and succeed. These range fromchoosing the right people and deciding who does what, tocommunicating with, developing and motivating people. It alsocovers some of the most common pitfalls to be avoided.

First Things First

But before that, some definitions are useful. Whatis management, exactly? And how does it differfrom leadership? 

A good starting point is Warren G Bennis' quote that "Leadersare people who do the right thing; managers are people who dothings right." Leadership involves creating a compelling vision ofthe future, communicating that vision, and helping peopleunderstand and commit to it. Managers, on the other hand, areresponsible for ensuring that the vision is implemented efficientlyand successfully.

Of course, these two roles overlap – and, to be fully effective,you need to fulfill both roles. However, the focus of this articleis on the specific skills and responsibilities of managers, and onthe tools available to them. After all, there's no point energizingpeople to work towards a fabulous vision of the future, only tofall 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 onlyso much you can achieve working on your own. With a team behindyou, you can achieve so much more: that's why it's so importantthat you delegate effectively!

Successful delegation starts with matching people and tasks, soyou first need to understand fully what the team's role and goalsare. A good way of doing this is to put together ateam charter, which sets out the purpose of the teamand how it will work. Not only does this help you get your team offto a great start, it can also be useful in bringing the team backon 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 matchingpeople to tasks. Read our article ontask allocation for more detail on how to go aboutthis, and to find out how to deal with real-world challenges, suchas managing the gaps between team members' skill sets.

Motivating Your Team

Another key duty you have as a manager is to motivate teammembers.

Our article on Theory X and Theory Y explains two very differentapproaches to motivation, which depend on the fundamentalassumptions that you make about the people who work for you. If youbelieve that they're intrinsically lazy, you believe in Theory X,while if you believe that most are happy to work, you'll tendtowards Theory Y. Make sure that you understand this article – itwill fundamentally affect your success in motivating people.

You can find out much more about motivation with our quizHowGood Are Your Motivation Skills?

Whatever approach you prefer to adopt, you also need to bear inmind that different people have different needs when it comes tomotivation. Some individuals are highly self-motivated, whileothers will under-perform without managerial input. Use our articleonPygmalion Motivation to understand how to managethese different groups of people.

Developing Your Team

Teams are made up of individuals who have different outlooks andabilities, and are at different stages of their careers. Some mayfind that the tasks you've allocated to them are challenging, andthey may need support. Others may be "old hands" at what they'redoing, and may be looking for opportunities to stretch theirskills. Either way, your responsibility as a manager is to developall of your people.

Your skills in this aspect of management will define yourlong-term success as a manager. If you can help team members tobecome better at what they do, you will soon become known as amanager who other people want to work for, and you'll be making agreat contribution to your organization too.

The most effective way of developing your people is ensuringthat you give regularfeedback to members of your team on their work. Many ofus are nervous of giving feedback, especially when it has to benegative. 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 developindividual team members, so that they can perform at theirbest.

Tip:
If you have to bring a substantial number of new people into yourteam, read our article onforming, norming, storming and performing to learnabout the stages you can expect your team to go through. You can doa lot to help your people through this process!

Communicating and Working
With Your Team – and With Others

Communication skills are essential for success in almost anyrole, but there are particular skills and techniques that you'lluse more as a manager than you did as a regular worker. These fallunder two headings: communicating with team members, andcommunicating with people outside your team. We'll look at each inturn.

Communicating With People in Your Team

As a team manager, you're likely to be chairing regular sessionsas well as one-off meetings. Meeting of all kinds, and regular onesin particular, are notorious for their capacity to waste people'stime, so it's well worth mastering the skill ofrunning effective meetings.

Many meetings include brainstorming sessions, and as team manager, you'lloften have to facilitatethese, so you'll need to be comfortable with how to do this.There's more to it than simply coming up with creative ideas, asyou do when you're just a regular participant in such a session:readour article to find out how to run brainstormingsessions. Make sure that you understand where they can go wrong,and what you can do to avoid this.

Active listening is another important skill formanagers – and others – to master. When you're in charge, it can be easy to thinkthat you know what others are going to say, or that listening isless important because you've thought of a solution anyway.

Don't fall into this trap. Most good managers are activelisteners: it helps them detect problems early (while they're stilleasy to deal with), avoid costly misunderstandings, and build trustwithin their teams.

Communicating With People Outside Your Team

Your boss is probably the most important person you need tocommunicate with. Take time to understand fully what your bosswants 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 tomeet with her approval.

Don't be afraid to ask your boss to coach or mentor you: you canusually learn a lot from him, but he may not be proactive aboutoffering this. If you're approaching your boss for advice, makesure you've thought things through as far as you can. Introduce thesubject with a summary of your thinking, and then say where youneed help.

Also, as a manager, part of your job is to look after your teamand protect it from unreasonable pressure. Learn skills likeassertiveness andwin-win negotiation so that you can either turn workaway, or negotiate additional resources.

Another part of your job is to manage the way your teaminteracts with other groups. Usestakeholder analysis to identify the groups you need todeal with. Then talk to these people to find out what they wantfrom you and what they can do to help you.

Managing Discipline

However much you hope you won't ever have to do it, and howevermuch feedback you give, there comes a time in most managers'careers when they have to discipline an employee. Discipline may besubtly different from basic feedback because it doesn't alwaysrelate specifically to the employee's work. You can give feedbackon their phone manner, for example, but handling problems withtimekeeping or personal grooming can need a different approach.

Obvious breaches of the law or of company policy are easy toidentify and deal with. But what of other situations? On one handyou don't want to feel or seem petty. On the other hand, you can'tlet things go that should be dealt with.

Use these rules-of-thumb to help you decide whether you need totake action. If the answer to any is yes, then you need to arrangea time to speak to the employee in private.

1. Does the issue affect the quality of the employee's deliverableto the client (internal or external)?
   A graphic designer regularly only gets in to work late, althoughhe stays late to make up for this. Customers are sometimesfrustrated by not being able to get through to him at the start ofthe day, particularly when he's working on rushjobs.
   
2. Does the issue adversely impact the cohesiveness of theteam?
   Individual designers tend to work on their own projects, withfew meetings between design team members, so cohesiveness is notimpacted. However people are noticing his lack of punctuality, andother people's timekeeping is beginning to slip.
   
3. Does the issue unnecessarily undermine the interests of otherindividuals in the team?
   The designer sitting next to the latecomer is unhappy that shehas to field calls from clients before he reaches the office, andis unable to give a firm answer to the question "When will he bein?"
4. The design team manager decides to speak tothe latecomer because of the impact on his co-worker. They agreethat coming in to work late is not a problem (he has a longcommute, with heavy traffic en route) but that he will commit tobeing in by 9.30am every day to reduce the number of calls hisco-worker has to field, and also give her a fixed time to giveclients. He will work late to make up time, and will take on a taskshe doesn't like to make up for her extra phone handling.

When you are faced with a potential discipline issue, take thetime you need to gather information about the situation, thendecide what you're going to do and act. Discipline issues rarely goaway of their own accord, and they usually get worse, often causingconsiderable unhappiness and resentment amongst other teammembers.

Traps to Avoid

There are a number of common mistakes that new managers tend tomake. Take care to avoid them!

These are:

• Thinking that you can rely on your existing job knowledge andtechnical skills to succeed as a manager. It is essential that youtake the time to develop good management and people skills as well– these can be more important than your technical skills!
• Failing to consult regularly with your boss, in a misguidedattempt to show that you can cope on your own.
• Approaching your boss without have thought a problem through,and without having thought about how the problem could besolved.
• Embarrassing your boss, or letting her get a nasty surprise.Follow the "no surprises" rule.
• Doing anything that requires your boss to defend you to others.This can cause your boss to "lose face" with his peers andsuperiors, and it makes him look bad for not "nipping the problemin the bud."
• Failing to talk to your customers (whether internal orexternal) about what they want from you and your team.
• Using your authority inappropriately – make sure thateverything you ask people to do is in the interests of theorganization.

Many of these points sound obvious, however it's incredibly easyto make these mistakes in the rush of everyday managerial life.

Key Points:

When you move from being a worker to a line manager, you need todevelop a new set of skills, and make use of new tools andtechniques. These will help you with the key management areas oforganizing, motivating, developing and communicating with yourteam.

Above all, learn how to delegateeffectively. However, also learn how to motivate people, developteam members, communicate effectively with people inside andoutside your team, and manage discipline effectively. And make surethat you avoid the mistakes that so many new managers make!

You can learn 600 similar skills elsewhere on this site. Clickhere to seeourfulltoolkit. If you like our approach, you can subscribe to ourfreenewsletter, orbecomea member for just US$1.