Motivating Teams
Motivating Teams
Introduction:
Working with teams, whether as leader of a single team or
manager of several, is an essential part of a manager's remit.
Teamwork is rapidly becoming the preferred practice in many
organizations as traditional corporate hierarchies give way to
flat, multi-skilled working methods. This section is an
indispensable and practical guide to leading teams with
expertise, covering subjects such as defining the skills
required to complete a project, establishing trust between
individuals within a team, and maximizing the performance of
that team. The section is vital reading for any one involved in
teamwork, whether as a novice or as an experienced team leader.
This month we will discuss:
1) Understanding How teams work
Understanding How Teams Work
Teamwork is the foundation of all successful management.
Managing teams well is a major and stimulating challenge to any
manager, form novice to experienced hand.
1) What Makes A Good Team? A true team is a living, constantly
changing, dynamic force in which a number of people come
together to work. Team members discuss their objectives, assess
ideas, make decisions, and work towards their targets together.
A) Working Together
All successful teams demonstrate the same fundamental features:
strong and effective leadership; the establishment of precise
objectives; making informed decisions; the ability to act
quickly upon these decision; communicating freely; mastering the
requisite skills and techniques to fulfill the project in hand;
providing clear targets for the team to work towards; and -
above all - finding the right balance of people to work together
for the common good of the team.
B) Analyzing Team Tasks Successful teams can be formed by 2 to
25 or more people, but much more important than size is shape -
the pattern of working into which team member settle to perform
their given tasks. There are three basic methods of performing a
task:
Repetitive task and familiar work require each team member to
have a fixed role, which is fulfilled independently, as on
assembly lines;
Projects that require some creative input require team members
to have fixed roles and working procedures, but also work in
unison, as when generating new products;
Work that demands constant creative input and personal
contributions requires people to work very closely as partners.
This style of working is prevalent among senior management.
Working Well Together
A team of manager's discuses a new plan that has been put
forward by a member of the team. All of the team members are
free to join the discussion. Later, the team leader will assess
the contribution.
C) Achieving Potential There is no limit to the potential of a
good team. Given an "impossible" task, team members will
reinforce each other's confidence as they seek to turn the
"impossible" into reality. The collective ability to innovate is
stronger than that of individuals because the combined
brainpower of a team, however small in number, exceeds that of
any one person. By harnessing this power, a team can go beyond
simple, useful improvements to achieve real breakthrough. For
example, in one company an engineering team was asked to double
machine reliability. They thought it impossible, but went on to
produce a plan that pebbled performance.
Working Towards Understanding Encouraging open communication and
the free flow of information within a team ensures that each
member is fully aware of the talents and experience available
within the group.
Note: Remember that team members must support each other Break
long-term aims into short term projects.
D) Knowing Team Goals Once a team has been formed, the next
major step is to establish its goals. There is little point in
having a team that is raring to go if its members are all
pursuing disparate aims. Goal may very well change over a team's
existence: for example if a new product is being launched on the
market, the first priority will be for the team to concentrate
on research into its competition. If the aim is to improve
customer satisfaction, the first goal will be to find ways to
provide a higher standard of service.
According to the circumstance, teamwork goals might include:
Increasing the rate of productivity in a manufacturing company;
Improving the quality of production; involving all employees in
decision making process to increase job satisfaction; Looking at
working systems and practices to reduce time wastage; Working
together with customers to build closer relationships so that
the need of the market can be better understood.
Improving Performance In a survey of 230 personnel executives,
the American society of training and development found that
teamwork led to a substantial rise in performance in key areas.
Cultural Differences Cross-functional, multi-disciplinary,
interdepartmental teams are spreading fast in the west, having
been established in Japan for many years. In some British
companies, managers already spend half their time working in
such teams; and the democratic attitude of many North American's
has helped them to adapt well to this way of working.
Continental Europeans still tend to be more comfortable with
traditional hierarchical systems, but increasing competitive
pressure and the need for speed-your-market are now forcing
change on mangers in many industries.
Note: Allocate a clear deadline for each of your projects
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