Effective teams are beyond the stage of hiring the right talent and putting them together to do work. Without the process of team building, you might not be able to fully enjoy the benefits of teams. There might be no congruence in goals, a lack of understanding and weak relationship between everyone. If you are looking to build a productive and effective team this year, here are some actions you can take.
Self-Awareness & Reflection
As a manager or a leader of a team, the first thing you need to do is to understand your leadership and management style. Are they effective in your current team set up? If not, you might have to adapt and identify areas for improvement to bring out the best in your team. Through the building process, you might have to adapt and modify your approach as and when necessary.
Establishing Relationship
It is only through understanding your current team dynamics that you can evaluate your leadership and management style effectiveness. You have to know the strengths, weaknesses and motivations of your team members to build an effective team. This process can be through interviews, team building activities or even through a casual meal together. Furthermore, this is a two-way process where both parties will be able to get to know and understand each other. Getting to know everyone and how everyone can complement each other will be key to building an effective team. Everyone in the team is like a puzzle piece, when placed together a very beautiful picture will be formed.
Define Roles & Responsibilities
After knowing your team members, it will be great to allocate them with the role that best fit their existing knowledge and skills. Other than that, if you see someone with the potential to execute a certain role well, you can develop the person as well. An effective team is a team that is complementary. This means that everyone’s skillset is unique, and it can cover up for someone’s gap. Many of times, we want to hire the best talent. However, no matter how good a talent is as an individual, if they are unable to work effectively in a team, the overall value add will still be lower than someone who is a team player.
Fostering Teamwork
When the team has been set up, it will be essential to continue to strengthen the relationship between you and your team members and also within the team members themselves. Not to be forgotten, setting collective goals, values and objectives so that everyone is moving towards the same direction. Also, encourage teamwork and constant communication within the team so that everyone is current, and assistance can be given if necessary.
Review & Feedback
Set certain milestones and pit stops along the way so that the team will be able to sit down and reflect on the process. Being proactive with feedback is one good way to ensure everyone is on track. Employees do appreciate such sessions whereby their voice can be heard. By taking in the feedback and working on it, you can change certain processes to bring the team effectiveness to greater heights.
Every team is different and unique, find the right formula for you to build your effective team.
Kingfisher Recruitment Group is a global provider of total recruitment solutions. We help clients design people strategies, attract and develop talents worldwide. Our services are across Healthcare & Life Sciences, Professional Services, Technology, Retail & Consumer, Manufacturing, Automotive, Property & Construction and Engineering industries.
