Managing a team can be the most rewarding thing you can do in your career. It can also be challenging and frustrating. Here are some tips to help ensure that your team succeeds and achieves its assigned goals while enjoying the experience. For many, the first introduction into management comes in the form of team leadership where you are assigned responsibility for managing a specific group within your company. Success at this level is important for your career as well as the mission.
The Mission
The first rule is for you to fully understand and commit to the mission. You need to focus your team on and embrace these mission goals. Know each task. Identify the inputs and outputs – where does your tasking come from? Who are the people involved? Who will sign off on your team’s work? Where are your customer touch-points? Who are the customers? With a nod to the Project Management Institute, who are the stakeholders? Engage them early and ask some questions. What is working well? What is not working well? Either through direct questions or derived information, answer this important question, “What does excellence look like?” Think about your team’s mission and defined goals. Factor in the vision of excellence. This becomes your goal for the team.
Team Members and Roles
Get to know each member of your team and understand the roles they are assigned. Make sure that your team knows that you are committed to them, the mission, and your vision of excellence. Listen to your team – you will often not know what is going on until you do. Demonstrate through words and actions that you are committed to the team and each team member. Build trust, not fear. Establish a level of trust with your team that will allow them to share your vision of excellence. Successful teams know they can trust their leaders. This allows them to focus on the job at hand as well as the overall mission. Be a leader they can trust. Ensure each member of the team understands the roles they are assigned. Because they trust you, you will find out the weak areas and will then be able to resolve them. Talk openly with the team about their career goals and how to achieve them.
Training
Ensure that your team is adequately trained. How comfortable is each team member with handling their assigned tasks? Identify any weak areas and provide training as needed. Assess the team’s abilities. You may find that cross-training or On-The-Job (OJT) training within the team can help resolve weak areas at little or no cost. Once you are sure your team is adequately trained, look for opportunities for them to increase their skills through various training methods including formal and informal classes, seminars, etc.
Ideas
You will have ideas on how to achieve mission goals and to attain the level of excellence that will make your team stand out. Talk them over with the team. Listen to input and use it to shape how you implement changes. In his principals of management, Edward Deming points out “People are motivated not only by monetary rewards, but also by involvement in decision making.” The people closest to a problem are in the best position to make decisions (or to propose ideas) for improvement. Listen to your team. They are facing the problems and issues every day. They may well know how best to implement changes and have some great ideas of their own.
Processes and Standardization
By developing standards and procedures, you will implement both quality control and set the groundwork for gains in efficiency. Use your team to help and this will generate buy-in. Encourage the team to consider and implement efficiency gains for common tasks. Look for ideas from your industry. Industry standard practices have arisen because they are efficient and are most likely to work correctly. Websites, communities of common interest, and industry forums are full of ideas and best practices. Use what makes sense for your team and mission.
Team Identity
Create a team identity. Be known for something. Always getting the job done right the first time, efficiency, zero defects, innovation, etc. If you can, establish an actual name, an identity that will mean something to the team and that will continue as members rotate up and out. Have fun. Organize lunches and after-hour events with your team. Ensure that the team knows that they are appreciated and that the work is getting done because of their efforts. Step in and take the blame when things go wrong. Just implement a fix so that it does not happen again. If the problem is unavoidable, then set expectations. Share received praise with the team.
Final Thought
Treat your team like the professionals you expect them to be. Be fair, provide clear direction and expectations, and give your people a chance to succeed. Your team should take great pride in their work. Let them know their accomplishments are valued by you, the organization and the customer. Work all over the Intelligence Community is being accomplished by teams dedicated to their mission and customers. As a leader, it is your job to lead your team to success, then give them the credit. Your reward is being the leader of a team that is known for excellence.
