Team Building Tips

Hi,

I was recently promoted to a team leader and now manage day to day activites for 4 team members. The team lead prior to me has left the company to bigger and better things. We are all peers and I am concerned about keeping the team productive and to make sure they respect me in my new position and do as their are told. I have a slacker / wise ass on the team, who I anticipate will be a problem for me.

I was thinking about having a meeting with the team and setting my expectations of the team. I am having issues with doing this tactfully and to make sure the team knows I mean business.

Can you offer a new team lead some advice?

I have a similar problem. I was hired into this position from the outside and my team seems very distant. I'm pretty much at a loss of what to do now.

Hi - I want to make a suggestion ref. building your new team.
One of the things you can talk about with your team is what their expectations are of you, now that you are their boss. This can be done using an on-line questionnaire (confidential), then following up with an open forum and also talk about what your expectations are of them.

Also include what you expect of yourself and what they expect of themselves. For example: "I expect of myself to be open in my communications with each of you by speaking to you in person at least once a week." "I expect you to be available to speak to me in person at least once a week."

After any questions and discussion there needs to be AGREEMENT on EACH of the expectations.

Building TRUST in your new position is essential, and making sure you follow up on all your agreed-to expectations is a great way to model the type of accountable behaviors you'd like to experience in the team.

Carol Warkoczewski
Synergy Builders www.synergybuilders.com

I was recently promoted to a team leader and now manage day to day activites for 4 team members. The team lead prior to me has left the company to bigger and better things. We are all peers and I am concerned about keeping the team productive and to make sure they respect me in my new position and do as their are told. I have a slacker / wise ass on the team, who I anticipate will be a problem for me.

I was thinking about having a meeting with the team and setting my expectations of the team. I am having issues with doing this tactfully and to make sure the team knows I mean business.

Can you offer a new team lead some advice?

regard
vasu

Vasu --

Congratulations on your promotion! It is definitely a good idea to get your team together to share your expectations. You should also allow them to share their expectations. One thing you'll want to do is meet with each of them individually and find out how you can make their work life better (yes, even with the wise-ass!).

Here are some similar situations that new team leaders have encountered that will help you make this transition.

- Team Members Snub New Team Leader
- New Team Leader Wants to Make Team Effective Again
- Goal Setting: Your Team's Road Map to Success

That should help get you started. Does anyone else have additional advice?

Just moving into the position gives you a great opportunity to set the tone for the team and the culture.

I would strongly encourage you to change your perspective to a self-managed team perspective where you lead the team by example and input into the team from a training/coaching perspective but let the team have much more control over how the team functions, rather than expecting them to do as they are told.

This will provide a team with greater engagement and better results!

You should read my book "Self-Managed Teams: How to do more with less!".

Brad Cork
Managing Director
Improving People www.improvingpeople.com.au

My advice is Don't become a Team Leader if your company is HR run.

I fundamentally agree with all before me, except Brad Cork. HR is a support function and will be there to help you during the transistion.

I think the most important thing to remember is just recently you were one of the team. Now you lead the team! I have seen many cases of success and failure. The only common denominator between each extreme was the attitude and degree of respect shown to each member. Be careful when stating your expectations. Don't make them personal...link them to your manager's expectation for the team. Likely the business expectations are the same now as before you became the leader. As far as personal expectations, I would use a low key approach and offer them over the next number of days. My approach would be to balance my expectations to a particular behaviour. For example, a behaviour that needs correcting would be counseled why and how it should be done differently. Thus, it becomes a universal expectation, not just mine. A positive reinforcement would be handled much the same way. Always remember to praise good deeds, on the spot, and always say "Thank You." Just my $0.02 worth!

Sorry Mr. Cork. Please subsitute "KP" for Brad Cork.

Congrats on your promotion, that's great!!! Do you have a organizational chart for your company? How often do you cross train your staff, while having fun? how often do you have employee meetings? What have you learned as a new leader, that you can share with others? Do you have a inspiration or dream board? If you take you care of your employees, they'll take care of your customers!!! Good Luck!!!

I can definitely relate to you! I was only with the company I worked at for 2 years before I was promoted to a Supervisor. I have 19 people on my team and 10 of them had been with the company for longer than I had, a handful were going on 9-10 years! I was pretty intimidated but I knew that my manager had promoted me for a reason. My manager knew that I had what it took to lead and do well, same with you!

It's been a couple of years now and there are many things I know now that I wish I would have known when I started as a Supervisor, heck, I'm still learning! Here are some of the things I've learned:
- Be real, don't try to be someone you're not. Always be geniune and let your team know you're here to help
- Be professional. Those jokes you used to tell while you were a rep should not be told while you're a lead (they were probably inappropriate then either but since your a leader their not ok).
- If you are used to being the bubbly social type, tone it down. It's ok to be fun but it's better to be polished, professional and classy... more people respect this. Watch a manager that you respect and admire, mimic their actions.
- In order to maintain a professional relationship with your reps and to prevent them from seeing you as a buddy, do not meet any of your reps outside of work.
- Give clear expectations so a rep doesn't tell you later that they didn't know.
- Be the bigger person, if someone is trying to get under your skin, let them know politely that what they said (if applicable) was inappropriate and that this is a professional environment.
- Be consistent with all of your reps. If you asked one rep to stop doing something make sure you ask this of everyone.
- Don't be afraid to give constructive feedback. It helps people improve and get better. It's benefcial and necessary.

As for the person who may give your problems... sit down with them, ask questions "What can I do to make this transition to team lead more comfortable for you?" Make sure they know your expectations. If it starts going south, do not let them see you break. Keep your composure and stay calm and collective. Don't raise your voice but ask questions why they feel the way they do. If it get's out of control may be request that the meeting start again at a later time/date.

You can also ask HR for advice. Even the best managers need some advice!
I'm not an expert but I hope some of this helps!
Good luck!

Your behaviours make big impact on team,be roll model.
Clearly indicate your priorities and expectations.
You should be good communicator.
Treat the team unbaised.
Have more patience,guide them,cooperate them.
They have to feel you r their well wisher.

Demonstrate your ability and support your staff at any time when they actually need your help or decision. Create "Mutual Trust" relationship.

Know your staff's capability and ensure not to mis-match, try to allocate jobs to staff only with appropriate skills.

"Fairness" and no biased, especially in the time of doing performance appraisal and year-end rating.

Do what you promise or commit. Don't let staff have belief on unrealistic request.

Encourage teamwork so that staff will work closer and help each otothers.

Work with staff on their career development and self-improvement. Inhouse or external training program sounds good.

Informal gatherings such as lunch or a drink after work, sometimes let you know more about your staff and have better relationship. However, how to balance it and do not lose your face as "boss" need to consider.

I believe in your team meeting, you need to be truthful, confident, show them you also have a sense of humor, enjoy working with all of them, but also mean business and that they are all there to get the work done. If they have suggestions on how to get the work done and make it fun to be at work at the same time, you would consider it. Show them that when the work is done in a timely fashion, then rewards are evident -- not only verbal acknowledgements from the management, but possible a team building event including fun time away from the office several times throughout the year. Good luck and I'm sure you will receive the respect you deserve by being fair laying out the rules at the beginning.

“I would strongly suggest a little reading and research here. Start with 'The Three Laws of Performance' by Zaffron and Logan (you can get it online at Dymocks).

The three laws tell us that how people perform correlates to how situations occur to them, that how situations occur relates to language, and that future-based language transforms how situations occur to people.

So what does this mean? I have 130 employees and do professional coaching for other managers in community services. This book has transformed the way that the leaders in these groups have gone about understanding how the world is for those they work with and supervise so that the reasons behind their behaviour in the workplace can better be understood. Zaffron and Logan outline how to go about this in meetings and in conversations, giving leaders a better chance of working out how to engage with others and how to go about getting some sort of shared commitment for a shared, agree, positive future.

This stuff is not rocket science, and it works, I have many previously poor performing employees and teams now working together, solving problems, being innovative, and leaving their baggage in the past. It doesn't happen overnight, but this stuff is very powerful and works.

If you are more academically inclined, try 'Theory U' by Otto Scharmer and the 'Fifth Discipline' by Peter Senge. I have done courses with these guys, and basically some very simple shifts in how we as leaders behave can have profound impact on the cooperation we get from others.

Good luck in your new position. Remember that what happens is not all your responsibility, but getting others to take responsibility for what they do is quite simply achievable if you know how. the Three Laws of performance is a great starting point.