Team Building Tips

Managers get things done through other people. They delegate primarily because it makes their job easier. If they try to do everything themselves, they become unnecessarily burdened; their performance and health deteriorate; they fail to develop their staff adequately; and, in time, the organization will suffer. Indeed, many writers believe that the ability to delegate is the main distinguishing feature between good and bad managers. Knowing how to delegate is, therefore, a crucial management and leadership skill.

There you are sitting at your work station, minding your own business and your manager calls you into his or her office. Slight panic sets in as you wonder what's up, but before you work yourself up too much, your manager lets you know you're being promoted to department supervisor. After you get your congratulations, go home and celebrate, it suddenly hits you. Now what!? You don't know the first thing about being a supervisor. Sure, you've watched other supervisors do it, and maybe even thought that you could do a better job than that, but now you actually have to do it. Not to mention the fact that yesterday all the people you will be supervising were your peers, some even your friends.

When your boss asks you to do something that you feel is unethical, what do you do? If you spot two co-workers having an intimate lunch, what do you do? How do you handle telling a long-time employee that his job has been eliminated?

You anticipated your friends and co-workers would be easy to manage. They did of course pat you on the back and congratulate you when you got your promotion. But likely it hasn't taken you long to discover there are some challenges to supervising people who used to be your peers at work whether you were close friends or simply casual co-workers. Typical issues include: