How to build your Team?

When you take over a position in a company, you inherit a team that was not built by you. You would have come into the company from outside or you would have been promoted internally. In any case, you need to deal with a team that is new to you. 

When Leaders take over newly, they undergo some tense first few months. The transition is normally not easy. Many Leaders respond in many different ways. Let us examine some of these ways.

Destroyer in Chief

I have seen one particular Leader who fired almost everyone in the team over a year after he took over.  His team members simply did not know how to approach him. If they go near him, he suspects them of trying to influence him unduly. If they stay away, he feels they are trying to scheme against him. There were some very capable people who simply resigned and went off. Others got fired by the boss. He did not rest until he recruited a totally new team. He suspects even some of his own recruits too. 

Doubter in Chief

There is another type of situation that develops when a new Leader takes over. The Leader takes over, he is not comfortable with some of the team members. But he does not have freedom to take any steps. This happens when the Boss of the Leader is very close and holding his hand. Boss may not have freedom to fire. But he is also not able to mend the relationships. The Team members may notice that the Boss can’t take his own decisions. Then they start aligning with the Boss’s boss. Rest is dirty. The Organization suffers the most in this case. The Leader doubts his team members and he doubt his own ability to take action too. 

Divider in Chief

Some other Leaders focus on dividing the team. They try to encourage some of the team members and form a coterie. Those who are not part of inner circle are ‘marked’. He does not hold out a clear threat. But those not part of the inner circle have a sword hanging over their head. This is also a very bad situation for the company. Some of the Functions will see a clear deterioration. The Leader gleefully justifies his methods. Slowly the people not in inner circle will get fired or they go away. 

How to build your team?

While the Team members are very important element of your success. You need to give yourself some amount of time to start generating great results. You can follow some of these best practices when you get into a new position. 

01.  Focus on building the system and getting better results: While you will notice the type of Leaders who are place in various functions, do not judge them immediately. Accept the fact that it is good to have a diverse team. Focus on the system of getting things done. Do what is right for the company. You would notice that some of the team members can catch up with you easily. Sometimes even if a Functional Leader has not bought into your methods, his team members may respond well. Just focus on the results and the system for it. If a Leader is not responding well, ignore that fact in the short run. Try to take him along with you. Some Functional leaders may need some help. If they get the help, then they may respond very well and learn well. So, give the team members a decent amount of time. By giving higher importance to the System of getting results, you are also discouraging the ‘Supermen/Superwomen’ who know how to get results. These ‘Supermen/Superwomen’ can’t deliver all the time. But a good system of getting results can. 

02.  Strong review system: Build a strong Review system with the team members. You need to identify a few KPIs for each of your Team members and review them with the same KPIs every week. By doing this, you are asking same questions every week. This has lot of power. The team members may not fall in line with the KPIs for some time. But when you are asking same questions every week slowly, it will start having a big impact on the team members. Those who can improve, will do it. Those who are not able to measure up will leave. They can’t give lame excuses for long time. They will get exposed easily.

03.  Leadership Development Program: It would be good for a Leader who is taking over newly, to start a Leadership development program for his team members. He also should be part of this team. With the help of this, they will start meeting off the work context. They will have opportunity to discuss themselves as people and not just the work context. This can give a genuine opportunity to the team to bond. The Leadership program should involve sharing by individuals. The program should go on for at least 18 months. Many times, the team will start bonding. If there is a person who is simply not able to fit in, the person will realise it for herself. The Leader will also get the confidence of the team as he is giving them a chance to improve themselves. 

04.  Win/Win repositioning: The Leader may find the need to reposition some of the team members. He should try to do it without generating too much fear. If the Leader feels that an Operations Head is more suitable for Projects, he can shift him to Projects. But with the active participation from the employee concerned. I know a Leader who helped one of his team members to become an entrepreneur. With the guarantee of business from the company, the employee could get a loan from the bank to start business. Now he is a happy entrepreneur. As he was out of the way, the company moved forward and got a new leader who has much more good experience.

05.  Take Coaching option for yourself: You may have to become a better Leader. You may have to grow into a Leader. Today, Executive Coaches are available. Those who are very senior, those who have been there and done that. Take their help in growing into the role you got yourself into. This will help you and help the team around you. You can make the team members as a part of your growth. You can tell them that you are taking the help of an Executive Coach and tell them to keep giving feedback to the Coach. This will make them partners in your growth and therefore solving some of their problems too. This also gives you moral authority to take some action on the team members if finally, you and they decide that it is not working out. 

This way, a Leader can ensure that he/she does not inflict a lot of pain on the organization when she takes over the new position. 

How are you addressing your team building?