Leading Teams

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– Learn best practices for composing a team and aligning individual and team goals

What is Team Alignment?

Team alignment is achieved when cross-functional teams and individual team members work toward the same vision, understand their individual and team goals, and see how their contributions connect to wider organizational purpose. When teams are aligned and engaged, organizations benefit from increased productivity, improved communication, higher employee engagement and retention, faster decision making, and increased agility to respond to external forces.

Tips on How to Create Team Alignment

Team alignment is not easily achieved.?A study by McKinsey & Co.?found that while 72% of leaders said they involved employees in developing the organization’s purpose, only 56% of frontline employees agreed. This disconnection is what hinders team alignment and drives disengagement.

Here are ten ways to help encourage better team alignment in your business

1) Foster open and honest communication

Create an environment where openness and honesty in all aspects of communication are encouraged. Ask people to share their views and talk about the obstacles in their way. Ask for (and listen to) feedback. Don’t be afraid to ask questions yourself. (Here are?five you should add?to your regular practice, in fact.) Most of all, ensure your team members have a clear path to your door if they need it.

Helpful communication tools

• Slack or Teams: Channel-based open asynchronous communication and business chat
• Teamwork: A project management platform that helps teams understand and communicate about work and workflows

2) Create collaborative goals

At the outset, goals should be clearly set and defined. Getting this right at the start may take a little extra time and planning, but it pays major dividends. For the best outcomes:

• The team needs to buy into the goals (so plan them together).
• Everyone involved needs to be aligned on what success looks like (so?outline detailed KPIs?right at the beginning).
• Leaders need to acknowledge and support the team throughout the process (so check in frequently and offer guidance where needed).

The importance of KPIs and OKRs

As you go about goal-setting with your teams, it helps to place those goals in a framework and base them on real metrics and data. OKRs (objectives and key results) provide that framework, while tracking the appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs) gives you the metrics and data for what your team is currently accomplishing.

OKRs are by nature collaborative, which fosters team involvement and increases buy-in. They also define success well: The key results lead toward the objective or act as milestones along the way.

3) Celebrate team success

Good job, team! Never forget to laud good team efforts, ideas, or targets met. Share your team’s successes with the company at large and champion them to leadership. You can even organize a lunch or dinner for big wins where every team member can share the achievement. However you choose to mark the moment, do it together.

Fun ways to celebrate successes

• Celebrate a successful project with an outing (on the company).
• Distributed or virtual teams can’t go out, but they can enjoy activities such as a virtual escape room.
• Use digital recognition or praise tools (such as in Microsoft Teams).
• Recognize outstanding contributors with a tangible award (badge, trophy, etc.) — get creative here by creating a “trophy” that’s both meaningful and lighthearted.
• For smaller successes with in-house teams, food is always an option.

4) Allow team members to problem solve

Instead of imposing solutions, encourage team members to brainstorm and develop their own suggestions. By giving your team space (physical, metaphorical,?or even virtual with Teamwork Spaces) to find the right solution and propose their ideas, you can empower them to think creatively, develop their confidence, and foster a sense of ownership.

Helpful problem-solving tips

• Before anyone starts problem-solving, be sure they can accurately restate the problem.
• Listen more than you think is necessary.
• Give space for all parties to share and advocate for their position.
• Encourage the team to come to a shared decision on their own.
• If that fails, as a leader, you should calmly and firmly make a choice — and explain the reasoning behind your decision-making.

5) Provide adequate resources and training

A great leader doesn’t just help their team members to do their current jobs. Great leaders help them identify room for advancement to develop their skills and progress their careers. Support your team by giving them the resources they need to excel and reach the next level.

Onboarding tools for seamless transitions

• Work with human resources to create an onboarding program, so the process is consistent between managers.

6) Keep yourself accountable

In your time as a leader, things won’t always go perfectly smoothly. You might even make a few bad calls. (Hey, you’re only human.) When things go wrong — when a project goes off track,?when the scope suddenly changes, when the unexpected happens — you need to face it head on. Take responsibility and work with your team to address the issues and get back on target.

Accountability tips

• Demonstrate effective time management skills by completing your own tasks on time. Doing so demonstrates strong leadership skills and shows your whole team that you practice what you preach.
• Apologize when appropriate — whether to individual team members or to a larger group of people, an apology from a leader demonstrates vulnerability and transparency. You’ll show that you’re still working on your own competencies and weaknesses, and you’re willing to admit when you’re wrong.
• Focus on outcomes, not just task completion. You can check every box on your to-do list, but if your team doesn’t reach the appropriate outcome, the whole team — and you — share in the blame. “I did my part” shows a task-oriented mentality. “How can we do better” or “How can I help” shows a focus on outcomes.

7) Keep your eye on the big picture

As a leader, you need to strike a balance between zooming in on the details and zooming out to see the big picture. In other words, you must ensure your team is accomplishing the day-to-day tasks without losing sight of the overarching goals you’re working toward and how the team contributes to those goals.

It’s a balancing act, but it’s one that any great leader needs to learn how to do.

Why keeping big picture thinking is important

Like staying focused on outcomes, big-picture thinking doesn’t spend all day chasing rabbits or putting out fires. Yes, fires need to be put out, but someone has to be responsible for refocusing the team as soon as the smoke clears. If you can keep the right focus, you’ll stabilize your team and help them find synergy.

8) Show some empathy

According to inspirational leadership author Simon Sinek, empathy “is the?most important instrument in a leader’s toolbox.” Simply asking, “Is everything okay?” demonstrates you care about the team member and?helps build relationships.

Examples of empathetic approaches

• If an employee starts crying in your office (or over Zoom), whatever was at the top of the agenda takes a back seat. Soften your tone and ask what you can do to help.
• When performance issues arise (say, consistent late starts to work), ask questions before you jump to consequences. We’re not suggesting being laissez-faire about misconduct. But we are suggesting asking an employee about the factors contributing to the lateness.
• When team members are frustrated, don’t jump straight to solutions. First, enter into the frustration — find out the root cause and validate that frustration. Then you’re ready to apply solutions.

9) Build strong one-on-one relationships

One-on-one meetings are a great way for a team leader to build relationships. They also allow each team member to put their case forward for personal improvement or raise issues blocking them from performing better. Listen to what your team members say and do your best to support them.

Relationship-building tips

• Coffee with the boss:?Take team members out for coffee (usually two at a time feels more natural than one-on-one). Don’t talk about work. Ask about their dogs, their kids, their hobbies, and tell them about yours. (Virtual teams = virtual coffee break, sanctioned “unproductive” time with the boss.)
• Unstructured meeting starts:?Don’t jump into team or department meetings too quickly. Intentionally leave a few minutes at the start for unstructured conversation, which can result in impromptu team building. These unstructured starts work naturally in person — people begin to talk, and relationships grow. For virtual teams, you may need to prompt with some questions (“Anyone do anything exciting this weekend?”).

10) Build respect

Great leaders demonstrate respect for team members in many ways, particularly by being engaged with the team and working with them. Great leaders aren’t afraid to admit mistakes or take risks. They understand that respect is earned through empathy, compassion, and trust.

Why mutual respect is important in an organization

Teams generally will not trust or willingly follow a leader they do not respect. They’ll follow begrudgingly when threatened into it, but that’s no way to build a positive culture. Earning that respect is key to earning trust and willing followers.

On the other side of the coin, team members who know they have their manager’s respect are motivated and empowered to do more and work with more autonomy.