TEAM NOT WORKING - USE PERFECT TEAMS

Invest in your team leaders to improve team performance: Lessons from 2 of the leaders we have worked with

?High-performing teams need leaders that have been trained for their roles, and that includes training so that they can coach their teams.

?During my career to date as an executive coach, one of my largest clients has been a brokerage firm in the City of London. Over many years I have worked with countless individuals across the company.

?This article will look at the dynamic between the team in the IT department and the brokers, and will identify how my approach helped improve team performance.

?Importantly, this article will also outline how you can double your team’s performance based on the experiences I had with two leaders in the business.

?A shared vision:

?High-performing teams are those that buy into a shared vision.

?Great managers need to foster that buy-in, but all too often it’s the case that managers are not given the right training.

?In our experience, managers are not trained effectively to lead and get the most out of their teams.

?When an organisation invests in their internal talent though, they are often able to identify and support people who have the majority of the necessary attributes, and simply need some additional support to take them to the next level.

?Dealing with a mix of personalities and characters:

?As with any company, the brokerage firm we referenced earlier had a mix of personalities and characters across the business.

?It was the sort of place where a broker might have picked up a shoe, thrown it at their computer screen, and called the IT department claiming their equipment wasn’t working and that it needed to be repaired.

?That’s a drastic case, but it serves as an example of the characters in one part of the team.

?While it’s not favourable to act that way, team members across the business would need to have equally as robust characters, and a directness about them.

?It’s the stereotype of IT departments to be process-driven and less direct, so within the robust setting of a brokerage firm the IT team would need to be more direct.

?A mindset for growth:

?In a previous article we looked at the importance of having the right people on your metaphorical bus .

?With the targets they had set, it was important for this brokerage firm that each team member bought into the mindset that their individual actions could impact the growth of the business.

?This went for each member of the team, including the IT department, and the company was prepared to invest in their team to ensure they could all achieve that growth.

?Key questions to ask yourself based on the above, to help improve your team’s performance, are:

?-?????? What is the vision for your team and business, and how are you fostering a culture where everyone buys into that vision?

?Two leaders with similar challenges:

?Both leaders that we worked with in the IT department had similar challenges.

?They were mainly focused on the processes and relationships within the business, and lacked the assertiveness to deal with the robust characters among the brokers in the team.

?Our approach, and a lesson about improving team performance:

?As my team and I still do with all our clients, our approach with these two leaders saw us identify their own characters and the blind spots they had.

?Understanding themselves, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, provided a level of self-awareness that allowed them to grow within their roles and at the company, and provided a number of benefits for the business, which I will outline in a moment.

?But first, what can you learn from this, so you can improve your team’s performance?

?Put simply, it starts with a level of self-awareness about your company, teams and leaders, and their strengths and weaknesses.

?How self-aware are your team members and team leaders? How aware are you of the gaps in your team?

?What results come from investing in your teams and team leaders?

?1)??? Better able to deal with negative behaviours within the business:

?Both leaders were better able to deal with aggressive and passive-aggressive behaviours.

?While these are not what you want to see in a team, they do crop up so it’s important that everyone knows how to respond and deal with them.

?2)??? More assertiveness and focus:

?Both leaders became more assertive, particularly with the robust characters within the business, and their focus dramatically improved.

?The increase in focus is of particular importance, because this supported their teams to become more effective and productive.

?3)??? New roles within the business:

?One of the team leaders was being groomed to potentially take over from his manager, but it was felt that my coaching would support him in advance of his new role.

?As a result of our work together, he took on that role and has flourished since.

?Following my coaching with the second leader, the leadership team within the business identified a hidden talent of his, and ultimately promoted him so he could support the company even more.

?Investing in your team, starting with your team leaders, can yield benefits for both the individuals and the wider business, but it does start with that initial decision to invest in your people.

?How do you invest in your team, so that you can improve their performance and productivity?

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?Combined, my team and I have over forty years of experience in executive development.

??? Over that time we have worked with more than 6,760 business owners and leaders. We have developed a?7-step formula to double team performance and increasing our clients’ profits .

??? To find out our formula, so that you can double your team's performance and increase your profits,?book your free ticket for our next executive seminar by clicking here .