Thoughts on Team Management

Teams are as old as humanity. Human progress would not have come about without people working together in a team. However, team management is not easy. One may expect with all the technological strides and advancement over many centuries; "team management" would have become simpler and easier. Based on my personal experiences, rather this has become harder as now the teams are global, diverse, and working remotely/ working from home and info-powered.

In this article, I am not coming up with some new or unique aspects of team management. But am trying to collate my thoughts on this topic. Hope you like the read and can take away a few pointers.

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."? - Michael Jordan

1. Goal / Larger purpose

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has."?– Margaret Mead

Teams built around a Common Goal / Larger Purpose tend to stick together and most likely succeed. In other words, if one can show a vision or purpose that the team can relate to as their own; then teams are most successful. In this case, the team typically becomes a cohesive unit working together in the direction of that purpose.

This however is easier said than done. Motivating the team and addressing a topic that team can relate to is a scenario difficult to achieve. It takes dedication and also powerful leadership. At the same time, this doesn't mean that all teams have to change their course and come up with some "larger purpose" out of thin air. But if the team can relate to the goal, purpose or target then a lot of things automatically fall in place.

"There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals." - Idowu Koyenikan

2. Feedback and Communication

"Any unpleasant surprises are simply avoided by communicating clearly throughout the project"- Anni Korkman

Teams are social units. Sharing of information, status, knowledge and ideas is through communication. The teams that have open and frank communication between the members; generally do well. The information, as well as feedback, is openly shared and discussed. The feedback is assessed, analysed and course correction if required is agreed/acted upon.

The teams that tend to fail to operate as a unit tend to have "no open communication" as one of the causes of failures.

Communication also is closely associated with the culture of the team. To assess the culture of a team, one can study the communication channels, content and style to easily assess this. A team were "hiding behind email" is allowed; tend to be very secretive.

"In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly."?– Mark Sanborn

3. Questions and Out of the Box thinking

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."? - Henry Ford

Questioning is the hallmark of successful teams. Members of successful and empowered teams have the freedom to question decisions, action plans and raise observations. When they do that they are not looked down upon. This ensures that the best of brainpower is used within the team and the decisions are not just always top-down. At the same time; many teams have the questioning capability but it may be taken to the extreme that all steps are questioned and nothing gets done.

Suggestions and out-of-the-box thinking is another way good teams thrive. Good and strong suggestions, recommendations and ideas are welcomed and easily incorporated into the plan with modifications.

4. Rewards and Recognition

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."?– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Regards and recognition are always difficult. If you keep them liberal then it loses purpose and if you keep it strong then only top performers get the benefit. And typically top performers are not hungry for rewards! Rewards work on the medium performers or the 2nd to the top performers.

Again rewards and recognition systems should not be opaque. The criteria should be well known so that hints of favouritism is easily rejected by the team members themselves. The envy factor should also be considered when setting up the rewards system.

5. Span of management

"Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people."?– Steve Jobs

All organizations are pyramid structures. A chain of command is established with layers and designations. A good team has a well-balanced structure. The suggested span of control of 6 to 8 individuals under the span of a manager is recommended.

More direct reporting members; less will the management time allocated. But to build too many layers just to achieve this span of control is not recommended. Otherwise, the organization will have too many layers which will add to all the bureaucracy and inefficiency.

6. Behaviour bearing including social loafing

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."?– Helen Keller

One of the key roles of the leader of a team is to manage and set a behaviour system for the team. Leaders should establish the behaviours that are encouraged and behaviours that are scorned upon. E.g. if the leader tends to favour few members of the team then "other" members of the team will feel not-so-welcomed and will look for opportunities to exit the team.

Leaders should also watch out for social loafing i.e. free riders on the journey. Some people have a tendency to contribute less than required in a team setting as they judge that their "less than necessary" performance will not be noticed by other people contributing to the team.

7. Challenge for individuals and Learning Opportunities

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it." - Halford Luccock

The team which gives space to individual members and provides for the fulfilment of the aspirations of individuals will be more successful.

If the less than best is what is demanded then the 3rd best will be delivered by the team. Challenging and providing opportunities to carry out challenging work is what inspires most members of the team. You may have seen that in any organisation there is always one team/department which is much appreciated by the whole organization. Many employees would show a willingness to join this team/department. This is because this team is able to give justice to this "challenge for individuals".

Learning opportunity is another thing that keeps the members engaged and satisfied. A team where there is no new learning opportunity, no new kind of work becomes a stale team. People would prefer to leave such teams.

8. Managing star performers and others

"“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."- Harry S Truman

Managing star performers and the core of the team is always challenging. The team which can take along the star performers, as well as the core (median) members on the journey, will be a successful one. Star performers will bring enthusiasm, change and top-line growth (not in a literal financial sense but rather philosophical sense).

The median performers are the core of any organization and manager day to day functioning of the organization. Both set of performers are required. It's the balance of these two groups that will make or break a team.

Not giving due notice to star performers i.e. running the team in a totally socialistic way will also not help as these star performers will soon leave the team.

9. Meetings and other forms of bureaucracy

"It’s better to be alone than in bad company." - George Washington

Many organizations and teams are very friendly with meetings and paperwork. Members of the team; if always busy with meetings and paperwork (here both assumed to be not-so-productive) then work will suffer. A fine balance for meetings and paperwork will work wonders for the team. Meetings are definitely required, the right amount of paperwork is a must - but it is the overdoing this that is the cause of concern.

10. Leadership and Growth

"A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be."?- Rosalynn Carter

Finally, the team generally rallies around the leader. A team is known by its leader. A leader who is progressive, just, democratic and a good communicator will help the team immensely.

Apart from the growth or the successful deliveries; the teams' members should also get growth opportunities. A team in which limited growth opportunities exist; will become frosty and members will not be very happy to continue for long with this team.