One of the most trying parts of office work, and a contributor to poor organizational culture, is the time spent in meetings. We’ve all been there: A team leader or department executive calls everyone into the conference room, where time drags by as concerns and issues are discussed.
Every team experiences efficiency issues that cause bottlenecks in their process. These issues can occur frequently – daily, even – creating hiccups on the road to team building success. Luckily, there is a remedy. [...]
Nobody likes giving negative feedback. Perhaps that’s why most of us are so bad at it. We don’t like delivering bad news or making someone feel bad about their performance.
How often do you provide positive feedback compared to negative feedback? And in what way do you provide that feedback? When it comes to team development, delivering feedback can make the difference between a team that just does their jobs vs. a team that is excited to excel.
One of the most powerful tools – for good or evil – in the team leader’s arsenal is feedback. It can be one of the most precise ways to measure the overall health of your team, identify problem areas, and find out if remedies are actually working. Used incorrectly, feedback can plant seeds of resentment among team members that may ultimately set everyone back.
One of the toughest team development tasks a team leader faces is motivating their team. Whether it’s hitting a stretch goal, meeting a tough benchmark or solving a difficult problem, a team that isn’t motivated to achieve or overcome obstacles can slow down everything.
Are you a new team leader or a leader who was recently assigned a team? Do you have a good team already and know that a challenging new project is coming up? Now is a perfect time to assess your team's development, their capabilities, and their readiness level.
An important factor in successful team development is for team leaders to know who their “followers” are – the team members they’re leading. Understanding that each person falls into a general personality type can go a long way toward resolving interpersonal problems and motivating the entire team.
Having conflict in a team is not a bad thing. In fact, healthy conflict around ideas can build team dynamics and galvanize productivity. Learning to identify and promote healthy conflict is a critical team development skill.
A faster way to take the pulse of your work team, and a critical leadership development skill, is to get up and walk around the work area. You’ve probably heard of the acronym used to describe this activity: MBWA, or Management By Walking Around. A few wags refer to it sarcastically as “Management By Wandering Aimlessly.” Yet as J.R.R. Tolkien writes in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy of books, “Not all those who wander are lost.” MBWA is walking around with a purpose.
