Great team management is one of the main cornerstones of any successful business. Without it, it can be difficult to rally your employees to work toward common goals and perform at their best.
Have you ever been in charge of managing a team?
If so, what are some notable lessons you have learned from your personal experience? What are some of the most important skills to have?
Top comments (8)
There is one idea and at the same skill that I consider paramount because mostly everything else is related to it.
It's empathy, the ability to relate to what others (your individual team members) think/feel. This is key in approaching them as unique individuals and adjusting your way of communication accordingly.
Everything relates to this. Giving and asking feed back, how to approach, how to ask and how to deal with any conflict.
One thing I like to consider is looking for negative feedback, i.e., what can be improved.
I do this both for team mates, regarding what they're feeling could go better in the team, and project wise, what could be improved technically on the project.
I have previously managed a team, and am currently doing so. I like to think I am a good and fair manager. I try and put this down to two things:
That doesn't mean you can't be friendly with your staff. You just have to be able to separate buddy mode from boss mode in some situations.
When it comes to treatment of your team, that doesn't mean always telling them they are doing great, or putting performance plans in place. It means when they do something wrong and you need to call them out on it, do so with compassion. They are human, too.
Management positions can be hard to get right. But if you don't act as a tyrant then you should get it right more timed than not.
If I ever need to ask someone why they acted a certain (negative) way, I always first ask if that person is OK. Ask if they have anything going on in their life which is bothering them. Then ask what caused them to act that way.
Offer compassion and help if they need it. Be human.
I like your point about people you mange are not your friends, I agree totally with you. This is something to know as a manager, really important.
And treating people the way you would like to be treated is important not only as a manager but as a person.
Great comment!!!
Well my experience was too small,
For my college project, teachers assigned a group of 4 members in that I am a team leader
First things first I have gained some knowledge about what we are going to work on So that I can able to explain my batch mates and make them understand about the plans and stuff,
The second thing I have given simple tasks to all my batchmates so depending on that I have chosen their roles accordingly, and given them daily tasks
Third thing if they finish there tasks quickly, I gave them treat so that they started working fast and finally we completed our project with zero issues
My project name is a smart security system using IoT
Member 1: purchase and get those components and stuff, bcz he knows only places to get the things from,
Member 2 (me): insert code into components and send and test them, bcz I like testing
Member 3: work with the website so that details will be forwarded to the website, bcz he is good with web development
Member 4: documentation and other stuff like communication between us and teachers, bcz she is good in narrating stuff
my procedure might be wrong, but this is my only experience with my team
I used to manage a team with 6 members. The way, I am being a team leader was, I like to solve the problems together with them. Meanwhile, they did the same to me and to each other. I also need to learn and profiling team member unique talent, skills or personal characteristics that for me to orchestra my team for specific problems.
Yeah, I've managed a team befoire and i am managin my 12 developer team currently.
Yes, I used to manage a small team of 8-10 system administrators. I was responsible for interviewing and then training each team member.
Team management is way more challenging than it seems.