Becoming a manager is without a doubt one of the most exciting moments in the life of any employee. It is not only a sign of professional recognition and company appreciation, but also a culmination of his or her career to date.
As leaders, managers are expected to be able to inspire and motivate their teams. Bringing everyone together and supporting them into achieving their team objectives is one of the top priorities for any leader.
Unfortunately though, not every leader is a great team coach or wishes to be one. Sometimes, they hope that they will be able to continue focusing on the technical aspect of their job, while passing on the team building responsibilities to others, such as their HR colleagues, or a senior employee in their department.
The following examples illustrate what may prevent managers from building high performing teams and becoming great team coaches.
Managers Who Don’t Believe in Teams
Those who fall into this category are usually strong individual achievers who don’t have the patience to deal with team members, group processes and relationships in general. They rely very much on themselves and have a hard time delegating. They often think they can do it all, better and faster on their own, than by sharing the work with others.
To counter-balance this thinking, they should observe other managers who do rely on their teams, and ask them why that works for them, and what they find rewarding with that approach.
Managers Who Think Building a Team Takes Too Long
Although building a strong and cohesive team does take a certain amount of time and focused effort, the benefits far outweigh the downsides. By building a dedicated team consisting of valuable members who are reliable, knowledgeable, and motivated, the group outcome will far exceed the results that could be achieved by one person alone.
A united team will also maximize group power and the collective strength will conceal individual shortcomings. All this will result in the manager having more time to focus on really strategic tasks that add more value to the company’s bottom line.
Managers Who Are Not People Oriented
Some managers are better with ideas, products, or coordinating projects, than they are with people. Sometimes they focus so much on achieving results that they have no time or energy left to develop people, provide timely feedback and support them with their growth.
If this is the case, one relatively small but significant change they can make is to dedicate a specific amount of time every day to their people. They can start with one hour or two, depending on the size of the team, and increase it gradually. It is important though to make sure that hour is in their schedule, just as any other meeting for the day.
That time can be spent discussing with each team member, listening to their successes or struggles, and asking one very simple but powerful question, “What can I do to help you be more successful?” Then, equally important, they need to act on that request, and show that they truly care about their people.
Managers Who Don’t Know How to Motivate People
According to Lawler, top motivators at work include: job challenges, accomplishing something worthwhile, learning new things, personal development, and autonomy. Sure money and promotion are important too, but if managers focus on giving their people challenges, autonomy, a chance to learn new skills, and achieve something meaningful, chances are it will be a win-win situation for everyone.
References:
Lawler, E. E. Strategies for High Performance Organizations, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1998
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