What is a strong team. Stages of team building - Team building technology in business. Continuous professional development of employees
Each broom sweeps differently. This common phrase from the past, concerning the Soviet leaders, has not lost its relevance in the present. As soon as a new boss comes to the team, he first of all thinks about changing the staff.
As practice has shown, in cases where the new leader did not do this for some reason (he was too loyal or there were some other reasons), he did not stay long in his current position.
The axiom of the eternal struggle for power, the position, reminiscent of the game of "king of the hill", will exist regardless of the system, foundations and competencies of the leader and his subordinates.
Therefore, a newly appointed leader will almost always strive to create his own business team from newly arrived employees.
So how do you put together such a business team? Read in this article.
First of all, the newly arrived leader should take care selection serious professionals. Leadership from above will evaluate results first and foremost, and as soon as possible. Therefore, the selection of professionals (especially in the face of increased competition) is of paramount importance. How will the new supervisor, to decide for himself. Everything will be used: an independent search, and especially, the involvement of a recruitment agency. A new leader should not save on their selection, unless, of course, the goal of the director is to create a successful team.
It is also important to understand that attracting young and talented youth is also one of the criteria for success, but they do not give the main result. In order for a young specialist to become successful professional, you need to invest in it: in training and development, and when there is no time for this, and the budget is limited, then it is worth saying that this task goes by the wayside.
It is good if professionals are not only literate, but also correspond in spirit to the new director: it is difficult to teach how to work well, but it is even more difficult to change the life views of a new employee. In an instant, of course, a serious professional will not become a friend, but over time, it is quite possible to come to an understanding. This will require strength from both the leader and the potential subordinate, a specialist - a professional.
Search for like-minded people
When the backbone of the team (professionals) has been found and successfully started their duties, it is worth thinking about finding like-minded people, both among them and among young and talented youth. It cannot be done in one sitting. It takes time, and perseverance and a stick with a carrot. However, in the best possible way many successful leaders consider the charisma of the leader and the ability to lead the team, i.e. leadership. Many successful managers have become an example for their subordinates precisely because they were not afraid to support an employee in difficult times, clearly gave tasks and helped the employee in solving current problems. So, the search for like-minded people is a time-consuming and laborious process, which includes both the adaptation of employees and their current motivation to work under the supervision of a new leader in a new company.
Development of team potential
Friendly relations and mutual assistance are one of the most important criteria successful team. It is not enough to find like-minded people and work with them in a unified way, it is important to turn a club of interests into a serious team capable of solving complex problems. This is especially important in the second step. team building– selection of young and promising employees. If professionals do not feel the need to transfer knowledge to the young (for fear of being fired, rotated or deprived of other social benefits), it makes no sense to talk about any adaptation of young specialists in principle. In practice, neither the HR manager nor the line manager. Obligations to take "in tow" do not work without fail. It is always the personal choice of the “chief”, his good will and personal contribution. So, without friendly relations and mutual assistance, it is clearly premature to talk about the “right course” of a successful business team.
Separately about honesty
When looking for a professional, it is better to lead fair play. If you do not want to waste time, it is better to first call the candidate and prepare a list of questions in advance. At the interview, you should immediately dot the “I”, and not captivate the applicant with false ideas about “career growth”, opportunities and sky-high expectations. This does not work in interviews with professionals, since many professionals are aware of both direct competitors and even, possibly, the state of affairs within the company. Therefore, if your future employee knows that you do not promise anything extra, do not make tempting offers, but will be strict and demanding, it will be much more valuable and useful than trying to wishful thinking.
Care
If the team fulfills the instructions in full, makes a plan and moves forward, the leader should not remain indifferent. And if the “stick”, in Russian realities, almost always works, then the “carrot” is not always a tool for motivating employees, although it is also necessary. Such a kind of "carrot" can be corporate evenings and joint bowling and even get-togethers in a bar, over a glass of beer. It is important that employees see that they are not indifferent to their leader and that he is ready to take care of them. Today it is extremely rare to see such spirited teams, but still they exist.
From the article you will learn why the company needs non-professional employees, why conflicts that have arisen in the team increase labor productivity, in what situations the team is ineffective.
Every leader dreams of having a team. But not everyone thinks about what it is. What unites team members? Purpose, correct distribution of roles, understanding of the task, a common leader? Why is not every team a team? I'll tell you how create an effective team.
What is an effective team in business
Suppose you want to open a chain of stores. If you hire a professional who has worked in a large retailer, he will tell you exactly what steps you need to take to launch the network. There is no mention of a team here. The team will not do what one person can do. If you do not have such a professional and do not have the money to hire him, you assemble a team. Of course, there may be professionals on individual issues in it, but from the point of view of achieving the overall result, each member of the team is a non-professional.
Best Article of the Month
If you do everything yourself, employees will not learn how to work. Subordinates will not immediately cope with the tasks that you delegate, but without delegation, you are doomed to time pressure.
We published in the article a delegation algorithm that will help you get rid of the routine and stop working around the clock. You will learn who can and cannot be entrusted with work, how to give the task correctly so that it is completed, and how to control staff.
It turns out that a team is a group of people who work for a common result in conditions of high uncertainty, when it is not clear what actions to take and at what moment. This definition is self-sufficient, all the rest follow from it. It is believed that the team should have eight people, a maximum of twelve. This is true: if, in conditions of high uncertainty, team members do not have the opportunity to communicate quickly, quickly share information and find out who has what is happening, they will fail the case. And if there are a lot of people, the situation will change as long as the team members contact each other. Or, for example, they say: team members must be interchangeable. Of course, this is true: in conditions of high uncertainty, team members must replace each other, because they do not know what, to whom and at what moment should be done.
- What motivation is more effective: material or non-material
When to create a team of professionals
There is not much high uncertainty in a normally functioning organization. Mostly it comes from the external environment: from suppliers, customers, regulators. Therefore, top managers, who are responsible for the interaction of the organization with the outside world, work in a team. But do you need teams at the level of middle management and below?
Sometimes the owner says: "I need a team." I am looking for the reasons for the high uncertainty in the company, I think why the owner needs a team from the "tops". It happens that he creates all the uncertainty himself. And the team, it turns out, is needed so that the “tops” and all other employees interpret his vague instructions and hints, understand what he really wants. Therefore, if you want to form a team, think about whether it would be easier to first establish business processes, organize a pipeline? For example, is it necessary to form a team in a commercial division? If there are several sales in a department, each of which is assigned a specific channel or territory, customers, products, services, then the team may not be needed. Everyone does his own thing, fulfills his plan, and that's enough. Leader's task commercial division consists only in making adequate plans for subordinates and maintaining corporate standards of interaction between salespeople.
A team may be needed when you are starting something new, highly uncertain. You start to explore unfamiliar territory, develop a new channel, launch new products and at the same time determine the overall result for all sales. Why general? Because you understand that the uncertainty is high, and therefore it is impossible to say that there is a lot to sell here, and little there. And it may not even be possible to pre-set some indicators for each of the sectors and sections. Here you determine the overall result. Plus, for example, you say: “One of the results of the work is training, the accumulation of general experience, knowledge of how to work in new conditions. So come on, guys, not every man for himself, but share experiences.” Yes, this is where the team will be needed.
- The Q12 engagement test that weeds out underperforming employees
How to Build an Effective Team: 6 Steps
What should be done to make the team succeed? There are six critical factors here: informing, trust, conflict resolution, commitment, accepting and claiming responsibility, and focusing on a common result. (drawing). The last five are described by Patrick Lencioni in The Five Vices of a Team: Parables of Leadership. His five factors provide clear, clear guidelines for what needs to be done to build a team. But I, being the only Russian-speaking certified consultant on Patrick Lencioni's team training methodology, found that another important factor is missing in Russian conditions - information. In global business, in international organizations, it is implemented by default.
So what are the six steps you need to take to create an effective team of true professionals?
Step 1. Informing
First of all, you, as the one who decided to create a team (general director, commercial director, business owner), must inform its participants what the overall result is expected from them, what are the limitations in achieving it, why it is needed at all - the company as a whole , subdivision, etc., give them all possible guidelines. Of course, you need to encourage team members to ask you clarifying questions and answer them.
Russian management just often suffers from insufficient information. Employees only have to guess how management actually envisions the future. For example, I’m talking to a client, and he says: “It’s strange, such plans are good, but no one implements them, I don’t understand why.” When I start to understand, it turns out that all the plans are only in his head. I ask: “Did you tell them to your employees?” It turns out, no, he didn't.
But sometimes the owner consciously justifies this with a crisis situation. He says: “How can we give some guidance now? Things are changing fast, we can't strategize!" Often this is a trick: a strategy can be developed if not confused with a strategic plan. Most importantly, if you say that everything is changing now and nothing can be predicted, inform the team members about it. Do this at least once a week. Remind about general guidelines, inform about possible changes and important events among the top management of the company and in the external environment. Comment on how the changes adjust the team's guidelines and how they affect them. You can inform about changes and remind about common guidelines with the help of planning meetings and letters. All it takes is five minutes. Important: You must provide feedback answer questions from team members.
- Algorithm for selecting sellers who do not have to pay extra money
Step 2: Building Trust
There will be no team if there is no trust among employees. And there are two very important aspects here: work and human trust.
Working trust. What is Work Trust? When an employee defends the interests of the manager: interests and values coincide. The employee acts for the benefit of the manager. In case of problems, report them to the manager. A plan for further action is developed jointly. Working trust is created in the course of joint problem solving.
It is important to remember: there is no command "at all". You can't take any group of people and call it a team. A group becomes a team when it tries to achieve a specific common result and solve a specific problem. I've worked with successful organizations where people have good working relationships, but they don't see each other, they don't meet outside of work. What for? They are a team for achieving great results at work, not a "team of party people." Therefore, it is useless to organize a team and build confidence at events such as a rope course. When people gather in the forest, jump on trees, support each other, overcome fictitious obstacles, a team is created to complete rope courses. There is no other good team for anything.
How to develop working trust? People need to work together on the issues they face in the workplace. Joint problem solving means that people should express opinions on what should be done, how should they act, and then agree on their points of view on exactly what actions should be taken. But each member of the team has its own reality. And they evaluate the reality in the organization subjectively. Based on their vision, they offer solutions to problems. Someone says that you need to run, someone - that you need to slow down, someone - that you need to take advantage of this great opportunity. People won't agree on what to do until they discuss reality in the organization.
The best way to build a team is a strategic diagnostic session. The team gathers and discusses what is happening in the organization right now, conducts diagnostics at the level of company problems. Remember, you have already informed the team about where you are going - now it's time to discuss what can get in your way, where is the gap between what you would like to receive and what you have.
Often team members are not highly motivated to do what is expected of them. They think that in order to prosper and survive, you need to do other things. We see some problems in the organization and focus on them, and for team members others seem to be priorities. At the strategic diagnostic session, these moments are corrected, there is an agreement on where we are, what problems need to be addressed first. Trust is developed because people listen to each other. This is the first aspect of trust: we understand who makes such decisions and why. We agreed on joint actions and agreed: no one makes decisions and does not act to the detriment of others.
human trust. What does it mean to trust a person? Both you and any team member can talk about weaknesses, problems and ask for help. And there will definitely be failures: the team works in conditions of high uncertainty. The task of the manager is to build business processes in such a way that employees are not afraid to admit problems and ask for help. It is in a strategic diagnostic session that people begin to comfortably, productively, constructively, and effectively talk about problems.
Thus, in the first two steps, you ensure that the team is informed and the working experience of trusting interaction, the experience of talking about problems. It's time to take the third step.
Step 3: Dealing with Conflicts
Conflicts are good. How is conflict formed? Of the disagreement and the emotions around that disagreement. A team member suspects that the actions of his colleague are harmful, not good. That is, the origins of the conflict are actions or talk about actions. If team members just don't like each other, it's not a conflict. And when one says to the other: “Fuck you,” here a conflict is possible, because there is already an offer to go somewhere and do something. Often people hide differences and suppress negative emotions for fear of opposition.
But the team is developing, its members are different people who work in conditions of high uncertainty. Different points of view cause an emotional reaction. Differences need to be discussed. It is necessary to reveal possible and existing conflicts and work them out. And this is possible only after a sufficient level of trust has been developed. Without it, people are not ready to talk about problems and conflicts.
When discussing disagreements, it is important not to consider solutions, but to find the cause of the problem. Then, perhaps, the conflict will not arise: a common understanding of the problem will lead to its solution, with which all participants will agree.
So, at this stage, your team is informed, they have experience of trusting working interaction and they are not afraid to open and work out conflicts.
Step 4: Building Commitment
How to make the team implement what they have decided? This is possible only when team members participate in the discussion of the decisions being made. At the same time, the point of view of each participant must be heard. Otherwise, a person who has not been listened to can slow down the process and even put spokes in the wheels when implementing an already made decision.
How to listen to people? First of all, do not interrupt the person while he is talking. Neither a top manager, nor an ordinary employee. Since a person is invited to the team, it means that we want to hear his opinion, which means that he is important to us. So he decides when to stop talking. When a person speaks out about a decision, he implements it with greater responsibility and commitment.
The leader always makes the final decision. But the employee will not accept his ideas until he expresses his own. At first, you will spend a lot of time on this, but soon the discussions will become constructive and operational.
Step 5 Accepting and Claiming Responsibility
So the team members spoke out and made a joint decision. This solution contains some of what each team member suggested. If someone's decision was rejected, the person understands why. As a result, each team member accepts and shares responsibility in accordance with the decision made.
A cohesive team has internal responsibility control. Team members know where the team is heading, trust each other, are able to resolve conflicts constructively, are committed and decision therefore require each other to fulfill obligations. A good team does not have one "overseer". If I see that in order to accomplish what I am responsible for, I need another team member to do what he is responsible for, and he did not, I will go up to him and say: “Listen, what's the matter? Why don't you do what we agreed? I can't do it otherwise." At the same time, I initially trust him, I am not afraid of conflict, so we calmly agree. Thus, the team develops internal self-control.
Step 6. Focus on the overall result
And finally, the last step is focusing on the overall result. It is impossible without going through the previous five steps. Therefore, it is useless to demand that people be focused on the overall result, and even more so to motivate employees for it. Motivation is meaningless until people know who is responsible for what. And this will not happen until they participate openly in the discussion. And this will not happen as long as they are afraid to enter into conflicts. And this will not happen until they have trust. And this will not happen until the manager has informed the employees where to go. What does result orientation mean? This is a very important thing, because the team works in conditions of high uncertainty. And the result that was planned may change. It is important that team members understand where they are going. Because one team member may find that the team has one thing planned and needs another. For example, we started working in a new region, but the team needs to work not with the region, but with promotion channels. It is necessary that a team member gather colleagues, say: let's reconsider where we are moving.
Here are six factors, six steps to help build a team. You need to start not with the result, not with planning the overall result and not with motivation for the result. All this is born by itself after understanding the direction of movement, the real problems of the organization and the coordination of the actions of team members.
A team can be identified by a number of signs, the main of which are the following:
Table 1. Options for working in groups and teams
| Prefer to work alone or in groups | Prefer to work in teams |
| To solve simple problems or “puzzles” | To solve difficult tasks or problems |
| When cooperation is satisfactory | When a decision needs consensus |
| When Diversity is Limited | When there is uncertainty and multiple solutions |
| When a problem needs to be solved urgently | When high commitment is needed |
| When a narrow range of competence is enough | When a wide range of competencies is required |
| If there is an unavoidable conflict of interests of the participants | If it is possible to achieve the goals of team members |
| When an organization prefers working with individuals | When an organization prefers the results of teamwork to develop a forward-looking strategy |
| When you need the best result | When a Diversified Approach Is Necessary |
On the way to becoming an effective and efficient team, each group goes through several stages. The team must overcome internal contradictions and doubts before a truly harmonious team is obtained.
Steps required to build a team
To create an effective team, at different stages of its existence, it is necessary to carry out a number of actions:
Selection of suitable employees
The effectiveness of the team largely depends on the personal qualities of its members and the relationship between them. Each member of the team must be ready to use their abilities and knowledge to solve the team problem.
Therefore, it is first necessary to carefully analyze the requirements for future work. Based on this, the level of competence is determined, which includes the knowledge, understanding, skills and personal qualities that team members should have. Particular attention should be paid to ability to work together.
Team size regulation
What is the optimal team size? This simple question points to one of the primary problems that comes up when building a team. The most reasonable thing would be to have a team as small as possible, but large enough to the competence of its members corresponded to the requirements of the task. Of course, you may not always be free to act freely, and you will not always have the opportunity to start building a team from scratch.
It is easiest to work in a team consisting of two people, due to the ease of communication. In larger teams, people tend to have messy communications that lead to disorganization and the feeling that a lot of time is wasted.
With an increase in the size of the team, the number of interactions between its members grows even faster, which is confirmed by a simple mathematical relationship: the number of possible personal interactions between n members equally n * (n– 1) / 2. For example, in a team of nine members, the number of possible interactions per each is 36, and in a team of four members, only 6.
If we keep in mind that every interaction contains potential conflict between its participants, with the size of the team, a greater predisposition to organizational difficulties becomes apparent.
This is especially noticeable in teams consisting of 12 or more people, in which time losses are progressively increasing and the efficiency of using the participants' qualifications is decreasing. If your team has more than 12 people and this cannot be changed, it is advisable to regroup it, breaking it into subgroups and instructing each of them to perform part of the overall task facing the team.
Clear setting of goals and objectives
For a team to work effectively, all team members need to be aware of links between goals, working methods and objectives. Objectives should be clear, focused, and should provide a vision of the way work is done and the objectives that will lead to success.
The formation of goals should be carried out by the participants themselves, and it does not matter at what level this happens - personal, team or at the organizational level. These goals should form a thoughtful and realistic basis for objectives and methods, and not be a simple list of prescriptions that logically follow from the profile of the organization.
For a clear statement and solution of tasks by the team, it is necessary to take into account the variety of expectations (often conflicting) provided by the team's goals. Dilemmas related to goals should also be considered. For example, that, on the one hand, the range of problems should be clear, and on the other, that flexibility and variability are necessary to adapt to changing circumstances.
It is difficult to expect that goals will always be clearly defined. Social, economic and political factors can cause sudden changes or force organizations to change constantly and relentlessly. Team goals should be foundation of its activities, however, significant external changes can lead to their revision.
It should be remembered that each team member has his own individual goals and hidden intentions. Therefore, team members who obey the goals of the team can only agree with them to a greater or lesser extent. They may secretly disagree with the goals of the team, but obey them for some personal reasons - for example, wanting to make money or build a career.
Therefore, the decisive moment in goal setting and the main area of team management is prevention of the possibility of conflict or collision between team and personal goals. For the team to work effectively, it is important that the goals are achievable, measurable and accepted or at least understood by team members and managers. high level both inside and outside the organization.
Team Efficiency
It is impossible to formulate a complete and categorical set of rules, following which will necessarily lead to the creation of effective team. The reasons for the team's success are more complex. However, the main elements of effective team work can be identified:
Summing up what has been said, it can be noted that well-organized teamwork can be achieved under the following conditions:
The importance of a team cannot be overestimated, because it is people who determine the success of the company in which they work. Recall Jim Collins' study in Good to Great, where the first priority of successful companies was to build an effective team.
“Those who created great companies understand that the main accelerator of growth is not the market, not technology, not competition, not products. The factor that is more important than all the rest is the ability to find and retain the right people for the company.” J. Collins
Today we will talk about how to create a dream team in your company, having examined in detail the key steps to success in team building.
Without what there is no dream team
Before arguing that the ideal team is a myth, we suggest checking your company for the following elements, which, as a rule, are the components of a dream team.
1. Competent distribution of roles
Well-known business consultant Yitzhak Adizes identified 4 key roles in the management process. This model is so versatile that it can be applied to team building as well. Let's take a look at the key roles that team members can play:
- The producer of results is the executor. Actually, the one who creates the product (or services) in the company. He perfectly knows the nuances of development, technology, follows the latest inventions in his industry in order to successfully implement them in his own work.
- Administrator - controller. He is also a manager. Often a perfectionist. Follows all the details of the process. Analyzes the situation, plans for the future. Organized. Asks a lot of questions on the case, looking for "pitfalls".
- Entrepreneur - mastermind. Generates new ideas, is not afraid to take risks. Develops a strategy for the direction of the company, its development, development of new prospects. The entrepreneur has a kind of "gift of forecasting" - he feels the trends and moods of the market, as a result of which the company creates exactly "shooting" projects.
- Integrator - "superglue". The team pays. He will always listen, understand, try to help, convey the ideas of the team to the management and do everything to bring them to life. As a rule, he is a mass entertainer who organizes all kinds of corporate events, collective meetings and meetings.
2. Interesting tasks and projects
People are interested in showing their abilities, discovering something new in themselves. They like to work on something that captivates them with their heads. And when projects are entirely carbon copy and do not require new knowledge and self-improvement, in such cases the routine not only extinguishes the fire in the eyes of employees, but also kills the team spirit, and as a result, the company itself.
3. Clear goals
Vagueness is the enemy of results and efficiency. Before you set a task for the team, formulate goals. They must match four simple requirements: be specific, measurable, time bound, and consistent with the overall concept of the project. And, of course, the goal must be achievable - otherwise, why bother taking time from the team for a doomed project?
“There would be a goal, and the chain of trial and error itself would lead to the desired result” H. Murakami
4. Comfortable environment
Labor productivity grows when all conditions for work are created: a cozy office, a pleasant atmosphere, coffee and tea in unlimited access, and, of course, sweets :-)
5. Appropriate equipment
You can, of course, try to develop something super-innovative using outdated tools, but the result is unlikely to please you. Provide your team with powerful equipment that is a pleasure to work on - and trust me, your employees will thank you with an impressive implementation of the tasks assigned to them.
6. Cohesion and "team spirit"
Naturally, the existence of a dream team is impossible without cohesion and unity, without some kind of “team spirit” that unites and spurs employees to conquer new heights.
7. Understanding Career Development
Agree, few people are ready to come to work every day and stagnate in one place, knowing that today's position is the ceiling of a career. Therefore, it is necessary to give employees a clear understanding of what they have, where to grow.
8. Reward
The remuneration policy includes not only the financial part (bonuses, bonuses and other options for monetary motivation). Employees need to be praised, both in private and publicly. Most people are vain, and really want their pride to be amused, and their merits to be recognized. In psychology, there is such a thing as “stroking” - all sorts of compliments, a smile, the same praise, as well as physical contact (for example, pat on the shoulder, shake hands, if appropriate, hug).
Problems on the way to building a dream team
It's not enough just to pick the right people and give them a job. Man is a complex creature, and the totality of people is even more complicated. That is why not all companies manage to create their own dream teams, because a banal misunderstanding of psychology and needs, incorrect distribution of roles, as well as many other factors can make even the most highly qualified specialist work carelessly. Let's take a look at what's standing in the way of your dream team:
1. Misunderstanding of task priorities
Confusion is your main enemy. When there is no clear understanding of which tasks need to be done first and which can wait, time is wasted, and this is terribly annoying. Relieve your employees of this annoyance and help you effectively allocate your working time - set clear priorities in the tasks assigned to them.
“To be able to manage means not to interfere good people work" L. Kapitsa
2. Wrong goal setting
“The slowest person who does not lose sight of his goal is still more agile than the one who wanders without a goal” G. E. Lessing
3. Incorrect distribution of roles
Do not assign to the employee the role that does not suit him! Analyze what a person does best, and give him the appropriate tasks. Develop skills, encourage abilities.
4. Lack of an influential charismatic team leader
Giving authority to lead the team is not enough. It is extremely important that the leader is not just formally appointed, but truly enjoys authority among his wards. Management is an art, do not give it to the wrong hands.
5. Misunderstanding of career prospects
The career ladder should be transparent - employees should know that for their efforts, initiative and achievements they will receive the desired promotion.
6. Routine and boring projects
Not only creatives and other creative workers need to be periodically “fed” with projects in which their imagination and talents can roam to the fullest. Even techies to the core need variety and challenging tasks where they can show their abilities. Monotony and dullness will appeal, perhaps, to robots or zombies.
7. Lack of motivating factors
If you do not reward employees for their efforts, for good results and in general, take them for granted - be sure that they will leave you soon. And if they remain, they will be extremely dissatisfied and stop trying. And certainly the dream team in this case will turn into a myth.
8. Conflicts and disagreements between team members
Naturally, employees should not be required to communicate with each other in the “mimimi” style. It's okay if there are disagreements in the process of working on a project - as Socrates said: "Truth is born in a dispute." But it is very important that these same disputes do not lead to destructive consequences, and do not cause a split in the team into camps, militancy and other negative things.
How to create a dream team?
- Allocate roles wisely. From each according to his ability to each according to his needs.
- Combine business with pleasure — dilute your routine with exciting tasks and projects.
- Specify the facts and focus on the main thing.
- Involve in the process - involve in brainstorming sessions, consult with those who know technology better than you.
- Organize unifying events – corporate outings, holidays, gatherings and conventions help bring employees together in an informal setting, which blurs boundaries and removes all communication barriers.
- Promote growth - literature, trainings, courses. Train and nurture talents.
- Promote the most profitable projects within the team.
And for dessert, we present to your attention the presentation of the report of our novel “Dream Teams. Myth or reality?”, which he spoke at the WebCamp 2012 conference in Odessa.
The success of a business depends on more than strategy, planning and capital investment. The leading role is played by a carefully selected team of employees and well-established business processes. The dream of every manager is to create a mechanism that works like a Swiss watch and requires minimal intervention. A close-knit team is a reliable basis for such a mechanism.
If we turn to the experience of market giants, it is easy to see a simple pattern. Behind the cool achievements was a team of dedicated people. The brightest ideas were brought to life exclusively by joint efforts.
In this article, we will reveal how to create a team that will be able to do any, even the most ambitious task, and how to avoid recruitment mistakes that more than 90% of managers make.
We will also analyze the main components that you should rely on when creating an effective team of like-minded people:
- Competent personnel policy.
- Favorable microclimate within the team.
- Sophisticated system of motivation and team management.
- Continuous professional development of employees.
- Having a competent and recognized leader.
- Clear planning and work schedule to avoid "burnout" of team members.
We will talk about these links below.
Criteria for an effective team
When recruiting staff for a planned project or an existing business, we recommend relying on proven principles:
- Team Members must be competent to solve the assigned tasks. This is one of the most important requirements. If some team members cannot perform the required tasks, this reduces the efficiency of other employees. An imbalance begins in the team: a weak employee who is not ready to develop drags the whole team down. At the same time, strong employees do not really like to work in conjunction with weak ones.
- Common Core Values. Values are the components of our personality that we are not able to betray or replace, even if the situation dictates it. It is important that the beliefs and values of employees are similar, especially those that determine their actions. And in a team where the values of its members do not coincide, there is a high probability of regular conflicts. Without this criterion, building an effective team is a big question mark.
- Synergy- it can be easily represented as the formula "1 + 1 =11". This is when the whole team works as a single well-coordinated mechanism, where each employee is part of it, and not a separate element. With this approach, the results will be many times higher than in a disparate team of geniuses.
Remember, the main caveat when recruiting: DO NOT hire those employees who are obviously prone to creating an unhealthy atmosphere within the team.
Who are these people?
- Firstly, unrecognized individualist geniuses, who seek to prove to others that only their point of view is true, do not know how to listen to others, compromise and perform tasks with which they do not agree.
- Secondly, lazy unable to find the strength for self-organization, learning, motivation. It would take too much precious time to make them work and control the quality of such work.
- Third, tricksters and swindlers. Even if they are gurus in their field, but are ready to destroy the team with their actions, one should ruthlessly abandon such characters in the team. Such people will always look for someone to blame for mistakes, and not solve the assigned tasks.
By following the above principles, your staffing will be impeccable.
The microclimate in the team is an important ingredient in the recipe for success.
The best working atmosphere reigns in teams united by a single mission. The mission contains the meaning of the existence of this organization and its key differences from other similar ones.
The term itself appeared not so long ago. However, the rapid career and success of prominent businessmen of the past is undoubtedly associated with her the right choice. Take, for example, Henry Ford, the founder of an automobile company. While others supplied the market with expensive premium cars, he proclaimed the mission of his company to provide people with individual and public transport, moving the car from a luxury item to the category of consumer goods. This laid the foundation for the prosperity of the concern.
And if you have a creative, inspiring and unifying mission, then it can become the basis for the formation of a cohesive team at work and a favorable atmosphere in the office.
Also, for the success and coherence in the work of the team, the absence of staff turnover is important. Teams with high employee turnover, like the constantly changing direction of the wind, are unstable, unpredictable, often act inconsistently and frustrate tasks, instead of going to the planned milestones. A stable close-knit team gives a feeling of support and reliability from colleagues and management. In such an environment, team members feel trust, work without stress and, as a result, show high results.
How to build effective teamwork using the motivation system
Motivation that overcomes procrastination is another important tool of a good manager. When you manage people, the main task is to properly motivate them. In this case, your employees will not only work efficiently, but also get satisfaction from performing current tasks.
How to motivate your employees, especially those who work remotely? How to minimize the need to control their activities?
Let's look at this using the example of Uber, a taxi service. The company not only skillfully saves the budget on payments to employees, but at the same time motivates them to work longer, faster and better. What's the secret?
Based on the results of psychological analysis, the company's marketers created a unique gamification system for employees: bonuses, motivating messages, setting daily micro-goals, ratings, an uninterrupted flow of orders, and several "dishonest" tricks.
We analyzed Uber tools in detail in this video. Be sure to check it out, there is something to apply for yourself.
Those of you who have already implemented a percentage system of encouragement have probably noticed that a simple increase in pay, if it is a motivator, is only for a short time.
Motivation through gamification is one of the powerful motivational tools.
How to use game mechanics in other niches? The algorithm will be similar:
1) To study the psychotypes of employees and develop a system of appropriate incentives for them. What are psychotypes? There are four of them:
- careerist: the goal is to earn money, improve oneself, be the master of the situation;
- researcher: the goal is to study the mechanics of work, hidden features and information about new products;
- social worker: interest in establishing contacts and connections, "hangout for the sake of hanging out";
- killer: the goal is influence on others, competition and the desire to “wipe your nose” with everyone else.
If you know about the characteristics of each employee, it is easier to choose a motivation tool. Otherwise, there is a high risk of spending on gamification, which will not produce results.
2) Enter the internal currency and bonuses for which the employee can exchange it.
3) Give everyone the right to choose a valuable bonus for him. Interested in the details?
Bonuses are a good motivator for employees for team work. If you are faced with the acute question of how to rally the team at work and increase its efficiency, the bonus policy for the performance of team tasks will provide support and mutual control in order to jointly achieve the goal and receive a well-deserved reward for this.
And the last detail is the use of tools such as team building and the opportunity to work in an informal setting. These elements of the motivation system influence the building of an effective team much more than hours of meetings and inspiring speeches of the leadership.
How to build an effective team using the leader's leadership resource?
No matter how impressive the results of the team's work, the role of the leader in this process is undeniably more important. And that part of the tasks that is assigned to the chief manager cannot be performed by someone else.
What is included in the concept of competent and effective leadership? This:
- Regular monitoring of the work of subordinates. Avoid dictatorship, but do not let the work of the team take its course.
- Teaching the team the principles of independent work and self-control. A really good boss is one who only sets the general direction of work, but otherwise is able to rely on the literacy and coordination of the team's actions.
- Clear and understandable goal setting. Goals that are too simple will be of no interest to the team, while goals that are too complex and vague can reduce motivation to zero, which will lead to the failure of the work. Therefore, the result of the work of the entire team directly depends on the competent formulation and adequate choice of the level of complexity of tasks by the manager.
Continuous professional development of employees
An effective team of employees is a constantly evolving organism.
And for the development of any system, favorable conditions and opportunities are necessary. To increase the level of your employees, you can influence this process through:
- setting progressively more complex goals;
- joint training and professional development. Here it is important not to save resources, but to establish a regular training process, develop a training plan, and involve all categories of employees in them. Those who are accustomed to constantly raising their level of knowledge will begin to feel the need to grow, develop and do this on their own, and not just as part of corporate events.
Clear work planning and schedule to avoid "burnout" at work
Creating an effective team and getting high results is impossible without a good rest of its members. Do not allow employees to “burn out” and situations arise when they lose their “feeling of themselves” and compensate for all other areas of life with a profession.
At first glance, the presence of workaholics in the team should only please. But such self-sacrifice brings visible benefits to the employer only at the initial stage. The result of working for wear and tear is apathy, decreased efficiency, loss of interest in completing tasks and working in the company as a whole.
Clearly regulate the working time of employees, correctly prioritize plans - and this will allow the team to complete all strategic tasks on time, but not “burn out”.
Instead of output
Any team work is a risk and responsibility, and even in a close-knit team, mistakes are inevitable. But it is precisely those who are able to take risks, act and quickly change the tactics of motivating staff, taking into account the experience of previous mistakes, that reach the highest peaks.
And what criteria do you personally follow when creating an effective team? Share your successes and failures in the comments, ask questions. I promise that none of your messages will go unnoticed.
