Managing teams and people within an organization can be tricky. Not only do you have a vast plethora of personalities to cater to, but the pressure of the work environment can put excessive stress on employees, putting them out of their comfort zone.
As a business owner, or if you hold a leadership position in the company, it is important to spend time working on people management in the organization in order to streamline teams and workflow.
There are a number of courses you can attend to master leadership and people management techniques, but there are also a few small changes that you can make in the company. By opening up communication, and introducing tools for workflow and process management, you can successfully increase transparency, streamline operations and take the pressure off your teams. We thought we would delve into a few ideas that you can start implementing today.
Table of Contents
Get The Personality Balance Right In The Team
This can get quite tricky, especially having an already established team and members who are working together. This being said, it is helpful to identify and understand personalities in order to mitigate conflict and understand how each personality reacts and responds in high-pressure situations.
Personality assessments are a great tool to integrate into the hiring process, as well as during team building or team meetings. Having a map of the types of personalities in your company or department can assist you in assigning the right person to the right role, and picking members of a team.
The TKI assessment is one example of these tests and acts as a questionnaire designed to measure how each person deals with interpersonal conflict. This kind of data will give you an insight into who can be considered for management, who is the best negotiator, and who can handle troubleshooting and customer care.
Practice Conflict Management Techniques
Conflict is an expected occurrence when people from different backgrounds and cultures work together. Every workplace has dealt and will deal with conflict at some point in time. Conflict can have resoundingly disruptive effects on the business, especially if left unresolved. It can lead to hours of unproductivity, gossip, and even resignations.
Although an extent of conflict can be healthy and drive competitiveness in the organization, you will want to have a set plan in place to deal with interpersonal strife.
The first step of managing conflict between colleagues is to take it to a private space. Any kind of discipline or discussion should take place away from other people in a neutral place where an open, frank discussion can take place.
All discussions should be recorded too, whether in minutes or electronically. This will ensure that facts and statements are kept for future reference and can be referred back to. Each participant should have an opportunity to calmly describe the challenges being faced and what outcome they are hoping for at the end of the discussion. Work toward all parties agreeing on an achievable outcome and close discussions with a set plan to move forward with a solution.
Make Use of Online Collaboration Tools
With the advancement of technology, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced millions of people to work from home, there are thousands of online tools to effectively manage your staff. Collaborative tools come in all forms and serve various functions to effectively manage tasks, projects and heighten communication and transparency.
For instant messaging and team contacts, go with tools like Slack, Chanty, or Troop Messenger. They allow you instant communication to individuals as well as teams, and most provide integrations with other tools like Trello or Asana.
These, like monday.com, are task management tools that allow you to define the project, break down the tasks into individual sections and assign the relevant person to the task. It will help you track the progress of the task as well as measure the success of the task.
Real-time collaboration tools also provide you with instant notifications, can be used on various devices, and provide a high level of transparency for your team. They make remote working a lot easier, and ensure that all tasks are clearly defined and that progress is taking place.
Create A Healthy Environment With Open Communication
Company culture is a key aspect to build in an organization. It is a set and shared set of values, morals, attitudes, and practices in an organization. In order to develop this, and ensure it is driven through the whole company, the company culture should be discussed in the early stages of the recruitment process.
Team leaders, management, and HR can all collaboratively work together to drive the sense of company culture in the organization. Practices like open communication, transparency and an open-door policy can mark the difference between a healthy environment and a stressful, toxic place to work.
Companies with a healthy environment and great company culture put a lot of focus into teamwork, job satisfaction, and employee morale. They believe that employees are happiest when they are being productive and making a difference to the company, as well as being recognized and rewarded for it. Some of the companies with the highest levels of company morale pay a lot of attention to their employee’s stress levels and make the health and happiness of employees a priority. Organizations that prioritize work-life balance are usually more successful than those that don’t.
Ensure Clearly Defined Goals, Tasks, and Responsibilities
This is an important part of the communication flow within the team and the organization. Confusion into who is responsible for what part of the project is one of the biggest causes of conflict in teams and can have a huge impact on productivity and task completion.
Online collaboration tools, as mentioned earlier, are useful to eliminate any confusion when it comes to tasks and roles within the team. However, it is also important to define each employee’s roles correctly during the hiring and promotional stages.
It is advisable to keep contracts and job descriptions up to date at all times in order for each employee to know their range of duties, as well as what does not fall under their responsibilities. It can get hazy at times, especially in the case of start-ups and small businesses, where employees have to wear more than one hat. The problem comes in, however, that employees can be tasked with too much, be overworked, and not be reimbursed for their efforts.
This leads to burn-out and demotivated employees, and this, in turn, can have a negative impact on the success of the company.
Wrapping Up
As a manager or leader in your organization, it is important to keep communication open between your team members. Ensure regular check-ins and transparent communication at all times. Not only will this ensure that everything is on the right track, but it will also give the employee a sense of belonging and responsibility. Keep the environment as healthy as possible by ensuring that they have a place to talk and should they be experiencing any unhappiness or excessive stress, manage it as openly as possible. Teamwork is key for a company to function at its best and to flourish with its team members.
