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Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Mistakes to Avoid when Tracking Work

These days, tracking work is a necessity for any business wanting to optimize their productivity. And every team, in their own ways, has a system in place that does the job.

But unfortunately, there are a few common mistakes that can be easily made when tracking work. But with a little help, you can ensure that your team does not make them!

Common mistakes made when tracking work

Not Defining Goals

Without well-defined goals, it becomes difficult to assess whether a project is on track or not. Make sure you take the time to define clear objectives for each task that needs to be tracked. This way, you’ll be able to adequately track progress throughout the project. For instance, if you have to define the goals for fixing bugs on the website. You would define the timeline very carefully and communicate why it is essential for customer satisfaction to fix all bugs that can hinder their experience. You team members need to know why they are doing what they are doing.

Not Recording Accurately

This means not measuring time spent accurately, not tracking progress effectively, or specifying outcomes clearly. Without accurate data, it will be difficult to track the progress of projects effectively. Make sure to log data accurately and regularly to get the most out of your time-tracking.

Not Updating Regularly

Regular updates are important; not only will they help you understand where tasks stand but they also ensure that any issues are identified and rectified quickly. Update your progress regularly and keep an eye on any task that is falling behind.

Failing to communicate clearly and consistently

It is highly important that you communicate with your team and let them in on what’s going on. This ensures that your team members feel a part of something bigger than just their own teams.

Smoother and clearer communication will not only ensure a smooth flow of information. But also enhance the collaboration among team members and their productivity.

Not allowing feedback or input

You must always encourage feedback from your team. This also ensures that your team is welcoming to feedback when you have something to say. With the right feedback from your team, you’ll be able to better understand their way of working. Further, you can ensure that you can provide the right help whenever needed by your team.

Relying too heavily on individual metrics

It is good to know what each member is doing in the team. But that cannot be used as a metric to evaluate the entire team’s performance.

For instance, a team performed a task in 2 hours. But team member A did 90% of the work, team member did 10%, and team member C did nearly nothing. So would that mean the entire team was productive because A was highly productive? Or would that mean the entire team can do better because team member C was not very productive? What do you think?

Not Using the Right tool

There are a variety of task tracking and management tools out there—some better than others. Make sure to choose an appropriate tool for your needs, difficulty levels, and way of working.

Use tools that are both easy to use and provide a comprehensive overview of progress. These are just a few of the most common mistakes to avoid when tracking work.

Conclusion

Tracking work isn’t easy. We get it. But it does get easier with a little mindfulness and help from technology.

By avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll be better suited to track projects and tasks in a more effective and efficient manner. As always, practice makes perfect, so ensure you stay on top of your tracking and find the right balance of time management and quality tracking to be successful.

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From Manual to Automated: Transforming Your Task Management Process

In today’s dynamic and ever-changing business environment, proper task management is essential for success. As businesses become more complex, manual processes are becoming more difficult to manage leading to higher chances of inefficiency.  

To keep up with the ever-evolving world, it is essential for businesses to shift from manual processes to automated task management processes. 

But why are businesses still choosing manual task management?

For a very long time, businesses thought managing all tasks manually will give them more control over their team’s work. It felt like a good enough system to ensure that things are running smoothly. 

But as businesses start to grow, the number of everyday tasks turn from 50 to 500. Which makes manual management of each task nearly impossible. 

And ironically, this leads to losing more control over your team’s work than you can imagine. 

But lucky for us, new advancements in technology are offering us more opportunities to enhance efficiency and effectively manage every task. 

Transforming task management through automation

Automation of task management processes can simplify and streamline operations. It can reduce costs and increase efficiency by eliminating tedious and time-consuming manual processes. 

Let’s look at an example to help explain things better. 

When manually assigning a task, you either email, message, or verbally communicate the task. Along with its deadlines, and any other additional information required. Sounds like a process that should work? However, there are certain highly significant factors that are overlooked in this process. 

What manual task delegation doesn’t consider is which team member fits the task perfectly? Or what does everyone’s workload look like? Does someone have too much on their plate and some too little? How tasks are prioritized to meet deadlines? 

These are just some of the problems that arise when you try to manage your tasks manually in the long run. The truth is, manual management has never been a highly efficient system. 

This lead to innovation and automation of task management processes for the better. 

It is not only a great way to assign tasks but also provide data visibility and offer better control over task management processes. Additionally, automation of tasks can provide visibility into who is responsible for each task, when tasks are due, and allow managers to delegate tasks in a much more efficient manner. 

How to implement automation in everyday task management

To get started with automated task management, the first step is to map out all of the tasks that need to be managed. This will provide an overview of what needs to be accomplished and how the tasks need to be structured. 

Next, businesses should identify the resources required for each task. This will ensure that the required knowledge or skills are available when needed. Once the tasks have been identified, the next step is to implement the task management and automation tool. 

The system should be designed to provide accurate oversight and control. It should streamline work flow and eliminate manual processes wherever possible. This includes identifying how tasks will be assigned, how they will be tracked, and which users should have access to tasks and data. 

The final step is to continually review the tool and consistently take your team’s feedback. The review process should include monitoring how users are responding to the new system, as well as keeping an eye on resource requirements and task dependencies. It is also important to ensure that users have access to the tools they need to support the automated process. 

Conclusion

Overall, automated task management processes can lead to more efficient and cost-effective operations. By introducing automation into the  process, businesses can simplify operations. Further, they can increase efficiency, and provide better visibility into tasks and resources. Automation is a great way to stay competitive in today’s ever-evolving business world.

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What really makes teamwork effective?

Let’s explore a meeting scenario. Team member A says “I’ll help in resource collection for task 1.” 

“I’ll do the final edits for all drafts in task 2”, says team members B. 

Team member C jumps in and says, “I’ll make the presentation for both tasks once the content is in place.”

“I’ll take the content part then”, says team member D knowing very well that he would have to do most of the work on his own. 

Because the ‘content part’ of task 1 and 2 makes up 80% of the work, D ends up doing most of the work. 

Does this sound familiar to you? Because it’s a reality of most workplaces today. Teamwork is shadowed by team members working in silos with bare minimum support for each other. 

And this is where teamwork becomes ineffective – when team members focus on their own progress and work instead on the main task as a whole. 

What makes up effective teamwork?

Good teamwork does not happen by accident. 

Strong leadership, adaptability, diversity, effective communication, and effectively handling disputes are largely associated with successful team building. Let’s dive deeper into how they enhance teamwork. 

Strong leadership 

The best leaders reliably deliver on their commitments, or “practise what they preach” as the saying goes. They are focused on providing absolutely everything that the team needs to do their best work. Neither micromanagement nor a completely non-interventionist approach is the answer. And teams appreciate this more than you can know.

Teams need a leader who is available and easily approachable. Someone who listens and appreciates their feedback, solves their problems on priority, and recognizes them for a job well done.  This creates an environment where team members can thrive. 

An active involvement in the team’s well being creates a further sense of belonging enhancing collaboration among team members. 

Quick adaptability 

While it is important to clearly define the roles and duties of each member, they are not rigid in effective teams. Team members are willing to give their best and do something that might not be in their job in the first place, if it’s essential to getting the job done. 

However, they do it cooperatively, not stepping on anyone’s feet, but by working together with other team members. 

The idea is not to take over but to acknowledge another team member’s effort. In the most effective teams, all members are responsible for their own mission as well as the achievement of a common goal.  

Diversity & innovation 

Good members bring diversity of thoughts, experiences, and skills to a team. 

Leaders who recognize this and encourage diversity within the team will be rewarded with new and innovative ways to get their work done. 

Effective teams are willing to try a new solution to an old problem. They are also open to new or unusual suggestions and do not dismiss solutions without consideration.  

Thus ensuring that each team member’s diverse thoughts are valued. Always remember that team members will be more productive in their work, when they feel a sense of value within the business. 

Effective Communication

In the most effective teams, communication happens frequently. Interaction between team members as well as between team leaders is essential. 

Emails, impromptu meetings, and conference calls are quick ways to communicate and make decisions. They are also good methods for quickly, periodically updating tasks or asking questions that do not require group consensus. 

But this way might not be the most efficient. The problem is that they often lead to scattered information. Team members have to go through various channels to filter and find information on their work. 

It works for some teams but in most of them, it creates a lot of chaos. A better way to communicate is perhaps by implementing tools that allow you to consolidate all communication and work. 

For instance, 1team.ai is a tool that allows you to directly save and consolidate all WhatsApp communication to your Notes by simply forwarding text messages. 

These unique features in tools ensure that team members have easy communication between each other and have all work related information available on their fingertips. 

However, remember that the first rule of communication is listening. Make it clear that all comments will be considered and really listen to what people are saying before commenting.  

Efficient dispute Management

Conflicts arise, even in the best of teams. Often, new ideas and solutions can arise from a difference of opinion, so don’t be discouraged. 

Decide as a group how to handle conflict. Have a process in place and follow it as soon as possible after a dispute (usually within 24 hours). 

Conflict management is not easy. But teams that persevere and find ways to create a cohesive team are rewarded with greater productivity, less internal conflict, and a more enjoyable work experience.

How can you implement it in your team?

Building an effective team is never a cake walk. But there are ways that can make it easier and simpler for you. 

Many businesses today are implementing technology as a means of building more effective teams that smoothly collaborate and communicate with each other. 

One such way is by implementing tools that manage your overall work and save you from the chaotic task of day-to-day work management. 

With the right tool you can –

Ensure effective communication among team members 

Effectively delegate and check the progress of each task 

Get detailed analysis of all work 

Get automated delay reminders and never miss any deadlines

Ensure smooth flow of information and effective data management

Ensure easy collaboration among team members

1team.ai is one such tool that was built with the thought to achieve this and more within teams. 

If you are someone looking to implement tools in your team, we’d be happy to schedule a quick demo for you, completely free of cost.

Schedule here.

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The impact of automation on team leadership

The future is here! What seemed like a science fiction movie a few decades ago is now all around us. We are surrounded by technology, at all times. And it plays an important role in our lives and work. 

You can thank the pandemic for the exponential rise in technologies. Spike in consumer demand, increasing adoption of digital channels, disrupted supply chains, and the shift to remote working have all brought traditional business processes to the brink of collapse. For many, embracing automation has become a matter of business survival. For others, it was a timely occasion. 

The coronavirus crisis provides useful cover to use automation as a weapon to radically restructure their workforce. That said, it’s still early days.  

And today, it is everywhere and that includes business leadership. Embracing this reality allows business leaders to navigate the development process smoothly. And you’ll better adapt to it with some more information. 

Automation redefines the capabilities of your employees

Instead of replacing people, technology offers the opportunity to redefine job roles. For instance, when financial advisors use algorithms to create personalized financial plans, it does not mean that they become obsolete. In fact, it is quite the opposite. They simply changed the boundaries of what should be done manually. Improving capabilities through better tools instead of adding stress to your workforce is the most sustainable way to achieve productivity.

Automation enables leaders make better decisions 

Organizations are decision-making machines, but not all decisions require the same effort. Some decisions are complicated but are much suitable for automation because they follow well-defined guidelines. Other decisions seem simple but involve a high degree of ambiguity that requires human judgment. 

While some decisions might need your personal expertise, it is crucial to your efficiency to leave the rest to tools.

Automation is the beginning, not the end of your journey

Definitive automation is a powerful tool to kick-start your digital transformation. Mapping processes, linking business systems, and unlocking more insights into your operations will not only speed up the internal clock, but also provide contextual data to companies. Adapt sophisticated tools to optimize and improve your business’s efficiency. 

By all means, capture the quick wins brought by automation.

How does automation enhance leadership?

Reduces human bias

A particularly important benefit for managers is how automation avoids human bias. As we all know, inequality exists in all areas.Often these inequalities are perpetuated by natural human biases. These problems appear in small protocol implementations,such as refusing to run a meeting differently or in favor of a more familiar approach to training new employees.

All in all, it does removes human bias from the business administration equation. Preventing these human tendencies canprofoundly influence leadership decisions.

 For example, automation has significant potential to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Recruitment becomesmore objective, and even benefits are achieved fairly. 

Productivity and Efficiency 

In addition, automated processes increasingly allow business management to focus on important aspects of the decision-making process while providing them with the most accurate information. 

For example, management automation can include spatial data services in region-specific applications for context-appropriatesolutions. Auto-suggestions for the geolocation API are very helpful for marketing, research, and executive teams, providing up-to-date access to location-based information. Automatic location data eliminates tedious processes that lead to “bestguesses” by providing reliable accuracy.

Many companies have implemented automated workflows to create efficiency and accuracy. Automated systems can converttimestamps, allowing leaders to stay connected across time zones. 

Even in small businesses, automation makes life easier by replacing machine processes.

Security & safety

In our technology-saturated world, cybersecurity must be a top priority for businesses. However, at the same time, it can betedious to shift a lot of human resources to fight hackers. Basically, the answer is to use technology to prevent cybersecurityproblems.

In the long run, automation is often cheaper than having to constantly pay humans to do this kind of work. The software scansfaster and deeper than a person’s ability to detect vulnerabilities. 

While we’re unlikely to see the complete elimination of humans from this department, technology-based security systems willaffect how managers structure their teams and keep businesses secure. their profession. 

Enhanced flexibility 

Leaders need to quickly adapt to change in this fast moving market to be successful. And automation enables business leaders to be on their feet and tackle change. 

Today, through automation and analytics, leaders can predict the future complexities with ample time to prepare and plan to conquer it. It has provided for a stable environment for change adaptation and quick forward movement. 

Conclusion

In the age of automation, it’s important for leaders to consider the context and social segment in which they operate.

Automation will continue to be present in our lives, but it should be seen as a component of collaborating and working alongside teams rather than a substitute for human decision-making.

Today’s business leaders are called to explore the problems that need to be solved, leveraging the power of automation.

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Combat work stress among team members

Do you think your team members are under stress? Everyone seems overwhelmed and too busy these days. But even when your team members have a lot on their plate, they don’t need to put their health or happiness on the line to attain it. Afterall, teams can only deliver their best work in a positive stress-free environment. 

So what can you do to reduce stress in your team? How can you help them focus on what really needs to be done? 

As a leader, your job is to help your employees find the right balance. Sure, you need results, but you wouldn’t want it at the risk of burnout. Research shows that memory, attention span, and focus suffer when people try to manage the constant flow of communication and distractions that are an inevitable part of the workplace. 

And it is your responsibility to help team members navigate chaos, reduce stress, and make sure your team can do their best work. 

Teach team members to manage their own stress in theworkplace.

A better sense of personal control reduces worker stress. Brain-stimulated stress hormonal activity decreases when we feel wehave enough control over our circumstances and are no longer threatened. Help your team succeed by providing essentialstress management tools such as:

Training on prioritization, delegation, and time management. 

Encourage them to regularly assess and manage their personal stress levels.

Provide resources, where allowed, to manage personal stress and cope with its effects.  

Enhance transparency 

Inform team members about what’s going on. Leaving people out of conversations or information can quickly lead to feelings ofdisconnection from the business and fear for the future – which are serious stressors.

Plan regular meetings to keep the team updated on what’s going on. This reduces the chances of any team member feeling left out. Emphasize the importance of the team to the company’s mission and express your appreciation for the employee’s efforts.Let them know the status of the performance metrics and what they reflect on their work.  

Encourage team members to get good sleep

The alarming figure is that 37% of the workforce does not get enough sleep. Sleep problems and stress can combine to create avicious cycle of not being able to sleep due to stress, followed by increased stress effects from lack of sleep. 

Stress hormones can trigger the release of hormones that act on the body as stimulants, leading to disrupted sleep.

Lack of sleep can have several serious consequences to the productivity of your team members. Its leads to poor concentration, mood swings, lower motivation, anger, indecisiveness, increase in error and more. 

It is in your best interest to encourage team members to manage their time well and get balanced sleep. Provide resources and offer help, wherever you can. And ensure that you take your team’s feedback while you proceed in every step. 

Have realistic expectations for reduced stress

Great leaders understand that imposing unrealistic expectations or requirements that are inconsistent with the abilities ofworkers will add undue stress to the workforce. staff. Such requirements have the potential to lead to negative consequences interms of team disengagement, low motivation, staff attrition, and the high costs associated with excessive revenue.

Ambitious, challenging goals and the determination to achieve them are the seeds of leadership greatness. It’s important tolead in a way that allows your team to support your vision, but also ensures safety in their work. Employees must be able tobelieve that they can succeed in meeting expectations. So it is highly important that you set attainable, realistic goals.

Encourage two-way communication

Promote open communication with your employees. Listen carefully. Ask team members if they have everything they need to dotheir job properly. Willing to listen to their ideas, problems and ideas on how to improve operations and the working environment.

Be on the lookout for issues that could negatively affect employee retention or the performance of your business. Whatever theyare, they are bound to be significant stressors for your team.

Break down barriers, address other issues in the workplace, and empower people to overcome personal challenges as theyarise. Strive to strengthen working relationships and promote a supportive work culture. Communicating about stressful issues isin itself a free way to relieve stress.  

Do not impose serious consequences for failure

Of course, everyone makes mistakes. So it makes sense that in the best organizations, leaders see the mistakes and failures thatoccur while trying to get great work done as opportunities for creative solutions.

Micromanagement or strict discipline for employees who make mistakes not only increases stress levels, but also stiflescreativity, risk-taking, and potential innovations that can create a free and open work environment. easier to forgive.

Applying general limits is necessary, but it’s a self-defeating approach that puts people at work in fear of making mistakes whilethey learn tasks or processes, or try out ideas. new. 

Build a good stress management model at work.

Measure your own words and actions in the workplace. That doesn’t mean you’re introducing an emotionless cyborg to yourteam. 

This is in contrast to everything suggested elsewhere on this list in terms of concepts that help your employees feel morecomfortable with you as a leader. 

To ensure this, you must provide your team members with all the necessary resources. For instance, if team members are struggling to keep track of their tasks, you could implement a task management tool in your team. Or if they are struggling to stay focused, you could narrow down their distractions and triggers, and help provide the necessary help. 

Remember a happy team is a productive team!

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Mundane tasks that you should automate in your business

Wasn’t technology supposed to automate and prevent employees from performing everyday mundane tasks? Well, its a little different from what it should be. 

A study conducted by Onepool found that office employees spend 3 hours a day on manual recurring tasks that are not entirely a part of their jobs.

The problem is that while businesses did adapt technology to achieve higher efficiency. They did not leave behind their traditional methods of getting everyday work done. 

Between long to-do lists, email responses, and endless meeting cycles, the average workday is consumed more by the management of work than focusing on getting it done. 

That’s why removing repetitive tasks from your to-do list is essential for your productivity. Some tasks in your business can be automated. While others might have to be delegated to others. But there’s a way for it all. Let’s look at what aspects of your business can be automated. 

Customer Support tasks

Customer Support – Organizing customer service using auto-generated support tickets can help your customer support team know the order to answer questions and track down solutions, saving your time and hassle.

Reply by e-mail –  Obviously you don’t want to send bot-generated emails to everything in your inbox. But if you frequently get the same question over and over, it’s easy to set up defined replies. In advance via Gmail, you can customize these replies with details before you send them.

Customer email – Emails sent on customer birthdays or company anniversaries can be of great help in fostering strong relationships. They can be pre-scheduled from the database. You can set up similar emails for offers and occasions. 

Finance Tasks 

Payment reminder – It is hard to keep track of every payment in a growing business. But regardless, it is essential that you do so. You can automate email reminders for payments saving your time and effort. 

Pay – Several apps available today can help you easily automate payroll so your HR department doesn’t get bogged down twice a month.

Receipts – If your business has a lot of receipts, scan them into an app like Shoeboxed to automatically get the necessary information exported from them. Once you’ve scanned the backlog, get in the habit of taking pictures as you do it to avoid the hassle of preparing returns.

Administrative Tasks 

File backup – This necessary precaution does not require your full attention. Instead, set up a cloud-based backup like Dropbox, where you can set a daily or weekly time for background backups. There is really no need to spend half a day saving files to an external hard drive! 

Hiring – Programs like ZipRecruiter can submit your job description to multiple job search sites at once. 

Expense management – Budgeting and managing expenses are important but time-consuming administrative tasks that your teamhas to deal with on a regular basis. Regardless of the type of budget involved, automating the processmakes it easy. 

Marketing Tasks

There are many marketing tasks that can be automated. Most marketing services automate common tasks like advertising campaigns, social media posting, and email marketing. Automation tools enable marketing teams to operate more efficiently and provide a more personalized experience for customers and prospects.

Typically, successful marketing automation takes into account potential customers’ interactions with different marketing channels and their ever-changing needs. This could include how they interact with social media channels, view a pricing page, or time spent on a blog post.  

How to Automate Mundane Tasks 

There are many tools that automate common tasks. You can choose to use individual tools for each need. Or you can implement 1team.ai, a tool that adapts into the infrastructure of your business and caters to your needs. 

In the competitive business landscape of 2021, automating routine tasks is key to staying ahead of the competition. It enables organizations to improve productivity and retention rates, build stronger brands and grow faster, and reduce business costs.

By implementing tools like 1team.ai, you can automate and modernise your organization’s existing way of working to drive continuous value, innovation, and a productive employee experience.

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Adapting Management Tools: Business expense or the Ladder to Higher Revenue?

“Management Tools can help reinvent the way your team works.”

“Tools help you get a competitive edge in the market.”

“Tools help your business grow faster.”  

You’ve probably heard that before. You’ve read it on hundreds of Google ads trying to sell a solution for your business. 

And there is some truth to it. Management tools are crucial to your business. They make your work simpler and seamless. But adapting these tools in your team is a little more complicated.

One of the reasons behind this difficulty in adaptation is the team’s unwillingness to welcome any change in the way that they work. Of course, it varies across different teams and team members. But a majority of them do not see a problem in their traditional ways, therefore do not feel the need for a solution. 

On the other hand, the complexity of tools often makes it difficult for teams to integrate them well into their everyday work. 

Moreover, buying a new tool to better manage your business isn’t enough. You also have to ensure that your team is well-trained to make the most of it.

Are management tools costing you money?

Imagine getting your entire team together to adapt a new management tool that requires two weeks of training. Or spending a hundred dollars on a tool your team never really uses.

Teams can sometimes have a dysfunctional relationship with management tools. Because not all tools can easily deal with the uncertainty and unknowns within teams. And when you start to manage your teams with a tool that does not modify itself according to the team’s needs – The difficulty in adaptation feels like the ineffectiveness of the tool. 

And that’s what costs you the real money. 

Management tools should adapt teams

It might look like a good tool that should focus on solving the problem. But that’s generally not the case. 

Tools are built for teams, teams aren’t built for tools. And a good management tool should easily adapt to a team and fit right in. They should be built with intelligence on how team members communicate and work with each other. And this very behavior should be integrated into the tool’s functioning to make it easier for teams to adapt. 

A tool that is built with common sense and seamlessly adapts to your team is the one that will help you climb higher on the revenue ladder. 

Tools make more productive teams

You already know that highly productive teams can help your business grow faster. And with the right management tool, you can manage your team into becoming more productive and accurate in their everyday work. 

Productivity and efficiency are the key to any businesses’ success and tools help you unlock it.

Tools help streamline business process 

Tools can help streamline the way your team communicates, collaborates, and accomplishes tasks. They enable you to trace the patterns within which your team works and carve out the best way for your team. 

Some tools can help you automate specific areas of your work too. 

The right processes are crucial to any business. They ensure that things run smoothly and on track. 

Tools help you predict uncertainties 

Any business must always be prepared for the worst. And with tools, you can predict any future uncertainties and act upon them immediately. For instance, a tool that provides a dashboard view of all work will help you in instantly recognizing delayed work and deadlines. 

Tools also help you quickly react in case something goes wrong. It enables you to quickly and clearly communicate with your team (and customers) and minimise the impact of the problem. 

Tools help save time and money

Tools can help you save a lot more time than you think. From automated reminders to intelligent dashboards, management tools can give you a 360 degree view of your work and enable you to organise and track every aspect of it on your fingertips. 

You no longer have to check in with your team members about your tasks everyday. And have every team member send you work updates every now and then. 

Further, when your team works as a strong productive unit, you spend less money on resources otherwise required by your team to get things done. 

Get on top of the revenue ladder 

Management tools are an investment that will pay off in many different ways – if you choose right and easily adapt. 

Tools have huge benefits for your business’s bottom line while making everyday work easier and simpler. 

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Self Management can Reduce Burn-Out in Managers

‘Assigning tasks, checking work status, following up with the team, and communicating with stakeholders.’

This is how most managers start their everyday work. Followed by team meetings, tracking everybody’s daily work, and even keeping the team’s morale up. 

Managers spend a large part of their time managing and motivating their teams – occupying a very precarious position in the organisation. They have to support and guide their teams while being accountable for each team member to their superior management. 

They have to maintain a delicate balance between the two because they are burning candles at both ends. 

And while some of it is critical for teams and businesses to grow, most of what managers do can be unburdened if teams follow self management in their everyday work. 

“Most of what we call management today consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.” – Peter Drucker, (1909–2005), a management consultant, educator, and author, also known as the founder of modern management.

There are some obvious gaps in the traditional model of management. And as management evolves to a more modern approach, managers should be more focused on leading than monitoring. 

Self Management : The Sweet Spot

Getting maximum productivity and engagement from teams is at the top of most managers’ priority list. One management technique that has long been a staple and has gained popularity recently – is the sense of self management

But with increasing popularity, it is often misunderstood.

For a lot of teams today, self managed means the absence of a manager. They believe teams that are capable of self managing their actions do not need a manager.  

But that’s far from the truth. In fact, managing their teams is only a part of manager’s work. Moreover, they are an active contributor in motivating their teams and guiding them in the right direction. 

And somewhere between independently managed teams, and the traditional ways of management, you find your sweet spot. 

Benefits of self management

The ideal work environment is where team members are driven and capable of managing their work and time without supervision but at the same time have someone to ask for help when needed. 

A sense of ownership among team members is essential to ensure that managers are able to better support their teams. 

Higher productivity

Self management can considerably speed things up. When each team member is aware of their tasks for the day when they come to work in the morning, they are able to save a lot more of their time and accomplish everything quickly. 

As Jenny Thai wrote for Wavelength, “Instead of a traditional management hierarchy authorising every decision, when teams make the call, they are able to move much faster to tackle new opportunities and challenges.” 

And managing highly productive teams is easier because they ensure that things are always on track. 

Higher Accountability 

When teams self manage, they have a higher sense of ownership and accountability.

This authority over their own work makes them feel like an indispensable and valuable part of the team. But more than empowerment, it is important to realise that teams are capable of driving their own work if given the opportunity. 

Further, this sense of accountability promotes a culture where team members update their managers as and when the work is done. And managers no longer have to consistently follow up with their teams. 

More Innovation

Self management can help accomplish a working model that traditional methods of working cannot. It ensures that team members personally care about their work which makes it possible for team members to be more innovative. 

It has been proven time and time again that a sense of self management begets more creative problem solving, diverse perspectives, and higher responsiveness. And developing this sense in their teams can help managers achieve more innovation in work. 

How to Enable Team Members to be More Self Managed

Develop team roles and processes

The basic need of any team is the right processes. Teams cannot self manage and thrive without set guidelines and team roles. 

For instance, we have only two job roles defined for our teams: owner and helper. Although multiple team members can contribute to projects and tasks, it is essential that the ownership lies with one single team member. And having only two job roles enables us to make faster decisions and move forward quickly with each action. 

Similarly, teams need properly laid out guidelines for communication, collaboration, and the way they work to thrive in an independent environment. 

Improve communication channels

When working in a team, it is always important to identify the right channels and hygiene for communication. 

And just providing your team with the right tools to enhance communication isn’t enough. You also need to set guidelines on how team members will send messages, what is the ideal time they can take to respond, and how to communicate urgently. 

Provide initial guidance

While self-managed teams usually guide themselves, it is essential to provide some initial guidance. You do not just need to lay down processes but also need to help your team adapt well into them. 

Teams can always adjust their processes accordingly to what works best for them. But you shouldn’t rule out the possibility of training your teams to work better when self managing, especially if it is a new concept for them.

Develop team building practices

A culture of trust is must for’independent’ teams to communicate and work well together. And the easiest way to achieve this is by enabling team members to regularly talk to each other and build a personal friendship with one another. 

One of the ways of doing this is through team building activities. It could be anything from online scrabble to getting drinks and dinner with the team. 

It is best that the team decides what these activities will be because they can best understand what their most comfortable environment would be.

A sustainable model of management

Teams are able to achieve more and grow tremendously under the modern concept of self management.

And even managers are able to accomplish more when they work with a highly functioning team. So it’s a win for everyone. 

Through self management, businesses and teams can observe higher performance, enhanced decision making, and higher accountability for their work. It is a model that will help teams win the big goals and lead to growth.

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Team management tool Vs Manager – Do you only need one?

A manager’s everyday job is extremely dynamic and falls under a very broad umbrella. 

And a vast aspect of a manager’s everyday work is focused on supporting their team and keeping them on the right track.

From reporting back on their team, to keeping them motivated and then getting their ‘actual’ work done, it seems like a lot. 

And most managers find a way to manage all these details in their head. That’s why they often get lost in a sea of papers, regular phone calls, and daily supervision. 

That’s when they resort to technology solutions to make team management simpler. 

Tools are Helping Hands

The modern way of working is full of new technology designed to enable your teams to work better. They enable your team to reach their full potential and stay focused on their work. 

And while tools do not need a manager, your team still needs support that only you can offer. 

Team management tools are only a manager’s helping hand. 

They help you stay organised and on track, and are built to take some load off your shoulders. Provided, you choose wisely. 

Not every tool will work seamlessly for your team because of the diversity in each team member’s thoughts and work. You need to be up to date with how your team works and what their problems are in order to pick the right tool for them. 

Picking the Right Team Management Tool

For most managers, choosing the right tool can be a very overwhelming task. But with the right approach, you can easily compare tools and solutions and find the right one for your team. 

Here are some things you need to ask yourself before you narrow down your choices. 

Who is the tool built for?

In your search for the right management tool, you’ll find a lot of tools that market themselves as ‘one-for-all’. But very few tools available today can actually be a perfect fit for every team. 

The best way to find a solution for your team is to look for industry-specific tools. This is because tools built for marketing teams might not cater to finance teams the same way. And in some cases, they might not even solve some problems faced by finance teams. 

If a team management tool isn’t built or marketed for your specific industry, it is likely to not fit well into your team.

What are your team’s problems?

Anybody who is looking for a team management tool has already acknowledged that need for it. And has a set of problems they are trying to solve with the help of the tool. 

But you need to be clear in your thoughts too. Your problem cannot be vague – like ‘my team doesn’t want to work’. You need to dig deeper and find out why your team cannot get their work done and what are the hurdles they face everyday that limits them in their tasks. 

Once you have your problem narrowed down, it is easier to look for a tool that would provide you with the right solution. For instance, if your problem is missed deadlines, you need a tool that will clearly define the tasks, due date, and the priority of the task. 

Another good way of finding your problem is listing down the ‘must have’s’ and the ‘nice to have’s’ for your team. This is an efficient metric in figuring out what your team really needs.

Can the tool be customised for your team?

Customization means different things for different teams. At the very least, it means a solution that can modify itself for your team. A tool that understands your team’s behaviour and can easily integrate into their daily work. 

But at the same time, you do not want a tool that is so customizable that you have to practically build it yourself. This puts more pressure on teams and slows down the implementation and adaptation of the tool. Not to forget, a highly customizable tool needs more training and time to configure.

Enable your team to adapt tools easily

Every time someone offers you a new team management tool, they ensure that it will make your teams move faster, increase profits, and a number of other promises that make you buy it. 

But what nobody talks about is the difficulty your team faces in adapting the tool. 

Will they be welcoming? Will there be any resistance? Nobody talks about it. 

It is a manager’s responsibility to equip their teams with the right resources and training required to adapt the tool. You cannot introduce a new tool and expect your team to just get on board with it. 

However, if you choose a simpler and easy to understand solution (that also solves your problems), your team will have a much easier time adapting to it and might actually enjoy using the tool to get their work done. 

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What Makes Good Managers Great?

Can you think of a single sports team that thrives without a great captain? Even if they have the best players on their side, they still need strong leadership to support and guide them to success. Similarly, having highly productive teams isn’t enough. There must be the presence of a manager or system that supports your team to flourish in any environment.

This very leadership and management can help your teams achieve more, in less time and with less effort.

What makes a good manager?

Simply put, good managers are able to maintain a balance between their team’s everyday work and the organization’s big goals. They ensure that their team does not go astray from these goals and that their everyday work is aligned to meet them – leading them to success. 

On a blog, it seems pretty simple and straightforward – but in reality, its far more complex.

Because a manager’s merit cannot be based upon how successful their team is but on the amount of leadership and effort that they put into driving their team to success.

A good manager’s top four traits

If you look at things broadly, you will observe patterns in the ways good managers work. And it doesn’t take too much time to map out the common patterns in how each of them works with their team. Here’s are some of these traits that are significant to be able to effortlessly make your teams successful:

Inclusivity 

When someone tells you to be inclusive, it isn’t just limited to having people from diverse cultures and regions in your team. Being truly inclusive means having the emotional intelligence to understand and help a more diverse group of people. 

And a good manager possesses this very intelligence that enables his team to have advanced interpersonal relations and improved communication. 

Have open and honest conversations with your team

Recognize every team member’s unique skills

Give time to positive feedback and encouragement 

Communication

Any good leader must be a great communicator. They must know what to say, how to say it and when is the right time to say it. 

Similarly, in a workplace, a good manager must fully understand how their team communicates with each other and provide them with more efficient solutions/processes, if they face any problems. 

More often than you would believe, complications in projects narrows down to communication error within the team. So it is essential to create a communication plan that best fits your team and streamlines conversations. 

Assign different channels to different types of communication

Understand how your team converses when they casually talk to each other

Help your team develop better written communication skills

Decisiveness 

A good manager is decisive – not only in their everyday work but also in times of panic when decision making is all the more complicated. 

It is important to remember that you are making decisions that do not just impact you, but the entire team. So it’s in your best interest to take the entire team’s feedback before making a big decision.

In the end, it all comes down to what you think is best. But knowing what your team wants will help you better justify your decision and avoid conflicts. 

Coordinate and inform your team of any major decisions 

Give your team time to react and response

Always provide full context and clarity on the ongoing affairs 

Accountability  

You’ve probably heard this one before. Accountability sets the tone for how your team works. And since you’re leading your team, you must lead by example.

Every working individual (including you) will make some mistakes at some point in their careers. If you want team members to be highly accountable for their actions, you need to adopt a transparent work culture and be open about your own mistakes and actions too. This also helps in fostering a culture of trust and honesty within teams.

Adapt accountability as a medium to quickly solve problems

Always acknowledge issues within the team 

Actively listen to your team members

What makes a good manager great?

The big question still remains. Although there are a lot of good managers that are able to lead teams well – there are only a few great managers that are able to lead their teams seamlessly. 

And what sets them apart from other managers?

Adaptability.

Good managers possess the skills to guide and support their team but great managers know how to develop their teams to be highly adaptable and flexible to change. 

A highly adaptable team will respond effectively to different problems and challenges within the workplace. And make your life easier. 

Always be on the lookout to identify any problems in your team

Encourage your team to ask more questions 

Do not let your team only reside in their comfort zone

Enable team members to learn how to embrace change

Be a Leader

“A great manager is not a person who can do the work better than his men; he is a person who can get his men to do the work better than he can.” – Frederick W. Smith

Great managers know that their responsibilities are not limited to making their team members do their work. Rather, they play a primary role in building a positive and healthy work environment.

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Building the Right Work Culture for Remote Teams

Today, businesses are a lot more focused towards building a strong and positive work culture. There is a reason why they spend a lot of time, money, and resources building a positive work culture. 

Why?

Because it’s crucial to your team’s success.

A team’s culture is what ultimately decides how team members are going to work and interact with each other everyday. 

Think of it this way, if you are in a good mood, you would be nicer to people around you and have a positive outlook for a problem that might come your way. But when you’re in a bad mood, things might not feel the same. Similarly, when working in a positive work environment, team members feel more secure and are able to deliver and work to their full potential.

A positive and honest work culture builds more productive and trustworthy teams – on the other hand, poor work culture leads to dissatisfaction and burnout among team members. 

So why doesn’t everyone just build a positive team culture? 

Because culture involves fostering a mindful connection between you and your teams; and that isn’t always so simple. And in a remote setting, without any in person interactions, this becomes all the more challenging.   

Challenges of building work culture – remotely

Most teams that work remotely hardly ever meet each other in person. And developing a real connection behind a laptop screen is the biggest challenge faced by most remote managers.

Sure there are team building and engagement activities (that a lot of us are already familiar with). But they are merely stepping stones and not something that culture can be built upon. 

Think about it, would you really like to get on an hour long zoom call after your working hours to play cards with your team members? 

What you need is a solid foundation that your entire team can fall back on. And that’s how you build a strong work culture. 

Building a strong work culture in remote teams

Since your work culture is how your team perceives you and the company, it is essential that you overcome every challenge that comes in your way. 

Here’s how you can do that. 

Focus on your goals

Your goals are already defined and prioritised for you. But you must ensure that you align your team with the same goals and help them stay focused on them in their everyday work. 

When your team collectively works on achieving the same goals, they are likely to achieve them faster and more effectively. 

Pro tip: Always recognise the goals and key objectives in every task, project, team meeting, and discussions. 

Be transparent

In a remote environment, transparency plays a key role in how satisfied your team is. It helps in setting clear expectations and building a work culture around trust.

And it isn’t just limited to what everyone in the team (including you) is doing. It is about being absolutely clear on the KPIs. Providing your team with the knowledge of how they will be measured and tracked can be a powerful motivation, especially when working remotely. 

Pro tip – It is ideal to onboard a management tool that helps track (not monitor) the team’s work in real time.

Set the tone for communication

You need to be careful when building your communication guidelines because this is where it starts getting tricky. When team members are working in different time zones and speak different first languages, it is essential that they have a clear understanding of how and when to communicate with each other. 

For instance, if one team member (in India) needs help from another team member (in US), they must have a system in place to carry out communication at the right time and be able to get a response too. 

Pro tip – Before you start developing your communication guidelines, identify how and what the team communicates on a daily basis and try to incorporate the same in your work culture and processes. 

Build personal connections

In a traditional office environment, it is very easy to get to know one another. Since team members spend a major chunk of the day with each other, they are able to build meaningful relationships with each other. 

But when working remotely, you need to ensure that your team has the opportunity and resources to bond with each other. This is where team building activities come in that help your team members understand each other on a personal level and actually get to know each other outside of work. 

Pro tip – Find time in your everyday work to interact with your team as a group. 

Be available 

One of your key responsibilities is to support your team in every way. You must be available for help, problem solving, and feedback whenever your team needs it. 

When team members are comfortable talking to their managers, they are able to quickly communicate hurdles and overcome them. 

Lastly, do not forget to celebrate the small and big wins within your team and the business. It ensures that the team stays motivated and focused on work. It also counts as a big plus when you’re trying to build a positive work culture. 

Pro tip – Make the effort to have one-on-one conversations with each team member and identify and acknowledge their problems and hard work.

Align your remote team

When team members are located in different regions, the most important thing you need to remember is that team members should be well aligned with each other and the manager.  

Culture is how your team sees you and it is critical that you provide a positive work environment for them. 

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Future of Work After Covid 19

Long before the pandemic hit us, remote work was only a luxury to a few. 

Teams were thought to be their most innovative when present all together in a room. And being physically present in the office was a necessity in many jobs. 

But this was only because people didn’t believe in the true potential of remote work. Businesses didn’t think their employees would work-from-home and employees didn’t think they would feel their most productive working remotely. 

But shortly, all of us were forced to do it. 

Although there are a lot of businesses that have been running fully remotely for years but in 2020, it was the first time it became the mainstream way of working. And soon after, teams began to experience the benefits involved in it.

There is a reason why companies like Microsoft offer their employees to work from home even after spending loads of money on physical offices. Or companies like Shopify has had only fully distributed team for years.

The evolution of ‘Traditional’ Work

“Ten years ago, remote work basically meant a telemarketing or customer service position at below minimum wage. It rarely was connected with a full-time career.” said Samantha Lambert, director of human resources at website design company Blue Fountain Media. 

But today, technology has allowed us to work from anywhere in the world. It has opened new doors where team members can easily interact and collaborate while being in different locations. 

With seamless video conferencing, easy work tracking, and virtual workspaces, remote work is proving more effective than the traditional way of working. 

Not to forget, the reduced expenses on office spaces and traditional work is only the cherry on top of the cake. 

These advances in technology have made remote work possible for many of us today. 

But we have to acknowledge the fact that some teams cannot thrive in a remote setting.

Teams that just cannot focus when working from home.

And it’s not because remote work isn’t the right fit for them. It’s because they were not prepared to start working in a fully remote environment.

The Rise of Remote Work

The challenges of remote work were not that team members were not present in the same room – but the lack of process and guidelines required for team members to efficiently work from home. 

All of a sudden, team members needed solid communication hygienes, more motivation to stay focused, and higher transparency to get work done. 

Managers needed to be more adaptable to changes and teams needed to be more accepting. And only those could achieve it was able to sustain successfully.

The future of remote work lies in adaptability

There is no denying that technology has made work easier for a lot of people. Whether working remotely or not, technology and tools have made it simpler to manage people and work better. 

But the world that we live in is highly dynamic. Trends change quickly and teams that are able to adapt well to this change are the one’s that win in the long run. 

Before Covid-19 hit the world, nobody really thought traditional offices would shut down completely. Since these trends are hard to predict, only teams that can easily transition and adapt can run the long race.

According to Forbes, the pandemic has brought forth three broad set of trends:

Higher reliance to remote work 

Higher use of eCommerce and virtual transaction

Higher adoption of automation

Prepare your team

Teams all over the world are fighting and bringing innovation in their work models to best suit their current circumstances. And it has become essential that they do so. 

Most of these changes in your way of working might question the rudimentary functioning of organisational work – but your team must be prepared for whatever is to come their way. 

Change acts as catalysts to reshape your current way of working and in order to excel, you must embrace this change.

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How to Make Onboarding Easy and Fun for your Team

Onboarding can be a complicated and time-consuming process. But it beats the alternative. 

A successful onboarding experience is critical to how new hires perform in your team. 

According to Glassdoor, Successful onboarding can help increase productivity by 70% and employee retention by 82%.

And when due care and consideration is given to building a strong onboarding process, it pays off in the long run. 

But you can’t possibly achieve that without clearly understanding what right onboarding means. So let’s begin with that. 

The onboarding process is more than just a checklist

You’ve probably been handed over a checklist from your HR on ‘how to onboard’ new team members. And while they do lay out how to establish a relationship with new team members – they rarely communicate why it is essential for you to outline and establish your relationship this way. 

It is important to understand that to guide these new team members to success, you need to discuss their work preferences, your leadership style, communication hygiene, etc. All of this while making it a pleasant experience for the new hire. 

A successful onboarding process can help you establish a strong foundation for your team’s culture and everyday work. 

Essentials for Successful Onboarding

Don’t wait for their first day

You’re new hires experience with you doesn’t start on their first day at work. It start way before – when they first apply for the job. So there’s no reason for you to wait for day one to introduce the company and its values to the potential candidate. Your job posting should reflect what you stand for and should give an insight to how your team accomplishes work.

Small gestures like acknowledgement emails, or getting existing team members to interact with the new/potential team member are encouraged during the onboarding process. It sends a warm and welcoming message across and helps in building a positive environment.

Share your story

Everybody wants that their team members should be invested in the team’s growth. But you can’t possibly expect your team to be emotionally invested unless you actually share your story and the vision you hold with them.

It’s likely that you already have a few great elevator pitch for the business. How about a pitch for the new candidates? Tell them what it would be like to work with the teams, how they will be valued there, and how they will benefit from working for you.

Incorporating this during the onboarding process helps in engaging team members right from the very start and offers value to the effort they are about to put in their work.

Focus on goals

We wouldn’t blame you if you’re already tired of reading how you should focus on your goals in everything you do. But if everyone tells you to do the same thing, there must be some reason to it.

You must keep in mind what your team is trying to achieve when designing the onboarding process. Because any new team member doesn’t just accomplish their task, they accomplish it with the entire team. So it is essential to identify that they will be able to seamlessly work with the team.

During the onboarding process, do not forget to communicate your goals with the new team member. When they have a clear picture of their goals on day one, they are more likely to pace quickly and settle in with the rest of the team.

Be resourceful

When we were developing our own onboarding processes, we came across several questions that cross a every new team members mind in their first week of work:

What should I begin with?

What are everybody’s name?

Who should I ask for help?

How to communicate a problem?

Am I doing my work right?

To set new team members up for success, you need to ensure that you provide them with full clarity on these things. Since problems vary from people to people, it is important that you rightly communicate and understand how your new team member feel. And build a secure space for them to talk.

Moreover, you could also have a buddy system where each new team member has a buddy (existing team member) that will guide them in their first two weeks.

Conclusion

The foundational block of successful hiring is a solid onboarding process.

It’s the first impression that is imprinted on the new hire when they join your team. So it’s only obvious that it has to be a good one. 

Its primary purpose is to set up new hires for success by decreasing the time they take to be fully comfortable in their new team. But it also sets set the tone to how you establish relationships with your team. And how they perceive their work and how innovative they can be.

And onboarding can only be successful if you have strategically designed process that fit right for your team and goals.

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How to Deal with Stress at the Workplace?

A little push can be an accelerator in giving you better results. But when that push turns into pressure, it ends up becoming detrimental to the mental well-being of a person.

One of the most common challenges faced by workers on most days is stress. And there happens to be multiple reasons behind this.

Often at workplaces, workers are overwhelmed with their work. They take up more than they can do or have impossible deadlines to accomplish. They might not even possess the skill required to get the job done while their team members are counting on them for it. And when one challenge piles up over the other, workers face difficulty in prioritising their work and tasks. 

It is quite natural to feel overwhelmed in such a scenario because there seems to be a lot to deal with all at once. And everything seems to be slipping from your hands. 

However impossible it may seem, surely there are ways this can be made easier.

Accept and acknowledge the situation

In a situation like this, the first thing to do is acknowledge how you feel. Yes, whatever it is that you are going through is stressful. Yes, it is difficult. Maybe, you weren’t mentally prepared for this, but you can always ask for help. 

You must have someone in your workplace or team that you trust. It could be your manager or your fellow team mate. Talking to your colleagues about your challenges at work can not only help you feel comfortable but also find solutions to your challenges. 

What is in your hands?

Now that you are ready to face this challenge, let’s figure out what you can really do about it. Make a list of things that are in your control. Break down the whole thing into small doable actions, and take it one step at a time. 

But how do you know what needs to be done right now, what can wait? 

You can use Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important Principle to prioritize your work and plan accordingly. If something will take less than 2mins to complete, do it now. 

All you’ve got to do is start, the rest will fall into place automatically. Ask for help when needed

We are going to say it out loud for the people in the back: It is okay to make a mistake.

If you are facing a problem and you are struggling, you need help. The reason why you landed on this blog is because you were looking for help, and that is completely okay. If you can ask a search engine to help you solve your problem, you can also ask your peers or your team leader to help you solve your problem. 

You are a learner just like everyone else. You are here to learn from your mistakes, and if your learning needs guidance/help from someone else, take it. There is a high chance you are expected to ask for help with those things. Even if you’re not, at least you won’t regret putting in all of your effort.

Practice good communication

More often than not, conflicts, misunderstandings and confusion arise because the two parties in question didn’t communicate properly. The message was either not clearly delivered or understood. 

In effective communication, there is a clear understanding of the information exchanged between the individuals. You are able to share your ideas, articulate your points and understanding of the matter. 

Whatever confusion you may face, if you can communicate your issues in an effective manner, some sort of clarity will be achieved in that conversation. No one would be operating on assumptions, which will reduce the chances of mistakes or conflicts.

Make room for error

You did everything in your power to give the best possible result. It’s great, but somewhere there still is a loose end you need to fix is what your supervisor tells you. Don’t be disappointed in yourself, take the feedback and use it to reconstruct your work in a better way. 

Accept that the need for improvisation in your work is only improving the quality of your work. Be open to being notified of new flaws in your work and fix it. Learn from your mistakes and strive to do better.

Figuring out the root cause

It is always better to get to the root of the problem to solve it in the long term and find a sustainable solution. Whatever issue is bothering you on a surface level, has some sort of reason or a chain of questions behind it. 

Ask yourself those questions, one by one, until you get to the root of the problem. You will definitely become aware of valuable information at the very least, and get closer to solving the issue for sure.

Modern solutions for stress

In today’s technologically advanced world, there are tools that can help you manage your work life a thousand times better. You are facing difficulty in managing your team’s actions, use an action management tool. You need help in keeping your work organized, use a tool that will help you in organizing your work in a systematic way. Want reminders for your deadlines, use a tool to help you with that. Need effective communication between your teammates and your customers, you have a tool for that too. The market is vast, what you need might just be there. Utilize the availability of such resources. This will take loads of stress off your shoulders, and make work easier for you.

We can’t deny that facing stress at the workplace is inevitable. On some days, it will be less while on other days it might be more. 

Sometimes if we don’t deal with it effectively, it can prolong and not only impact our productivity but also disturb other aspects of our life. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for us to deal with it.   

Hopefully this article gave useful insights and drew attention to valuable solutions to counter stressful situations at your workplace.

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A manager’s guide to empathetic leadership

The internet is full of blogs about managers and what makes them great leaders. But there is a key leadership trait that is less spoken about. 

And it’s empathy.

Of course, you need to be more than just an empathetic human being to be able to lead people. But the power to understand and listen attentively is crucial to a leader’s success. 

To become a good manager and leader, you must possess the skills required to not only understand your team but also enable them to fully understand each other. 

Why Managers need to be Empathetic Leaders

There are multiple theories around why managers need to be empathetic. But in the end, it all narrows down to one single fact. 

All of us (managers and team members included) are human beings. And we will at some point think emotionally. And empathy gives you the ability to understand your team’s emotions. 

When managers can build a deeper understanding with their team members, communication and problem-solving becomes smooth and easy. And empathy is what fuels it. 

Empathetic Manager: Dos and don’ts

There are a lot of ways that would help you better understand your team’s emotions. But to be able to do that, you need to ‘feed’ yourself first. 

For instance, in an effort to be more present for your team, you respond to every text immediately, take every call, and say yes to what your team asks for. But it might not be the best for you or your team. 

Since you are the one who is leading the team, you need to have complete clarity on goals, objectives, and tasks. And only then you can organize and prioritize things well for your team. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

You are also a team member. So you cannot be an exception to anything that you’re telling the team to do. Everyone has to be treated equally because they are part of one team. 

It is ideal to set healthy boundaries around communication within the team.

Do not try to solve and tackle every hurdle at once. Things take time, you need to pace yourself. 

Even leaders need advisors and sometimes can struggle with things. Seek the community for help and advice.

Be a good listener

Consider every conversation you have with your team members as an opportunity to forge relationships and build trust. And one of the easiest ways to do this is by simply listening to what your team has to say. 

But simply listening can also be tough at times. It is best to have a few rules in place to enable you to carefully listen and communicate. 

Remember what we learned in play school – be attentive, do not interrupt, and stay focused. This is all you need to be a better listener. 

Don’t: Do not expect your team to not ask silly questions. Your team needs a free space for ideas to easily flow and that can only happen when they can communicate without restrictions. 

See things from your team’s perspective 

You probably know it already – the simplest way to understand someone’s emotions is by putting yourself in their shoes. 

If a team member missed a deadline, try to figure out what went wrong and why they weren’t able to meet it. Or if they made a mistake in reviewing a piece of content, try to see things from their perspective and understand what went wrong. 

Don’t: There is a fair chance that after seeing things from your team’s perspectives, you realize that your team members couldn’t get things done just because they are lazy. And there’s a right way to deal with it too. Do not discourage your team members or give them a scolding. That rarely works out for anyone.

Instead, try talking to your team members and helping them understand that managing their time well will enable them to get things done easily and quickly. If your team member comes out of this situation successfully, they will have higher accountability for all their work and more trust in you. 

Build a personal relationship

Building a strong personal bond with your team can benefit you in more ways than you think:

It gives you insights into how your team members communicate and work together.

Team members feel more connected and valued.

Helps in aligning your team’s way of thinking.

Brews more innovative ideas and enhances the quality of discussion. 

Quicker identification and solving of problems.

Don’t: Building a personal relationship does not mean invading your team member’s personal space. Remember that you’re trying for your team to be more comfortable with their work. So you need to give them the space needed to deliver their best work. 

The power of empathy

“The emotional turmoil caused by COVID-19 has resulted in workforce burnout and has prompted us to reflect on and reframe what makes a great leader or manager. Empathy, [which was] once considered a ‘nice to have,’ now needs to be woven into corporate culture. Not all leaders are at ease sharing personal anecdotes or their emotions. But by shifting tone and focus and showing vulnerability, leaders who practice empathy will increase employee engagement, drive inclusion and innovation in the workforce, and foster company loyalty.” – Silke Muenster, Chief Diversity Officer of PMI

With empathy, you can foster a culture of trust, open communication, and highly motivated team members. It is, in fact, one of the most powerful skills to effectively lead a team.

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Effective feedback can improve your team’s morale

Feedback is critical to your team’s success. And the benefits of effective feedback cannot be overstated. 

However,  it is essential for you to differentiate between effective and ineffective feedback to help your team grow to their full potential. 

Feedback should help in improving the standard of your team’s work. And since each team’s way of working is unique, there cannot be a method set in stone to provide feedback that works for all. But there are some common practices that can be followed to ensure that feedback is positive and focused on boosting the team’s morale. 

What is right for your team?

Feedback comes in many ways – it can be positive or critical; or it can be verbal or written. But with each form, you must know the right way to deliver feedback. 

The right kind of feedback for your team is the one that motivates them to overcome their shortcomings. But if it is too critical or discouraging, it might not motivate your team at all. In fact, if feedback is not handled carefully, it can lead to a negative working environment. 

Ideally, a mix of both positives and negatives seem to work well with feedback. This balance ensures that the message is communicated to the team members while keeping them encouraged and focused. 

Here are some things you should keep in mind while providing feedback to your team members.

Start with the positives

Before you lay down what’s not working, it’s best to discuss what’s been working so far. 

It ensures an appreciative environment and will help in ease the conversation. 

It is natural for human beings to feel lost when things are not going their way. And you need to ensure that you are guiding your team in the right direction instead of swaying them away. 

Starting with the positives will ensure that your team members know that they are doing well, they just need to give themselves a little push to do their best. For instance, if your team member did not perform well in a task, but excelled in all the other tasks – make sure that you mention where they excel before you point out their faults. 

Point towards opportunities

Everyone at some point is going to make a mistake. First, you must build an environment where your team isn’t too afraid to make a mistake. Second, you must turn mistakes as an opportunity for your team to learn and grow. 

Instead of plainly pointing out faults in your team, you must present these faults as an opportunity to be better and move forward from them. 

Have private conversations too

Here’s what your mantra should be: praise publicly, criticise privately. And it should only have a few exceptions. 

Effective feedback should not leave any one feeling embarrassed or humiliated. So it’s always best to have sensitive conversations in private. A one-on-one also makes the team member feel more comfortable and valued. 

Emphasise on the solution

More than the problem, you need to focus on solutions to the problem. 

Since the problem has already occured, there is nothing much you can do than just addressing it. So instead focus on the solution to that problem and help your team member reach there. 

Focus on your words

Feedback can only be effective if it’s framed appropriately. When providing constructive feedback, you must pay attention to your words. 

Your feedback should include how a little change can benefit the team member. Only then will they be personally interested and accepting to change. 

For instance, change the focus in your speech from ‘you-did-this’ to ‘I-can-help’ for your feedback to be more effective. 

Be emotionally intelligent

If you’ve built a strong team, it is likely that you have great relationships with the team members. And you would also know them on a personal level.

Before giving your feedback, you should also take into consideration your team member’s mental well being. And ensure that you appropriately provide feedback and offer help if the team member is already emotionally overwhelmed. 

On the other hand, you must also consider your own emotional state. For instance, if you’re angry, you are likely to deliver feedback focused on the negatives. And it leaves a negative impact. 

Keep the team spirit up!

The intent behind effective feedback is to strengthen your team members. So ensure that your focus is always on the team member first before anything else. 

Further, to ensure that feedback is effective, you need to build a culture that accepts feedback. It should be something that your team expects and appreciates. Not just something that you have to provide to get things on track.

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Setting Effective Team Communication Guidelines

Every well functioning team is dependent on effective team communication. 

And in the last couple of years, tools have become increasingly popular for enhancing communication among team members. But it comes at a cost. 

With emails, instant messaging, video meetings – communication did become easy. But it also became endless. 

Soon we were all stuck in a loop of constant availability and boundless communication. 

And that’s precisely why we need communication guidelines. Let’s dig deeper. 

Team communication impacts everything

Effective team communication can help you improve team productivity, customer relationship, company culture, and sales. 

That’s right. Communication plays a role in driving every aspect of business. 

When team communication happens the right way, it makes work easier and improves the company culture. This enhances team productivity and morale by maintaining a healthy and positive work environment. Not only does employee retention increase, but so does customer satisfaction and engagement due to lesser errors and gaps. 

Once you master this process, teams will run like a well oiled machine.

The 5 C’s of Team Communication

Effective team communication is all about what’s the best fit for the team members. Some teams might prefer humour in their everyday communication. Whereas, other teams might prefer a more formal tone of voice while communicating. 

But there are 5 common points where all teams intersect. And they make up the base for communication guidelines. 

Clarity

When communicating with another team member, clarity should be your priority. Not just clarity in words, but clarity in your thoughts. 

For instance, if you’re communicating a problem, you must have clarity of thought about the problem you’re facing and only then can you effectively communicate it to a team member.

Encouraging team members to have more clarity in their communication will enable them to understand better and eliminate any unnecessary flow of information. 

Pro tip: When aiming for clarity in communication, use simple and easy language, short sentences and concrete words. 

Conciseness 

Communication should always be brief and to the point. You cannot expect a team member to go through your 200 word email about something that could have been summed up in 50 words. 

Concise framing is a prerequisite to effective team communication. It saves both yours and the team member’s time. 

Pro tip: When aiming for conciseness in communication, remove wordy expressions and avoid repetition.  

Courtesy

Team communication has a lot to do with your relationship with the team. Teams that get along well are able to communicate easily. 

An important part of this relationship is treating your team members with respect. And since everyday work communication is where your teams interact the most, courtesy should be well incorporated in your communication guidelines. 

Simply using polite words like ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ isn’t enough. It’s your overall tone that makes a bigger impact. 

Pro tip: When aiming for courtesy in communication, be sincere in your tone and be appreciative of your team member’s time. 

Completeness 

If you want the desired result from communication, it must be complete in every sense. 

Teams should be careful while drafting messages. Team members must ensure that all relevant information and facts required by the receiver is mentioned in the message.

Team members shouldn’t have to communicate back and forth to understand each other well. Incompleteness in communication also shows negligence on the sender’s part and is something teams need to overcome quickly. 

Pro tip: When aiming for completeness in communication, remember to include the ‘how, why, what, when, and who’ to clearly communicate the information.  

Channels

You’ve drafted the right message, included all relevant information, and provided full clarity. But where do you send it? And when?

Channels are perhaps the most important aspect of team communication. They define the space and time in which team communication happens. 

Again, different channels work differently for each team. Some prefer Slack for everyday communication. While others prefer sending a WhatsApp text to their team members. 

But you need to understand – the real solution doesn’t lie in which channel to use, it is to have a definitive channel for each type of communication that happens in your team. 

Pro tip: Identify and organise communication channels for better and enhanced communication. 

Conclusion

When teams have more awareness about the 5 C’s, effective team communication becomes simple. 

Higher awareness can enhance your skills and help you be a better communicator. 

As the team grows and evolves, more channels come up, it is important to revisit and iterate these guidelines too. Ideally, every team should come back and review their team communication guidelines every six months. This will ensure everything is aligned and well functioning.