As with most things, your efforts will be scrambled when you work without intention. Without direction, you can easily get stuck moving in circles. Team management is no different.
When handled without direction, intention, goals, and care, a team transforms from a resource into a liability. They could be moving effectively toward your goals or stuck running around in confused circles. The difference fully depends on how a team is managed.
In this post, we are going to discuss all the details of this complicated concept in three parts.
- Part 1: Basics of Team Management
- What is a team
- Signs of a healthy team
- Signs of an unhealthy
- What is team management
- Part 2: Good vs. Bad Team Management Strategies
- Most common team management methods
- What does “good” team management look like?
- Common problems in team management
- Part 3: How To Elevate Your Team Using Team Management
- How To Support Team Management with Proper Team Development
- Some of the Best Team Management Skills
- Examples of Poor Team Management, In Real Life
You might be at the beginning, middle, or end of your team management journey, which means you will need certain tips and information more than others. Every subject is linked, so feel free to skip to the sections that catch your eye!
Part 1. The Basics of Team Management
Before we introduce or elaborate on new concepts, we always like to brush up on the details. Every term has a meaning and a use. As much as we like to skip to the end and get this over with, you can’t always ignore the context.
So, to be sure we are all up to speed, we will discuss the following.
- What is a team?
- Signs of a healthy team
- Signs of an unhealthy team
- What is team management?
Wait, What is a Team?
Here at A.McBeth, there is no such thing as stupid questions. We all have to start somewhere, and if, for you, that means identifying exactly what “team” means, then that is a good start.
A team is a collection of people who work towards the same goal as a collective. Each individual has a part to play, and the team works best when each member can contribute. The key word here to remember is “same.” There might be completely different sets of roles and responsibilities, but the goal each person works towards is always the same as the person next to them.
A “group” is different. That is a collection of people with varied interests and goals that can work together, but each participant has a unique intention.
Team members work to complement each other. Their skills fit together to support the objective better.
Signs of a Healthy Team
When a team is healthy, you can spot them from a mile away. Not only is work being completed, but people are also happy. Issues are worked through, not worked around. Team members feel like they are in the right place, doing the right things, and no one is left out to try.
Some other signs of a healthy team include
- Unified Leadership
- Effective Communication
- Collective Input
- A Common Goal
- Clear Roles and Responsibilities
Let us explain.
Unified Leadership
When one parent says that screen time is over and the other parent says, “No, it’s fine, let her have the iPad,” you know something is up. They don’t parent as a unit. They parent around each other. That kid will figure out the rules as each parent sees fit and try to exist somewhere in the middle.
Solid leadership doesn’t ask their team to get used to multiple sets of rules. They collectively agree on one and work to keep everyone moving in tandem with that. Using that one model, they steer the team in one direction.
Effective Communication
There are no mixed messages moving through a healthy team. If one person learns something, it’s likely already well-known. No one is the last to know. And there is absolutely no messy game of office telephone. Leadership probably utilizes some type of management system or communication app to relay information without delay.
This also means that decisions are made quickly, the team is able to navigate issues with increased flexibility, and is allowed more time to adapt.
Collective Input Encouraged
Not only does everyone get the message, but everyone is also allowed to voice their disagreements and questions. Team members educate and encourage each other, which means that every team participant feels safe to give their input—even at the risk of their point being dismissed or passed over.
Common Goal
Speaking of goals, they all have one. And that’s it. No one is asking one teammate to do “this,” which undermines someone else’s efforts towards “that.” Nope.
The team and relevant leadership bring together a whole smattering of ideas, align the collective objectives, and set a common goal that the entire team will pursue.
Clear Roles & Responsibilities
Each person knows what their job is and where it fits into the team landscape. The leadership deems it their responsibility to clearly define each person’s part and what tasks they are in charge of completing. There is no overlap or unclear boundaries. There is also no shady stuff, like gently piling more on one team member’s plate when no one is looking.
Elements of an Unhealthy Team
While a team can keep up with its workload and appear fine, that may not be the case. Give that surface a little scratch, and you’ll see the issues clear as day. To be fair, these are all the points we made about a “healthy team” turned upside down.
These include
- Leadership consistently points people in different directions
- Inconsistent communication or a lack of unified messaging
- No communication
- No clearly defined goals, which means individual managers just make up their own goals
- Regular role conflict and overlap
The most obvious tell that there are issues within a team is a lack of a common goal. People don’t put in as much effort because… well, why would they? They have no idea what to work towards. And if they feel like they are doing their job (and that of three other people), they stop caring about anything because of burnout.
All of these issues can be fixed. It just takes some gentle guidance from management. Any and all of these issues can go *poof* as long as a team is managed with intention.
What is Team Management?
Everything your team does that you don’t like comes from the top. Somewhere in forming the team, deciding on objectives, finding a new normal, and making adjustments to improve performance, you let some things slide and, eventually, found yourself here.
Team management is the act of using managerial tactics to meet business goals and improve performance. It involves a combination of guidance, coordination, teamwork, communication, and support. Paired with problem identification and conflict resolution, team management is best viewed as an amalgamation of skills.
Like anything, it can be abused, but when done right, it’s a powerful tool that increases satisfaction, cooperation, and business outcomes.
There are many different management styles and techniques—no one size fits all. Teams can have all different shapes, purposes, and sizes, which means that the ways they are managed have to fit all of those custom qualities.
As a rule, individual performance is not a huge factor in a team unless it’s negatively impacting the collective. If one person carries the weight of every other participant, the lack of success is not because of that person’s performance but rather the failure of the others.
On the other hand, if one person fails, the entire team is not at a huge disadvantage. It’s all about distributing the burden and workload, as well as the weight of achievement.
Why is Team Management Important?
You spend a lot of your time working, and it’s very likely that you are a part of a team. That means you are spending an incredible amount of hours with these people, so it’s important that you like them—at least be able to work with them.
Team management not only helps increase a team’s productivity but it also cultivates a quality company culture. If people feel their time and workload are being respected and managed correctly, they will move the moon for you. They will be more engaged, give their best effort, and input better ideas.
When your people are managed properly, they will be happier. And happier people do better at their jobs. It’s science. Poor management means everyone suffers, so it’s important not to let it get that far.
Common Types of Teams
We weren’t kidding when we said, “ Teams can have all different shapes, purposes, and sizes.” Off the cuff, here are the usual suspects for the type of teams you’ll find yourself dealing with on a regular basis.
- Functional Teams: a team made up of members within the same department that have different individual responsibilities or roles (e.g., A legal team)
- Cross-Functional Teams: A collection of people from different departments who are asked to perform specific tasks and take collaborative action for a desired result (e.g., a product development team)
- Operational Teams: A team formed to support the work of others that will constantly be addressing ongoing external objectives (e.g., a public relations team)
- Self-Managed Teams: A team made up of specialists that work as a unit while having different individual goals (e.g., an agile team)
- Virtual Teams: A team with members in all different locations that use technological resources to collaborate and get work done.
Part 2. Good vs. Bad Team Management Strategies
Now that you understand the ins and outs of teams and team management, let’s get to the good stuff. We will cover the following.
- Most common team management methods
- What does “good” team management look like?
- Common problems in team management
Most Common Team Management Methods
If you walk into any random business right now, it’s likely you’ll see one of these three management styles being used—at least, roughly. It’s very, very common for businesses to use these systems and then tweak details to fit their needs.
1. Authoritarianism
Similar to a military type of management, businesses that take this approach hope to enjoy complete obedience and task completion. A leader instructs team members, and if there is either refusal or failure, that team member is punished. The punishment relies heavily on the type of business, what the work involves, and the industry’s niche.
There is complete and absolute authority here, which is often used in the face of strict regulation or simply because the founding members thought this way to be the most effective.
However, there are serious drawbacks to this system, such as
- Management doesn’t stay on top of their own tasks and work because they constantly feel the need to monitor and instruct team members
- Morale is lowered due to the pressure created by swift punishment enforcement
- In larger organizations, management can’t properly manage all the team members in their charge
- Specialization of employees means needing their expertise and input, but this system usually reduces collaboration
- Turnover is higher
2. Money First
This management system is used by a business that decided that money is the greatest (and often singular) motivator in a person’s life. They compensate, encourage, and punish employees using money. While this team management style is not nearly as strict as the first approach, it is a little limiting.
Essentially, by always putting money first, you ignore the other motivations in a person’s life. You see everyone and their values as the same. What two people value the exact same things? It’s very one-size-fits-all.
It’s not too hippy of us to say that some people do not really care about money. While money is helpful, they might also be looking to spend their time wisely, do things they enjoy, connect with others, and feel like they are doing something important.
Using this system and dismissing all other motivators can dissuade people from trying their best, reduce job satisfaction, and push people to leave as a part of their punishment.
This is NOT an argument to pay your employees less. Rather you should mix financial motivators with others depending on what people prefer.
3. Creatives
This team management style was created to be an alternative to the traditional authoritarian style known in most businesses. Employees are encouraged to participate, complete their tasks, and contribute to the company’s success using more relaxed measures. Management works to make sure people feel good, supported, and like they are doing a good job.
Again, this doesn’t mean money isn’t helpful or that we mean you should start giving out participation awards. It simply means you make work feel less like work and more like a means to an end of fulfillment.
What “Good” Team Management Looks Like
No industry is the same. They don’t have the same concerns, requirements, or types of output. We don’t expect all these characteristics to fit in the “good” team management category for everyone. That being said, here are some pretty good signs that your team management practices are working.
- Team members are given realistic deadlines that are throughout and consider all facets of the project or work required
- Team members trust the judgment calls of their colleagues, especially that of management
- Team members regularly take the initiative to get things done
- Team members feel free to ask questions, even ones that sound stupid
- Leadership is principled and unified
- While there may be high standards of performance and output, team members are supported in their efforts to chalk up to those standards
- Collaboration happens organically
- The team has both support and recognition from outside parties
- The of goals of both the team and management are well-known and singular
- The concerns and needs of the team are considered carefully and met as often as possible
- Risks are encouraged and not punished
- Each team member participates and contributes
- There is a lot of communication to and from both groups
- Management understands the needs and motivations of each team member they care for
- Creative solutions are encouraged and supported
- Through both the high and low moments of any particular member, they are supported
- When a team member disagrees with a particular route or solution, they are not ignored
It’s not wild to say your team does not meet every criterion, but you should be actively working towards this point. There are no downsides to this.
Common Problems in Team Management
Too often, we see members of leadership upset that the culture doesn’t look how they want. They want more collaboration. They want more encouragement and creativity. What they don’t realize is that the reason their company doesn’t look that way is because they have disabled it.
We know that is not always the case, but you may be surprised. Most, if not all, of the issues your team faces start at the top and trickle down. In our experience, these are the main reasons your team management situation looks so shoddy.
First off, your team doesn’t trust you. In other words, they don’t see you as a resource because they fear rejection, embarrassment, or straight-up ire. If they feel like they could be exposed as incompetent, you best believe you will mell issues, but you will never see them. Everyone is too afraid to put them in front of you.
The lack of trust in management can also come from a fear of conflict. Have members of management ripped into someone who made a mistake? Did they openly talk trash? Why would anyone communicate issues, changes, or even progress of any kind to a management team that they will never impress?
You become that mom who eats the Thanksgiving dinner. Your child spent 10 hours making it all into a gourmet masterpiece just to say, “Well, you could have picked a better wine.” COME ON!!!
The next reason team management fails is a lack of commitment. If your team members don’t care about your goals, they are not going to make an effort, not really. This is especially common in teams that don’t feel connected to the goals. Did they have any input? Were they given space or time to flesh out opinions and ideas? Or were they handed a memo and told to get to it?
Another reason team management can be useless is a lack of accountability. Now, this one almost always starts from the top. Management’s seemingly insignificant decisions pile over time, causing your company to turn into the Wild West.
When your company fails to place accountability where it’s needed, some people stop doing their work, others take that extra work on, and no one takes responsibility for any of it. Organizations with the most hostile, unsupported, and messy environments tend to have at least one of the following.
- No consequences are ever faced for actions
- Blame is placed improperly
- No one takes responsibility for the outcome of their decisions and actions
- A lack of peer-to-peer accountability
- Errors are not discussed or corrected
While all of these are issues, the saddest way team management fails is through inattention to results. No one looks at where they are going, wants to try for great results, and is concerned about reaching their goals. This always results in a loss of purpose. There is no “why” to drive anyone forward.
And every single one of these problems that occur in team management will result in poor productivity.
Part 3. How To Elevate Your Team Using Team Management
We’ve talked a lot about how this should look and how it can go wrong, but how the heck do you fix it? How do you get your team to a better spot?
Every major change in team productivity and outcomes comes from the top, so we aren’t going to mince our words. You could potentially be doing a lot of work, but it is very worth it. Not only will your team feel/perform better, but management will also feel less weighed down by the fear of failing your team and your company.
So, let’s get into it. We are going to cover the following.
- How To Support Team Management with Proper Team Development
- Some of the Best Team Management Skills
- Examples of Poor Team Management, In Real Life
- How to Elevate Your Team To Success
Each topic title is linked, so you can skip to the topic you are most interested in.
Support Team Management with Proper Team Development
At the very beginning, you have to build the “right” team and set up the “right” foundation. Then, you have to carry that trend forward and do things “right.” But most of you reading this are not here because you are at the beginning of this process and have all the ability to do it all “right.”
No. Most readers are knee-deep in a crappy situation and need to pave the way forward.
No matter what stage you find yourself in, you must clearly define each team member’s roles and responsibilities. Cover all of the following topics.
- The minimum contributions of each role
- An outline of every task required
- Who do they collaborate with?
If your team management situation is really messy and scattered, you might want to take a step back and look at the entire operation. Ensure each role covers a single area and that the whole process/organization is covered when you add up each role. Leadership roles need to be outlined also. It needs to be clear how leadership will support team members on their way to meeting their goals.
Starting Your Team Leadership Journey
If you are at the very beginning of your journey, then we recommend that you follow the following preparative steps.
- Understand the team’s mission. Why does this team matter? What is the team working towards? What tasks are included in that mission?
- Take a look at your potential team members. What are the strengths of each team member? What are their weaknesses? Ask each one what they would prefer to do and what tasks they could tolerate. Assign their roles accordingly.
- Be sure to clearly explain and outline each role’s tasks and responsibilities to the person doing them. (You’d be surprised how many people skip this.) Also, explain what the roles are of their team members. Identify who to reach out to for what kind of issues.
While considering who fits what role, you might also look at the nature of the role compared to the person. Generally, there are three types of roles.
- Individual Roles: Interaction with others isn’t really necessary. They tend to be a niche specialist, an off-shoot of the usual process. They are generally best left to do their thing and check in as needed.
- Social Roles: They are often required to communicate with many different people all day long. They are responsible for boosting morale, encouraging, gently guiding, etc. Those in these roles need to be socially capable, aware of relational nuances, and able to navigate all these intricacies.
- Task-Based Roles: This role is completely based on performance and ability to complete an assigned task. They offer ideas, coordinate activities, and work to find new information about relevant topics and share that information with others.
Common Team Development Process
When it comes to the actual collection, development, and existence of a team, there tends to be a pattern. Your team is going to meet, be weird, figure out their spot in the pack, and cultivate some kind of normal. Leadership needs to be aware of this trend. That way they can support each stage and point the team towards the best outcome for everyone.
With that in mind, there is the general process of team development and management and how you can make it work for you.
1. Forming The Team
Walk into a room full of people that you have never met and see how you feel. See how anyone in the room feels. Everyone, except the very confident ones, is going to wait and see. They will be cautious of putting themselves out there or drawing too much attention. The same goes for a team of colleagues.
There might be a bit less awkwardness in the room than with complete and total strangers, but everyone will be very polite and formal.
At this point, it’s really important to establish your collective goals. Build their commitment to the larger goals. Lay down the boundaries and give everyone time to get used to these ideas and what is expected of them. You have a blank canvas at this point in the team management process. It’s up to you to set a solid foundation for what you hope to create.
2. Storming
Once everyone gets past the initial formalities, people get moving. Ideas will be cycling through, patterns will be established, and people will lay out a vague structure for this new normal. Usually, people start to notice the differences between them and their team members as everyone starts showing their true colors.
Working styles show up. They probe their counterparts and set up systems of control. Another way to put it is developing social or unofficial hierarchies.
When you notice your team has entered this stage a few things become glaringly important, including
- Communication, which should be open and done often
- Job Descriptions, these will support the official hierarchies and processes
- Patterns of Leadership, meaning deciding on the type of management style you want to impress upon them first
3. Finding Normal
Once people understand their place in the team (what is expected of them, where they fit socially, etc.), they get used to the new normal. They start to feel comfortable working together. They lean into the similarities they have with their teammates.
How can management help? They can help encourage collective focus on the collective goals. They can help ease conflicts by resolving them carefully and objectively.
4. Sharpen Performance
Here, you can see where there are gaps developing, and you can work to fill them. That might look like increasing specific types of training, finding creative solutions to problems, and encouraging the growth of those around you. Let your team’s self-motivation show and follow it.
Pro Tip: No matter how experienced, specialized, or capable your team is, they will not fit the ground running. They will need time to settle. Initially, they will find it difficult to adjust to each other. It will happen, but you should not force it.
Best Team Management Skills
After developing your team, you can actually manage them. We’ll just get right to the point. Here are the top skills and behaviors great managers exhibit.
- Be more of a mentor than a boss
- Encourage participation, but don’t force it
- Hold team discussions and make sure people feel safe to take risks and share (potentially) controversial opinions
- Make sure that communication is transparent and regular
- Show up motivated and watch that attitude spread
- Forget about giving directions, placing blame, or navigating company politics
- Find ways to bind and bond the team together
- Put guidance and support above all else
While developing these team management skills will take some work, the results will appear in no time and be bountiful.
Examples of Poor Team Management, In Real Life
Whether at the very beginning of your working years or right now, we have all been on poorly managed teams. We have all heard about bosses texting a team member who is on vacation on the other side of the planet saying that if you don’t come in by 3 pm today, you’ll be reprimanded. Then, the leadership upholds such an unreasonable tone that the team member just quits.
We have all seen them, yet some of you reading this post will think. “Well, I’m not that bad.”
*Insert Eye Role*
Some of the biggest management mistakes we see tend to start with the belief that someone is a “great” manager and their call is always the best. To us, this is a CLEAR indication that you don’t like to listen to your team members. Sure, you have more experience with the company. Sure, you are older than all of them. But ultimately, you must accept the fact that good ideas can come from anywhere, even your lowly team members.
And they might even be good sometimes. But you miss all of them because you never make any room for them to be shared or expressed. That’s not team management. That’s team domination.
Another reason we see team management efforts fail is the idea that complaints or comments of any kind are going to equate to more work for you. You never field any of these inputs because even the idea is more work.
Some other examples of poor team management practices include
- Limiting access to information unnecessarily
- Poorly delegating tasks and not trusting team members to accomplish them
- Inconsistent or unsustainable pay
How To Resolve Problems Through Team Management
Each person you work with, manage, or oversee is different. They have different experiences that mesh with their personalities to create a vivid and distinct inner world. No one’s inner world looks like the next person.
So, when you are trying to resolve issues through team management strategies, we have a couple of recommendations.
Build Trust
If you are at the very start of developing a team or you have been doing it for years, your team needs to know they can trust you—that they are safe with you. When there are issues, they need to see you as a fair, objective ear so they can tell their story.
Can you be that? Make space for their vulnerability (usually by being vulnerable yourself).
Helpful & Encouraging Comments
When someone shows you what they’ve been working on or what they have completed, do not start with “Well, that sucks.” You will kill any creative output they have, and their products will probably get even worse.
Ask questions. Stick to fact. When you like something, point it out. When you dislike something, point out why you object. Give constructive criticism, but do not be cruel.
Build A Team
Show them that working together is worth it. Require them to get other team members’ input. Ask them to act like a team, not a group they sort of work with sometimes. Support their confidence in themselves and in each other.
You Can Make A Difference
Team management is a tricky science that consists of professional expectations, personalities, social interactions, and more. You have goals but must balance them with your team’s needs and personal goals.
It can be a lot, but it’s not impossible.
We recommend that you start small, regardless of the stage you find yourself in. Focus on clear job descriptions and creating open, trusting relationships with each of your team members. You can do this.
There is a great leader waiting inside of you.
Let New Ideas Find You
Here at A.McBeth, Inc., we know it’s better to open our thinking caps, receive new ideas, and use them occasionally than act like we know everything. Project management is pretty uncomfortable with that attitude, so we are offering up new (and old) ideas all month long, so sign up to be notified the next time one pops up. You won’t want to miss it!
