By James A. Baker
Founder and Chairman
Baker Communications
September 2011
Performing the job that is commonly referred to as “management” usually means being the person who makes sure other people get things done. While there is a range of approaches and a wide array of techniques that can be used to further this end, this is the most basic goal of an effective team manager. There are several basic components to building a productive team, starting with hiring and training. Then the manager must keep their people motivated, handle performance issues, provide mentoring and evaluation, and, if necessary, eliminate team members who are not a good fit.
Hiring and Training
Your new employee training program curriculum must include all the basic skills required for the position, as well as a testing process to verify that the required skills and knowledge have been mastered. This orientation period is also a good time to cover the company and team culture, standards and expectations for performance. When initial training is over, don’t just throw new employees out of the plane. Continued training, knowledge reinforcement and mentoring will help them through the learning curve and ensure their future success.
Tip: Make all expectations very clear during the initial training. Employees who do not know what is expected of them are certain to fail.
Motivation and Performance Issues
Keeping your team motivated can be challenging. Key factors include setting appropriate expectations, providing positive reinforcement for good performance, and handling attitude and performance issues promptly. Employees want to know how they are doing; make sure that you take notice and provide feedback. When performance issues arise, they must be addressed immediately. Poor performance weakens the team and undermines productivity. Most companies have a process in place to handle performance issues, usually including verbal and written warnings and specified time lines. Implement the process immediately and deliver feedback frequently.
Tip: While it’s well known that performance problems can result from low morale, the reverse is also true. Team members will lose confidence in the manager if performance problems are not addressed promptly.
Mentoring and Evaluation
Mentoring and evaluation go hand-in-hand. As a manager, you must maintain an awareness of how each individual contributor is performing and assess whether they need help. When performance issues arise, the manager must deliver feedback, discover the probable cause of the problem – lack of training, lack of ability, poor attitude, etc. Where appropriate, the manager will mentor (or assign a senior team member to mentor) the employee to help them overcome the problem. Reinforcement training or disciplinary action may be combined with a mentoring program.
Tip: Employee performance evaluations are a standard part of most company’s procedures, but your employees shouldn’t have to wait until evaluation time to know how they are doing. Your evaluation must never come as a surprise! If you have been communicating and delivering feedback appropriately, each team member should already be aware of any issues that are noted in the evaluations, and should have been given ample opportunity to correct them.
Unproductive Team Members
One of the most challenging parts of a manager’s job is getting the right people on the team, and the wrong people off the team. Every manager must follow the requirements of employment law and of HR policy, and the rules governing employee performance problems and termination can create challenges. Most companies have a process in place for delivering appropriate feedback, verbal and written warnings, and performance evaluations prior to termination. The key is to use the process and to implement it as quickly as possible. This will either result in the individual improving their performance, or provide grounds to eliminate a non-performer from the team. As the manager, your main goal is team productivity, so you win either way.
Making Your Team Productive
An effective team manager will create a solid new employee training and orientation program, address performance issues at the first sign of trouble, and establish evaluation and mentoring strategies to build a productive team. Remember that your primary goal is to make sure your team members do their jobs effectively.
Re-Print Permission
This article may be reprinted in it's entirety if the following
conditions are met:
