Being proficient in managing yourself is one thing, inspiring and developing those qualities, essential for success, within a diverse team can be quite another, significant challenge.
One secret strategy for building an effective team is to focus your attention on below mentioned points.
Vision
- Burdens and hard times are blessings for giving intense feelings just divert that feeling in the right direction
- Align vision with purpose or objective. In simple words become a Yes Man for a certain time frame, for maximum exposure and engagement.
- Dream Big: Never afraid of challenges
- Targets: Set targets and bound yourself to complete in the present time frame.
- Can Be DONE: Always be optimistic having a “Can Be Done” and “Can Do” approach.
- Rise like a Star: Falling is not incredible in fact Rising and Standing after falling is incredible.
- Ethical: Always be ethical, don’t use shortcuts to achieve goals
Importance of Planning
- Focuses attention on objectives and result
- Reduces uncertainty and risk
- Provides a sense of direction
- Encourages innovation and creativity
- Helps in co-ordination
- Guides decision-making
- Provide efficiency in operation
Differences Between Strategic and Tactical Plans
Strategic Planning
- Ensure long-term effectiveness and growth
- Length: Usually two or more years
- Plans are done every one to three years
- Primarily done by top management
Tactical Planning
- It is used as a means to implement strategic plans.
- Length: Short-term
- Plans are done every six months to a year
- Primarily done by employees up to middle management
Reasons for Team Building
- Improving team productivity
- Making the workplace more enjoyable
- Getting everyone “onto the same page”, including goal setting
- Helping participants to learn more about themselves (strengths and weaknesses)
- Identifying and utilizing the strengths of team members
- Practicing effective collaboration with team members
Team Selection
- Analyzing Team roles
- Forming the Team
- Establishing Team goals
- Matching Team to Task
Team Bonding
- Establishing Team Trust
Team Development
- Balancing Skills within the Team
- Maximizing Team Performance
- Improving Team Efficiency
Common Characteristics of High Performing Teams
- Goals are clearly defined and matched with measurable outcomes
- Accurate effective 2-way communication
- Leadership is shared and participation encouraged Effective decision making and problem-solving
- Diverse backgrounds and experience Cooperation and collaboration
Classify your tasks
Use the Eisenhower Decision Matrix to divide your to-do list into four quadrants
- Urgent and important tasks
- Important but not urgent tasks
- Urgent but not important tasks
- Not urgent and not important tasks
By mapping out your activities in these four quadrants over a few weeks, you’ll have a clear snapshot of how you’re spending your time.
- Urgent and important tasks
- Regulatory deadlines
- Conducting staff performance reviews
- Actions needed to retain key clients
- Family emergencies
These tasks will be your main focus whenever they arise.
2. Important but not urgent tasks
- Updating your firm’s business strategy
- 90-day business plans
- Ongoing education
- Partner succession planning
- Building digital presence
- Activities that support your long-term objectives
- Self-care activities like exercise and relaxation
3. Urgent but not important tasks
- Immediately responding to emails, client calls, and ad-hoc requests that could instead be managed by another team member
- client emails
And just because a task is important to someone else, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s as important to you.
4. Not urgent and not important tasks
- Chatting with colleagues
- Dealing with non-work tasks in work time
- While these distractions can help alleviate pressure, they should be kept to a minimum
Achieve Goals Smartly
- Do
- Defer
- Delegate
- Delete
Final Thoughts
Make team players contributors and owners of ideas do not blame others for failures first take ownership, and ownership comers top to down, identify and fix the problem. To maintain consistent high-performing teams, take care of your team, align the goals of individuals with organizational goals. Discourage negative mindset and toxic team players. Rewards where the team come face to face with each other and their managers can offer far more incentive, plus allow teams the chance to let off steam, ‘play’ and learn together in a relaxed and informal setting which is a rich ground upon which to show team spirit, participation, and motivation – all essentials for building an empowered, effective team.
