MAXIMIZING PERFORMANCE OF A TEAM
It is vital that all members of a team work together to maximize team performance. Give people full responsibility for their jobs and empower them to execute and improve their own work in ways that optimize their contribution to the entire team.
Awarding Responsibility
The first duty of any person working in a team is to attend to their own job. However, to make a team work together successfully, responsibility must go beyond the individual. Award your team total responsibility for achieving its own goals. Create a sense of responsibility in each individual so that they are happy to fulfill their allotted tasks to the best of their ability. Do this by delegating tasks efficiently and monitoring each team member’s performance, as well as that of the team as a whole. In this way, you will promote the sharing of responsibility among team members, and encourage individuals to assist their colleagues and enhance the overall performance of the team.Â
Sharing Responsibility
Drawing up common aims and agreeing individual roles when a team is set up is only the beginning of a process that has to last as long as the team does. A team must be responsible for implementing their policies, monitoring progress, and responding creatively and consecutively where action is falling short of objectives. It is also the responsibility of the team as a whole to ensure that that there is a free flow of communication among members – everybody needs to be kept fully informed about progress ban changes in policy.
Ensuring Peak Performance
As a team leader, your role is to facilitate your team’s efficiency. You can do this by taking responsibility for a number of different functions.
- Ensuring that all the members of your team are aware of their responsibilities and are challenged by their work.
- Encouraging team members to contribute their best to both the team and the task in hand.
- Overseeing the team’s work practices to ensure that individual members work towards a common end.
- Assessing and setting team goals at the correct level to inspire continued motivation.
- Making sure that any overlap between team and individual responsibilities does not result in duplicated tasks.
Being Flexible
Any team demands much for its members. While each member of the team has their own role and responsibility, they should remain flexible and willing to adapt to change. Some manufacturing groups require members to be able to fulfill every aspect of their team’s work. Show flexibility by sharing aspects of your leadership role, and help team members by providing an assistant to share or take over some of their duties. As the team develops and progresses, look at individual roles, and modify them as and when the task requires it.
Points to Remember
- Each team member should be able to cover the role of at least one other member
- People should be given the responsibility to act on their own initiative within a team.
- A large task will be better handled if the entire project is handled over to a team.
- People need to be aware of where their own responsibilities begin and end.
- Each team member needs to be encouraged to find their own best method of working.
TIPSÂ
- Acknowledge, publicize, and celebrate all team successes.
- Find an easily accessible way of displaying team progress daily.
- Encourage people to form working partnerships within the team.
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