How To Build Team Performance

Changing how you manage your team can have major benefits in employee productivity, teamwork, and performance. As a manager, you can make changes that are more than just cosmetic — things like changing who gets what assignments, giving people different responsibilities, having different levels of management, etc.

These types of changes will have an impact, but they’ll be for the better. If you're looking to improve group performance, here are some tips to try.

Teamwork is a powerful force

Teams work together towards a common goal, which makes them very efficient. This efficiency comes from several sources, including the balance between individuals, communication, consensus-building, and motivation.

As a leader, you can help create this atmosphere by encouraging cooperation and sharing responsibility and tasks. You can also motivate others through praise and acknowledgment, as well as incentives (for example, pay raises or rewards for good performance).

When employees feel appreciated and needed, they’re likely to contribute more to the organization and enjoy their job more. This increases overall worker productivity and engagement, which are both important for success.

This article contains practical advice about how to build effective teams.

Be consistent

Consistency is one of the most important things you can work with people on. When someone sees that you are always present, and that you are consistently showing up for meetings, conversations, and tasks, they will trust you more.

They will feel comfortable coming to you when they need help or advice. They will expect your presence as well as yours- so they will be able to plan around you.

Consistency is also helpful in demonstrating how committed you are to the team, the company, and what projects you are invested in.

If you don’t have time for something every now and then, make sure to let people know. Don’t just assume that everyone else does!

On the other hand, if you normally do not show up for things, find ways to change that. It may mean finding extra hours at work, going home early from work, or planning ahead and getting some workouts done earlier.

Whatever changes you make, they should be reasonable and cannot hurt anything important to the project.

Provide guidance

As mentioned before, being a good leader is more than just telling people what to do and giving them assignments. You also need to provide clear goals and feedback for how they are performing their jobs.

As a manager, you should be aware of at least some of the important performance indicators (AKA key performance metrics or KPMs) in your team.

You can’t expect anyone else to recognize it if you don’t. So, as a leader, it is your responsibility to know what these are and how well everyone around you is doing compared to that.

Your colleagues will look up to you and respect you more when they see that you care about their success. At the same time, they will keep trying harder because they want to prove themselves to you – and to themselves.

On top of that, there are several ways you can use data to help improve employee morale and engagement, promote teamwork, and identify potential leadership opportunities.

Make it clear what is expected

As mentioned before, one of the major reasons why some teams perform better than others is because of how they manage expectations. Teams that have high performance expect the same level of excellence from themselves as they do for other people.

This can be tricky at times if someone on the team doesn’t feel like they are being challenged enough. A lot of times, in the workplace, individuals will put up with things that they aren’t willing to speak up about until they no longer want to be there.

When this happens, they may stay silent out of fear of losing their job even though they know something isn’t right. This has to change!

If you’re not getting the most out of your colleagues then it’s time to ask yourself whether or not this is the position you wanted to be in. You should consider looking for somewhere else to work. If this doesn’t work, maybe it’s time to look for a new colleague.

Either way, it’s important to address these issues early on otherwise things could get worse. By taking the risk and addressing them now, you’ll save both yourself and your colleagues a lot of stress in the long run.

Make it clear what will happen if things aren’t done

A lot of people put in a lot of effort without getting much in return, so making it very clear what will happen if things don’t improve can help get people moving.

If someone doesn’t complete their task within five days, they lose money, and if they don’t keep their desk clean, they risk having to do extra work or even being fired. By creating clear goals with deadlines, people are more likely to fulfill them because they feel like they have no choice but to succeed due to how hard everyone else is working.

It becomes easier to motivate others when you understand why they should be motivated, and it helps create trust since people know that you care about helping them achieve their goals.

Generalizations

A trick I learned from my parents is putting off something difficult until later. When needed, start small by generalizing an idea or topic to make it seem less complicated.

Make sure there are clear processes and procedures

As mentioned before, creating an efficient work environment starts with having clear processes and procedures. People will not feel comfortable coming in to work if they do not know what to expect!

This is especially true for those who have never worked here before or people who were let go during past performance reviews. It takes some time to establish trust, so it’s important to be upfront about how things run at your company.

Be honest and direct about how projects get started, whether that’s through meetings or informal discussions, and make sure everyone agrees to use the same process from then on. This way, anyone can come in and start working immediately without any issues.

Project managers should also be aware of internal policies such as whether it’s okay to put off doing something until later or if you need to be informed of certain developments promptly. These types of rules help ensure that no one gets too relaxed and perfection fades into laziness.

Be a good listener

A lot of people think that being a talker is what makes someone popular, but it isn’t. It is actually being a good listener that draws people in and keeps them engaged.

Everyone has something they feel passionate about, which they are very knowledgeable about. They can speak with passion about these things because they have invested time in them.

By being a good listener, you gain new knowledge and inspire others to be passionate about things that matter to them. This enhances team performance and productivity.

It also helps you develop trust within your teams as well as with other individuals in your organization. When there is trust, communication flows much more easily.

Good listeners understand how important it is for conversations to “leave the room” for responses and conclusions on their own. They allow for this space and establish an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing thoughts and ideas.

Become aware of how listening impacts your work relationships and see if you can improve yourself by practicing it.

Don’t micromanage

A lot of managers feel obligated to check in every few minutes, but this can actually hurt team performance. When your job is to watch over people, you lose that person's confidence. They start avoiding you or even trying to avoid doing their work because they fear what you will find.

If you are constantly monitoring their work, they may try to make it look good so you'll leave them alone. Or, if they know you'll be watching them, they might take longer than normal to do their work so they can seem more efficient.

All these behaviors only increase stress for everyone. And when there's a lot of stress floating around an organization, problems tend to occur.

Make sure team members feel like they can speak their mind

As mentioned before, your team will not perform at its best if there is constant internal conflict or disagreement. When things get heated, individuals may keep quiet because they do not want to risk being criticized by others or hurting someone’s feelings.

When this happens, important information gets left out and crucial decisions are made with less input from people who could play an integral part in taking action.

As a leader, you must create an environment where your team feels free to offer their opinion without fear of reprisal. This also means letting go of personal biases and prejudices so that everyone has a shared sense of what is acceptable behavior.

You should never agree or disagree as if you were talking to a stranger- it does no one any good. Instead, think about how you would respond to these challenges in everyday life and apply those lessons here.

Above all, be genuine and consistent when promoting trust. If you talk about respect, make actions that prove it.