Predictive Success Blog

Being a strong leader requires a good understanding of the strengths that each of person on your team brings to the table, and that you continuously work on developing your team members so that they achieve more. Many managers take on all the responsibilities themselves, instead of leveraging their team to assist with tasks which is more beneficial to everyone’s success.

Being an inspiring manager that knows how to develop a team will help set your employees up for future achievements, while also strengthening your own skillset bringing you closer to your goals. The more you achieve, the more you will find yourself depending on your team, so preparing them for their future business needs is vital. If you are in a new leadership position, or you want your current employees to be better equipped for success, consider the following five steps when developing talent and effective teams.

5 Steps to Develop Your Team

 1. How can managers help employees fulfill their role expectations?

While most employees are aware of the essential parts of the role, they often are less aware of exactly how their role impacts the team and the business. Candidates can sometimes be hired, go through the onboarding process, and begin to work with no further details about how they are able to generate successes and get the most out of their job.

The best way to assist an employee with getting a better understanding of their role is to make time to meet with them, especially when they first take on the role. Discussing details like:

• what their role entails
• what is expected from them
• where they see themselves growing within the organization
• what their workplace goals are
• what their plan is for achieving their goals

Managers that ensure that their employees understand their role and work with them to create a detailed outline to accomplish their tasks is an essential way to developing a team that supports each other’s successes.

2. When should managers offer ongoing coaching and development?

For managers wondering how to develop people, it is necessary to provide your employees with the tools to be successful. Evaluate each employee’s skills and talents, and create personalized training that enhances those abilities, while educating them on areas that they have less experience in.

Developing teams requires ongoing education to keep them stay up to date with new challenges and techniques. Building on the knowledge and talent that individuals have will make them better prepared to accomplish their goals and move up within the business.

3. Why is it important for managers to trust their employees to accomplish tasks?

One of the biggest challenges that managers have is trusting that their team will take care of their responsibilities on their own, without requiring constant attention. Managers often find themselves handling tasks that could have been completed by their team members, but they would rather complete it themselves, than risk it not being done to their standards.

This kind of reaction from management does not improve the situation for anyone, as it does not instill trust or confidence in your employees, it misses a great learning opportunity, and it can cause burnout for the manager.

Since leaders have many tasks to juggle, assigning tasks that you expect employees to complete in a reasonable time frame, with clear instructions, is a rational request. Delegating tasks to employees is a skill that managers have to learn, often with reluctance, however, trust is required for developing work teams into a cohesive unit.

If your employees are trained and know what is expected of them, then you should be able to go about your business, while ensuring that responsibilities are tended to. A good manager is available if there are concerns or if more guidance is needed, but the more trust and confidence you give employees to make the right decisions, the more empowered they will be in the future.

 4. Why do managers need to touch base with employees regularly?

Part of developing a team requires managers to hold their employees accountable to achieving their goals. Hold regular meetings with individuals to review their goal progress and adjust where necessary. This is a managers chance to give employees one-on-one feedback about recent challenges, create action plans, and acknowledge improvements and successes.

Understanding how each employee learns best, so that managers can cater their preferences as much as possible, to achieve positive results. When one employee achieves, the whole team benefits, which is why it is important to uphold a safe and open communication space where positive input can be shared with others.

Developing talented and effective teams requires feedback to be given to employees from managers, because otherwise, they will not be confident in their work and will not achieve their goals.

Constructive criticism needs to be given as needed, to continuously allow your employees to improve their skills. Managers need to deliver feedback in a clear and detailed manner, otherwise employees will not realize or learn from their fumbles, and their behavior will not change.  

 5. How can managers strategize with employees towards their upwards success?

Having a strong and capable team is always an essential process, however managers need to know how to develop people that can move up within the company. Evaluate which individuals you see moving up and where they may fit best, and which individuals are happy to remain in their current position.

The employees that want to move to higher positions will need to start working towards that goal by being challenged with training tasks that will benefit them once they enter their new position. Keep track of their progress with them when developing your team members and guide them when they seek your direction.

When it is time to allow your employees to grow, it can be challenging for managers to let them go since it impacts the success of your team, but it is necessary to allow people to flourish, which is your reward for being a good manager.

Encouraging this kind of growth is necessary to keep building your organization up with quality employees, which benefits everyone.