All that being said, here is the list of 10 Tips for Effectively Leading a

Small Team:
1. Define the purpose of the team What is it your team is responsible for
completing? What goals are you trying to reach?
2. Define each project Let your team members know what is expected of them
based on the scope of each project. This gives them a goal to reach, but also
ensures they dont go beyond what is necessary and dont feel like they wasted
time.
3. Be a team player Leaders play a vital role on their teams. It is important to
work alongside your team members and avoid being the boss and barking
orders.
4. Keep the team focused Focus is important if you want to attain your goals.
Having fun as a team can be good and can create team loyalty, but if you as a
leader dont set mini-goals and drive the team to complete them, you will find
yourself falling behind.
5. Simply lead There are two major aspects of this. You dont do all of the work,
and you dont delegate all of the work. You simply lead by example and give
others a standard to follow.
6. Have regular team meetings Communication is crucial to the success of your
team. Meetings keep everyone up-to-date on the status of projects and any
changes that may need to be implemented.
7. Support your team When your team gets tripped up, do they know they can
look to you for leadership in resolving the situation? Always be available to
answer questions and solve problems. This will build team morale and loyalty.
8. Have a plan to resolve conflict Sometimes people get irritated with one
another. This is common when groups of people are working toward a goal
together. As a leader, you need to have a plan of action in place that allows quick
and effective resolution of any problems between team members.
9. Be the point guard In other words, be the facilitator. Be the one who sets up
other people for success by getting them the ball in the right situation to score
(pardon my basketball analogy). Make your teams job easier by helping them
understand their objectives and giving them a plan, then just let them work!
10. Allow others to shine Be a leader with the intention of letting the people
around you showcase their abilities. Allow them to give advice and suggest ideas

by posing questions that encourage interaction. Being a leader doesnt mean

being a know-it-all; keep learning from your team.
11. Bonus tip: Give your team some credit and praise in front of others. Some
people may find this uncomfortable, but I think that letting other people know how
well your teammate is doing can really boost their self-confidence and help them
maximize their performance!

First Things First

But before that, some definitions are useful. What is management, exactly? And how does it differ from leadership?
A good starting point is the Warren G Bennis quote that "Leaders are people who do the right things; managers are
people who do things right." Leadership involves creating a compelling vision of the future, communicating that vision,
and helping people understand and commit to it. Managers, on the other hand, are responsible for ensuring that the
vision is implemented efficiently and successfully.
Of course, these two roles overlap and, to be fully effective, you need to fulfill both roles. However, the focus of this
article is on the specific skills and responsibilities of managers, and on the tools available to them. After all, there's no
point energizing people to work towards a fabulous vision of the future, only to fall flat on your face when it comes to
implementation.

The Importance of Delegation

The top priority for team managers is delegation . No matter how skilled you are, there's only so much that you
can achieve working on your own. With a team behind you, you can achieve so much more: that's why it's so
important that you delegate effectively!
Successful delegation starts with matching people and tasks, so you first need to explain what your team's role and
goals are. A good way of doing this is to put together a team charter , which sets out the purpose of the team and
how it will work. Not only does this help you get your team off to a great start, it can also be useful for bringing the
team back on track if it's veering off course.
Only then will you be in a position to think about the skills, experience and competencies within your team, and start
matching people to tasks. Read our article on task allocation for more on how to do this, and to find out how to
deal with real-world challenges, such as managing the gaps between team members' skill sets.

Motivating Your Team

Another key duty you have as a manager is to motivate team members.
Our article on Theory X and Theory Y explains two very different approaches to motivation, which depend on
the fundamental assumptions that you make about the people who work for you. If you believe that they're
intrinsically lazy, you believe in Theory X, while if you believe that most are happy and willing to work, you'll tend
towards Theory Y. Make sure that you fully understand these theories they will fundamentally affect your success in
motivating people.
You can find out much more about motivation with our quiz How Good Are Your Motivation Skills?
This helps you learn a number of core approaches to motivation Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene
Theory , McClelland's Human Motivation Theory andSirota's Three Factor Theory are
particularly useful.
Whatever approach you prefer to adopt, you also need to bear in mind that different people have different needs
when it comes to motivation. Some individuals are highly self-motivated, while others will under-perform without
managerial input. Use our article on Pygmalion Motivation to understand how to manage these different
groups of people.

Developing Your Team

Teams are made up of individuals who have different outlooks and abilities, and are at different stages of their
careers. Some may find that the tasks you've allocated to them are challenging, and they may need support. Others
may be "old hands" at what they're doing, and may be looking for opportunities to stretch their skills. Either way, it's
your responsibility to develop all of your people.
Your skills in this aspect of management will define your long-term success as a manager. If you can help team
members to become better at what they do, you'll be a manager who people aspire to work for, and you'll make a
great contribution to your organization, too.
The most effective way of developing your people is to ensure that you give regularfeedback to members of your
team. Many of us are nervous of giving feedback, especially when it has to be negative. However, if you give and
receive feedback regularly, everyone's performance will improve.

Beyond this, our article on Understanding Developmental Needs will help you develop individual team
members, so that they can perform at their best.
Tip:
If you have to bring a substantial number of new people into your team, read our article on forming,
storming, norming and performing to learn about the stages you can expect your team to go
through. You can do a lot to help your people through this process!

Communicating and Working With Your Team and With Others

Communication skills are essential for success in almost any role, but there are particular skills and techniques that
you'll use more as a manager than you did as a regular worker. These fall under two headings: communicating with
team members, and communicating with people outside your team. We'll look at each in turn.

Communicating With People in Your Team

As a team manager, you're likely to be chairing regular sessions as well as one-off meetings. Meeting of all kinds, and
regular ones in particular, are notorious for wasting people's time, so it's well worth mastering the skill of running
effective meetings .
Many meetings include brainstorming sessions. As a team manager, you'll often have to facilitate these, so
you'll need to be comfortable with doing this. There's more to this than simply coming up with creative ideas, as you
do when you're just a regular participant in such a session: read our article to find out how to run brainstorming
sessions. Make sure that you understand where they can go wrong, and what you can do to avoid this.
Active listening is another important skill for managers and others to master. When you're in charge, it can
be easy to think that you know what others are going to say, or that listening is less important, because you've
thought of a solution anyway.
Don't fall into this trap. Most good managers are active listeners: it helps them detect problems early (while they're
still easy to deal with), avoid costly misunderstandings, and build trust within their teams.

Communicating With People Outside Your Team

Your boss is probably the most important person you need to communicate with. Take time to understand fully what
your boss wants from you and your team if you know exactly what she likes, and how she prefers this to be
delivered, you'll be better able to meet with her approval.
Don't be afraid to ask your boss to coach or mentor you: you can usually learn a lot from him, but he may not be
proactive about offering this. If you're approaching your boss for advice, make sure you've thought things through as
far as you can. Introduce the subject with a summary of your thinking, and then say where you need help.
Also, as a manager, part of your job is to look after your team and protect it from unreasonable pressure. Learn skills
like assertiveness and win-win negotiation , so that you can either turn work away, or negotiate additional
resources.
Another part of your job is to manage the way that your team interacts with other groups. Use stakeholder
analysis to identify the groups that you need to deal with. Then talk to these people to find out what they want
from you, and what they can do to help you.

Managing Discipline
However much you hope that you won't have to do it, there comes a time in most managers' careers when they have
to discipline an employee. Discipline may be subtly different from basic feedback, because it doesn't always relate
specifically to the employee's work. You can give feedback on their phone manner, for example, but handling
problems with timekeeping or personal grooming can need a different approach.
Obvious breaches of the law or of company policy are easy to identify and deal with. But what of other situations? On
one hand you don't want to seem petty. On the other hand, you can't let things go that should be dealt with.
Use these rules-of-thumb to decide whether you need to take action. If the answer to any is yes, then you need to
arrange a time to speak to the employee in private.
1.

Does the issue affect the quality of the employee's deliverable to the client (internal or
external)?

2.

A graphic designer regularly gets in to work late, although he stays late to make up for this.
Customers are sometimes frustrated by not being able to get through to him at the start of the
day, particularly when he's working on rush jobs.
Does the issue adversely impact the cohesiveness of the team?
Individual designers tend to work on their own projects, with few meetings between design team
members, so cohesiveness is not impacted. However people are noticing his lack of punctuality,
and other people's timekeeping is beginning to slip.

3.

Does the issue unnecessarily undermine the interests of other individuals in the team?

The designer sitting next to the latecomer is unhappy that she has to field calls from clients
before he reaches the office, and is unable to give a firm answer to the question "When will he
be in?"
In this situation, the design team manager decides to speak to the latecomer because of the impact on his co-worker.
They agree that coming in to work late is not a problem (he has a long commute, with heavy traffic en route) but that
he will commit to being in by 9.30 a.m. every day to reduce the number of calls his co-worker has to field, and also
give her a fixed time to give clients. He will work late to make up time, and will take on a task she doesn't like to make
up for her extra phone handling.
When you are faced with a potential discipline issue, take time to gather information about the situation, decide what
you're going to do, and act. Discipline issues rarely go away of their own accord, and they usually get worse, often
causing considerable resentment amongst other team members.

Traps to Avoid
There are a number of common mistakes that new managers tend to make. Take care to avoid them!
These are:

Thinking that you can rely on your existing job knowledge and technical skills to succeed as
a manager. It is essential that you take the time to develop good management and people skills
as well these can be more important than your technical skills!

Failing to consult regularly with your boss, in a misguided attempt to show that you can
cope on your own.

Approaching your boss without having thought a problem through, and without having
considered how the problem could be solved.

Embarrassing your boss, or letting her get a nasty surprise. Follow the "no surprises" rule.

Doing anything that requires your boss to defend you to others. This can cause your boss to
"lose face" with his peers and superiors, and it makes it look as if his team is out of control.

Failing to talk to your customers (whether internal or external) about what they want from
yourself and your team.

Using your authority inappropriately make sure that everything you ask people to do is in
the interests of the organization.

Many of these points sound obvious, however it's incredibly easy to make these mistakes in the rush of everyday
managerial life.

Key Points
When you move from being a worker to a line manager, you need to develop a new set of skills, and
make use of new tools and techniques. These will help you with the key management activities of
organizing, motivating, developing and communicating with your team.
Above all, learn how to delegate effectively. However, also learn how to motivate people, develop team
members, communicate effectively with people inside and outside your team, and manage discipline
effectively.
And make sure that you avoid the mistakes that many new managers make!

Leading Equals
Motivating People Effectively, Without Authority

The only difference between you and your colleagues is that you're in charge.
iStockphoto/ravelin3d

Does this sound like a job you'd want?

You'll be managing a diverse group of people from a variety of departments. They each have different
areas of expertise and different ways of getting work done. The people don't report to you, and you'll
have little or no authority to direct their performance. However, you'll be held accountable for the
team's output. To accomplish the team's goals, you'll be expected, among other things, to motivate,
facilitate, encourage, communicate effectively, build trust, and resolve conflict.
This doesn't sound like a lot of fun, does it?
When leading a team of your peers, these are typical challenges.
Leadership is a complex subject. There are visionary leaders, empowering leaders, charismatic leaders, and valuesbased leaders. For each of these styles, there are situations where that style is and is not effective. However, the one
thing that traditional leaders can usually rely on, regardless of their style or situation, is legitimate power. When things
get tough, a traditional leader has the status and position to demand how work is done.
But when you're in charge of a team of your peers, your level of authority is often nonexistent. You might have as little
status as the person to whom the work has been given but is that enough to lead what is essentially a horizontal
collaboration?
To lead a multifunctional peer group, you must have all the characteristics of great leaders and then some. Here are
the key skills you'll need to succeed.

Master the Group Process

6

Learn to lead discussions and proactively manage different personalities. You never know what past experiences
good and bad team members have had with one another.
Whatever the history, your role as leader starts with setting a positive foundation for the team's interactions:

Establish a relaxed environment, where everyone is encouraged to share opinions and

ideas.
Ask for input from everyone, and encourage quieter members to speak up.
Use active listening skills, like paraphrasing and asking questions for clarification.
Insist on respect for one another and, for tasks taking a lot of time and effort, consider
developing a team charter to define your team's goals and how the team will work.
Use participative decision making tools, and try to ensure active involvement and
commitment from the team.

Empower Team Members

Leaders who give power to others can be very influential and motivating. When leaders use their power to help others
accomplish great things, people often want to work very hard for them.
When you empower someone, you're essentially saying that you trust that person. When people feel trusted, they
may naturally want to take on more responsibility for the outcome, because they'll share in the spotlight when
success is achieved.
Empowerment, then, is a great motivator, and it can be used to recognize the efforts of team members. When leading
your peers, be creative with reward and recognition sometimes assigning a task or granting a level of authority can
serve as a very effective reward.
Beyond this, work hard to motivate the people you're working with and, in particular, give praise wherever it's
due.

Be Flexible
Rules, regulations and a heavy-handed approach can cause resentment and non-compliance in a team of peers. Use
discretion, and learn to adapt to the changing environment this can be critical.
You won't always be the expert, and you won't always know what to do. With a flexible leadership style, you can often
deal with changing circumstances without compromising your leadership role. If you rely on a rigid structure and style,
you may find yourself challenged often, and you may waste your energy fighting interpersonal battles instead of
accomplishing goals.
Essentially, you need to help your team adjust to changes in direction, circumstance, and priority. Whenever you get
a cross-section of people working together, there can be times of ambiguity and uncertainty. When you're open to
change, your team will see that, and they'll be more likely to also accept change.

Set Goals
Few teams would get very far without goals. Certainly you need goals to point you in the right direction and to
evaluate performance. When you bring together a diverse set of people, having a clear direction is even more
essential.
All team members will likely have their own perspectives. These could lead your team down very different paths if
there's no central direction to follow. Different paths can also cause conflict around resources and priorities.

You can avoid many of these difficulties with clear goal setting , based on agreed and valuable objectives. It's
much easier to keep people working together effectively if objectives are clear, if it's obvious how the team's output
will help its customer, and if disputes are resolved by referring to the team's goals.
From then on, it's important that you develop an implementation plan and remain focused on your targets.

Support and Protect Your Team

Each team member usually has his or her own regular job to do in addition to the team's specific tasks. This means
that commitment to your team may be weakened from many directions. As the leader, and the one who is ultimately
accountable, concentrate on getting the support and resources your team needs to do the job well.
Focus on these three key areas:
1.

Obtain resources Your team may quickly lose momentum if it encounters resource
shortages. If you get your team what it needs when the team needs it your status, influence,
and ability to motivate can increase significantly.

2.

Manage stakeholders Many people outside your team may strongly influence the
team's success. First, you may encounter outside resistance from various sources. For example,
John's manager may not allow him to work more than one hour each week on team projects, or
the finance director may refuse to "spend one more dollar on that project."
There may also be key team champions. As a leader, your challenge is to figure out how to use
the champions' influence to persuade "resisters" to change their opinions. A great way to gain
the respect of your team is to protect it from negative outside influences, so that team members
can produce great work.

3.

Obtain management feedback Your team needs to know they're supported. Make sure
you receive regular communication from managers and executives. You're the liaison the link
to ensure that management knows what's going on, and that your team knows what
management thinks.
This can be a delicate balancing act, because you don't want to run back and forth with too
much information. Figure out what each side needs to know to remain satisfied, and then
provide it.

Key Points
Leading a team of your peers is a definite challenge, and it can put all of your leadership skills to the
test. From setting goals to involving team members in decision making to creating a climate of
openness and honesty, you need to have it all and more.
If you remember to put your team's needs first, and if you work very hard to protect their interests,
you'll prove to them that you're committed to and passionate about their success. When you
demonstrate that you believe in the value of their work, and when you're willing to work through any
obstacles you encounter, your team will respect your integrity and they'll want to work hard with you,
and for you, to achieve results.

Steps to Building an Effective Team

The first rule of team building is an obvious one: to lead a team effectively, you must
first establish your leadership with each team member. Remember that the most
effective team leaders build their relationships of trust and loyalty, rather than fear or
the power of their positions.

Consider each employee's ideas as valuable. Remember that there is no

such thing as a stupid idea.
Be aware of employees' unspoken feelings. Set an example to team
members by being open with employees and sensitive to their moods and feelings.
Act as a harmonizing influence. Look for chances to mediate and resolve
minor disputes; point continually toward the team's higher goals.
Be clear when communicating. Be careful to clarify directives.

o
o
o

Encourage trust and cooperation among employees on your team.

Remember that the relationships team members establish among themselves are every
bit as important as those you establish with them. As the team begins to take shape,
pay close attention to the ways in which team members work together and take steps
to improve communication, cooperation, trust, and respect in those relationships.
Encourage team members to share information. Emphasize the importance
of each team member's contribution and demonstrate how all of their jobs operate
together to move the entire team closer to its goal.
Delegate problem-solving tasks to the team. Let the team work on creative
solutions together.
Facilitate communication. Remember that communication is the single most
important factor in successful teamwork. Facilitating communication does not mean
holding meetings all the time. Instead it means setting an example by remaining open
to suggestions and concerns, by asking questions and offering help, and by doing
everything you can to avoid confusion in your own communication.
Establish team values and goals; evaluate team performance. Be sure to
talk with members about the progress they are making toward established goals so that
employees get a sense both of their success and of the challenges that lie ahead.
Address teamwork in performance standards. Discuss with your team:
What do we really care about in performing our job?
What does the word success mean to this team?
What actions can we take to live up to our stated values?
Make sure that you have a clear idea of what you need to accomplish;
that you know what your standards for success are going to be; that you have
established clear time frames; and that team members understand their
responsibilities.
Use consensus. Set objectives, solve problems, and plan for action. While it
takes much longer to establish consensus, this method ultimately provides better
decisions and greater productivity because it secures every employee's commitment to
all phases of the work.
Set ground rules for the team. These are the norms that you and the team
establish to ensure efficiency and success. They can be simple directives (Team
members are to be punctual for meetings) or general guidelines (Every team member
has the right to offer ideas and suggestions), but you should make sure that the team
creates these ground rules by consensus and commits to them, both as a group and as
individuals.
Establish a method for arriving at a consensus. You may want to conduct
open debate about the pros and cons of proposals, or establish research committees to
investigate issues and deliver reports.
Encourage listening and brainstorming. As supervisor, your first priority in
creating consensus is to stimulate debate. Remember that employees are often afraid
to disagree with one another and that this fear can lead your team to make mediocre
decisions. When you encourage debate you inspire creativity and that's how you'll spur
your team on to better results.
Establish the parameters of consensus-building sessions. Be sensitive to
the frustration that can mount when the team is not achieving consensus. At the outset
of your meeting, establish time limits, and work with the team to achieve consensus

10

within those parameters. Watch out for false consensus; if an agreement is struck too
quickly, be careful to probe individual team members to discover their real feelings
about the proposed solution.

How to Lead Effective Employee Teams

Companies hire employee team leaders to help run their organizations. Employee team
leaders act as a bridge between company management and its employees. Effective team
leaders monitor budgets, track operations and keep managers aware of problems. An
effective employee team leader must know how to communicate and should respect all
employees. One employee team leader responsibility involves keeping the team productive
and satisfied. Effective leaders find ways to interact with their team, such as through
meetings.

Step 1
11

Develop an open-door communication policy as a team leader. Effective leaders allow their
employees to communicate any issues. Some of your team members may resist having
discussions. As a team leader, keep the communication opportunity available. Offer different
ways for your team to communicate. Employee team members can send you emails or use
the telephone.

Step 2
Hold employee team meetings. The meeting should be held on a regular basis, such as
every Friday. Create an agenda for your employee team. Before you create the agenda,
know the issues for discussion. Bring enough copies for all employee team members. The
team should concentrate on company-related issues.
Related Reading: 8 Ways to Build Collaborative Teams

Step 3
Learn the work style of each team member. Effective leaders recognize how their team
members work. Some team members want someone to delegate. Other team members
thrive on leading. When you have the option, match assignments to the employee's work
style. Your team members can concentrate on what they like, and you get a more productive
worker.

Step 4
Allow each team member to participate. Leaders make sure everyone has a voice. Do not
exclude anyone. Each member must feel he is contributing to the team's goals. When a
team member's contribution has a positive effect, discuss this information during the next
meeting. Team employee recognition helps maintain a productive work setting.

Step 5
Give employee team members ways to communicate with each other. As a leader, explain
the importance of team members communicating. Team communication helps identify workrelated problems. Having a set time for employees to meet offers a solution. Busy offices
can use emails to communicate throughout the work day. Your employees can send you
copies of their team communication emails.

Step 6
Monitor your team's performance. If you have team members who perform poorly, you can
meet with them in private. Decide upon a periodic time to measure your team's
performance. For example, a well organized and productive team may need monthly
monitoring. Let your team members know about chronic employee-related issues in writing.

12

13

FIVE STEPS TO LEAD A TEAM

EFFECTIVELY
Survival of the fittest. Kill or be killed. It's my way or the highway.
These harsh prescriptions have long served as models for running an effective
business. These days, though, the prevailing wisdom is changing. Some of the new
watchwords and key phrases are "collaboration," "shared ownership" and "common
values." Why the shift? Increasingly, businesses are finding that the old ways of
doingbusiness are not sustaining them in today's fast-changing marketplace. As the
watchwords change, so do the methods of effective leadership. Here are five basic keys
to
leading
successfully
in
this
new
world
of
teamwork.
Lead

Yourself

Before

You

Try

to

Lead

Others.

"If I don't have a good handle on me, I won't have a good handle on you," explains Jim
Jose, an organizational effectiveness strategist and leadership coach based in Tucson.
In other words, model for your staff members the sorts of behavior you expect from
them. If you expect them to treat each other with respect, make sure you don't fly off the
handle at every little problem. If you expect honesty from them, make an effort to own
up to your own mistakes. The bottom line, says Jose, is "if you take care of yourself, you
know the kind of value to place on another person." Because it isn't always easy to
know how to make changes, or even what changes need to be made, leaders might
consider
hiring
the
services
of
an
executive
coach.
Give

Team

Members

Sense

of

Ownership

in

the

Process.

"If I'm a leader, I have to find out what makes you tick," says Jose. "If I don't know what
motivates you, why would you follow me?" For one team member, this might mean an
excellent salary. For another, it might mean a flexible work schedule. For yet another, it
might mean the excitement of challenging work. Once you've determined your staff's
individual needs and have done your best to meet those requirements, the next step is
to create a sense of shared purpose. An effective team leader defines the mission but
then allows team members to have a broad voice in how the goal is reached. "That way,
in the end, we can say this is a 'we' product, not an 'I' product," Jose says.
14

Build

an

Atmosphere

of

Trust.

This means fostering collaboration rather than competition. It also means

approaching your employees with empathy instead of anger. One of the worst among
several bad elements of the traditional management model is that, in a strictly
hierarchical setting, leaders become isolated from the problems that threaten the
organization. But if you foster an environment in which employees feel free to offer
constructive criticism without fear of retribution, the organization will grow stronger.
Help

Your

Staff

Build

Capacity.

The paradoxical goal of a good leader is to become replaceable. John Maxwell,

author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, explains the paradox this way: "The
only way to make yourself indispensable is to make yourself dispensable. In other
words, if you are able to continually empower others and help them develop so that they
become capable of taking over your job, you will become so valuable to the organization
that
you
become
indispensable."
Foster

Inclusion.

The more inclusive the team, the greater the number of talents and viewpoints will be on
hand to tackle problems. This extends beyond ethnicity and gender, to include a
diversity of attitudes, values and ways of thinking. Here is, perhaps, one of the most
compelling arguments for teamwork. "In a team-based organization, you tend to draw
out the gifts that everyone can bring to bear on business strategies," explains Jose. "In
a high command-and-control organization, those gifts remain lost."

15

Organization of Effective Teams

Within an organization are work groups and teams. Teams develop their own hierarchy and
their own ways of processing information to achieve their goals. A team has a structure that
allows it to work efficiently and to help each team member to understand his role within the
group. Understanding the organization of effective teams can help you to build productive
teams of your own.

Leader
A team leader can be an active participant in team decision-making, or she can be an
administrator who abides by the rules and guidelines set forth by a consensus among team
members. The role of the leader depends on the responsibilities she has within the team, but
an effective team has someone in charge to help maintain order and move the team
forward.

Specialties
Each member of a team has a specialty that he can use to contribute to achieving team
goals. The organizational structure of the team is based on the effective use of team
resources to meet company demands. The segmentation of the group into areas of expertise
is what allows the team to process information and develop effective solutions to issues.
Related Reading: Challenges to Teamwork in Multiple Branches of an Organization

Quality Control
Every team has a person, or group of people, responsible for making sure that the work
generated by the team is up to its standards. For example, authors submit their work to
editors to be checked for accuracy, proper content and grammatical structure. Work is not
released from the team for company consumption until it has passed the standards of the
quality-control structure put in place by the team.

Conflict Resolution
16

To remain effective, a good team has a process in place for internal conflict resolution. It
may be the team leader who decides the outcome of a conflict, with the team members
agreeing to abide by his decision. Alternatively, conflict may be resolved in a team meeting.
Regardless, in order to prevent internal conflict from affecting productivity, the
organizational structure of a team must include a detailed, comprehensive process for
conflict resolution.

Plans to Motivate & Lead Employees in Business

Providing leadership and motivation for your employees is essential in maintaining morale
and productivity. The management team that spends time developing ways to keep
employees inspired to succeed will increase retention. There are many different plans that
managers can use to motivate and lead employees. Experiment with motivational methods
and document them so that you can replicate the ones that are effective.

Work Duties
Employees are often motivated by challenges presented in their everyday work tasks. The
continuous performance of repeated work duties creates apathy and leads to turnover. A
proactive manager is always looking for ways to challenge employees and motivate the staff
by emphasizing accomplishments. It can be creating new production goals each month and
attaching a bonus to each employee that exceeds goals, or it can be the option to be trained
on a different job to expand an employee's skill set.

Personal Attention
When an employee is confident that management is taking an interest in his career
development, then that employee becomes motivated to succeed. Managers should
schedule monthly one-on-one sessions with each employee to discuss the employee's

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current job duties and career aspirations. The manager should keep notes on the
performance of each employee so that she can offer firsthand recommendations rather than
counting on the employee to provide all of the details.
Related Reading: How to Motivate Surly Employees

Listening
Being a good leader means knowing what your subordinates are thinking. A good plan to
help lead employees is to always listen to what they have to say. Develop an "open door"
policy that encourages employees to provide their input on any topic that they feel is
important. Host weekly staff meetings where employees can voice their concerns with the
group, and you get to hear what is on everyone's mind.

Recognition
It is easier to lead a motivated group of employees than an unmotivated group. Leadership
and motivation go hand in hand when it comes to publicly recognizing employees for a job
well done. It can be something as simple as posting a handwritten note on an employee's
desk congratulating him for a task performed, or it can be as elaborate as a monthly
ceremony designed to recognize the top performers in the group. The staff feels appreciated
by management because management takes the time to recognize employee
accomplishments.

Examples of Great Employee Goals

Goal-setting is an important component of employee motivation. Setting and achieving goals
keeps employees looking forward to new accomplishments and rewards, pushing their
performance to ever-increasing heights. The best goals include each of four vital
components; great employee goals are specific, time-bound, measurable and reasonably
attainable. Reviewing a few examples of great employee goals can help you to craft goals
for yourself or your employees that include all four characteristics.

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Productivity Goals
Productivity can be defined as the amount of productive work accomplished within a specific
time-frame. Productivity can be measured in units produced, customers served or other
measures of output. Setting productivity goals for individual employees has the long-term
effect of increasing overall company productivity, allowing a company to get more work
done in the same amount of time and with the same number of employees.
An example of a great productivity goal for an assembly line worker, using the four
characteristics of an effective goal, could be "to increase the number of units produced per
hour by 5 percent between each semi-annual performance review." An example of a great
productivity goal for a data-entry clerk could be "to increase typing speed by five words-perminute each month until reaching 60 words-per-minute."

Efficiency Goals
Efficiency is a similar concept to productivity, but it approaches output in a different way.
Efficiency can be defined as the speed, accuracy and consistent quality with which an
employee works. More efficient workers make fewer mistakes and can increase their
productivity without decreasing their quality standards.
An example of a great efficiency goal for a customer-service representative could be "to
keep the number of service calls which last over five minutes to under ten per day," to
encourage the rep to interact more strategically with customers and anticipate their needs.
Related Reading: Examples of HR Department Goals

Educational Goals
Educational achievement can make employees more valuable to their employers, in addition
to enriching their lives in other areas. Setting goals is a proven way to reach educational
milestones, and companies can benefit from collaboratively setting educational goals with
their employees. Valuable educational achievements include things such as college degrees,
company-sponsored training programs and professional certifications.
An example of a great educational goal for an aspiring manager could be "to fulfill all seven
management training modules before next year's performance review." An example of a
great educational goal for someone at the top of their pay grade could be "to enroll in an
Associate's degree program this Fall semester, and to complete my degree within three
years."

Personal Development Goals

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Employee performance relies on a range of qualitative factors in addition to easily

measurable quantitative issues. Intangible characteristics such as leadership skills,
communication effectiveness, conflict management skills and strategic contributions in team
settings can be just as important to employees' success and their employers'
competitiveness.
Examples of great intangible goals for personal development include "to decrease the
number of negative confrontations at work between each performance review until no
confrontations arise," or "to speak up and contribute in all team meetings during a specific
project."

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Five Functions of Management & Leading

Effective management and leadership involve creative problem solving, motivating
employees and making sure the organization accomplishes objectives and goals. There are
five functions of management and leadership: planning, organizing, staffing, coordinating
and controlling. These functions separate the management process from other business
functions such as marketing, accounting and finance.

Planning
The planning function of management controls all the planning that allows the organization
to run smoothly. Planning involves defining a goal and determining the most effective course
of action needed to reach that goal. Typically, planning involves flexibility, as the planner
must coordinate with all levels of management and leadership in the organization. Planning
also involves knowledge of the companys resources and the future objectives of the
business.

Organizing
The organizing function of leadership controls the overall structure of the company. The
organizational structure is the foundation of a company; without this structure, the day-today operation of the business becomes difficult and unsuccessful. Organizing involves
designating tasks and responsibilities to employees with the specific skill sets needed to
complete the tasks. Organizing also involves developing the organizational structure and
chain of command within the company.
Related Reading: How Do Control Mechanisms Affect the Four Functions of Management?

Staffing
The staffing function of management controls all recruitment and personnel needs of the
organization. The main purpose of staffing is to hire the right people for the right jobs to
achieve the objectives of the organization. Staffing involves more than just recruitment;
staffing also encompasses training and development, performance appraisals, promotions
and transfers. Without the staffing function, the business would fail because the business
would not be properly staffed to meet its goals.

Coordinating

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The coordinating function of leadership controls all the organizing, planning and staffing
activities of the company and ensures all activities function together for the good of the
organization. Coordinating typically takes place in meetings and other planning sessions
with the department heads of the company to ensure all departments are on the same page
in terms of objectives and goals. Coordinating involves communication, supervision and
direction by management.

Controlling
The controlling function of management is useful for ensuring all other functions of the
organization are in place and are operating successfully. Controlling involves establishing
performance standards and monitoring the output of employees to ensure each employees
performance meets those standards. The controlling process often leads to the identification
of situations and problems that need to be addressed by creating new performance
standards. The level of performance affects the success of all aspects of the organization.

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