Leadership principles for team manager
- Administrator
- Mar 6, 2023
- 9 min read
Updated: Jul 24, 2024
As a manager, it is your job to assemble a team that can bring their A-game to their role and especially to the company. Hard conversations will need to happen.
What makes an effective team manager?
Daily practices to follow to become an effective executive
KNOWLEDGE
They ask, "What needs to be done?"
They ask, "What is right for the enterprise?"
ACTION
They develop action plans. It is often revised as plans should anticipate the need for flexibility.
They take responsibility for decisions
They take responsibility for communicating
They are focused on opportunities rather than problems
MAKING THE TEAM ACCOUNTABLE
They run productive meetings
They think and say "we" rather than "I"
That ONE thing that produces the highest impact
Only a few things can kill a business. Do that one thing that pushes the business forward. Nothing gets done if everything becomes a priority. You will have to draw a line on the sand or else you work all day but nothing important done.
Concentrate on one task. Ask yourself, "What is right for the enterprise?" Other tasks, no matter how important or appealing, are delegated or postponed.
After completing the original top-priority task, reset priorities rather than moving on to number two item from the original list. Ask yourself, "What must be done now?"
Decisions are made at every level of the organization.
Focus on opportunities rather than problems.
The effective executive's four realities
These four realities is built into the organization and into the executive's day and work. He has no choice but to "cooperate with the inevitable". They are necessary conditions of the executive's existence. But every one of these realities exert pressure toward non-results and non-performance.
Special efforts must be made to live with these realities and be effective.
The executive's time tends to belong to everybody else. One thing he needs to learn is to say no to whatever is demanding his time but doesn't contribute to his goals.
Executives are forced to keep on "operating" unless they take positive action to change the reality in which they work. If the executive lets the flow of events determine what he does, what he works on, and what he takes seriously, he will fritter himself away "operating".
The executive is only effective if and when other people make use of what he contributes. His knowledge without action is meaningless.
Specifically, there are no results within the organization. All the results are on the outside. Executive only sees outside only through thick and distorting lenses, if at all. It is the inside of the organization that is most visible to the executive, so it is the inside that has immediacy for him. The executive should make conscious efforts to perceive the outside, or else the inside may blind them to the true reality.
Disciplines the effective executive should live by
KNOW YOUR TIME
The higher up in the organization he is, the more demands on his time will the organization make.
People decisions are time-consuming. Nobody comes in proper size and shape and is machined down to do tasks. To get the work done with people, it requires a lot of time, thought, and judgment.
Identify and eliminate the things that need not be done at all, things that are purely waste of time without any results whatsoever.
We usually tend to overrate rather than underrate our importance and to conclude that far too many things can only be done by ourselves. Ask yourself, "Which of the activities on my time log could be done by somebody else just as well, if not better?"
Identify the time-wasters which follow from lack of system or foresight. The symptom to look for is the recurrent "crisis". These affect everyone. A crisis that occurs the second time is a crisis that must not occur again.
Time-wastes often result from overstaffing. If the workforce spends an increasing amount of time "interacting" rather than "working", there may be too many cooks in the kitchen.
Meetings should never be allowed to become the main demand on an executive's time. An organization in which everybody meets all the time is an organization in which no one gets anything done.
FOCUS ON CONTRIBUTION
The executive turns his attention to the outside, the only place where there are results. He asks himself, "What are we doing on the inside that contributes to the outside?"
Contribution = direct results, building of values within the team, developing people for tomorrow's leadership
People adjust to the level of demands made on them. The executive who sets his sights on contribution, raises the sights and standards of everyone with whom he works.
Effective executives find themselves asking other people in the organization - their superiors, subordinates, colleagues - "What contribution from me do you require to make your contribution to the organization? When do you need this, how do you need it, and in what form?"
Executives as a rule should demand their subordinates to take responsibility, too. He should ask his people, "What contributions for which the company should hold you accountable? What should we expect of you?"
Teamwork is possible when communication is often done sideways than upward or downward. People have to work together voluntarily and according to the logic of the situation and the demands of the task, rather than according to a structure.
MAKE STRENGTH PRODUCTIVE
Jobs have to be objective, that is, determined by task rather than personality. Jobs have to be defined and structured impersonally. Otherwise, the accent will be on "Who is right?" rather than on "What is right?". In no time, personnel decisions will be based on "Do I like this fellow?" rather than on "Is this person most likely to do an outstanding job?"
To insure that the manager stays objective, he keeps a distance between himself and his colleagues. By staying aloof, managers are able to build teams of great diversity and also of strength.
Any job that has defeated two or three men in succession, even though each had performed well in his previous assignments, must be assumed unfit for human being. It must be redesigned. A well-designed job has the capacity to make common people achieve uncommon performance.
When delegating, bear in mind that only if the job is big and demanding to begin with, will it enable a man to rise to the new demands of a changed situation.
Start with what a man can do rather than with what a job requires. Don't get too concerned with "potential". Even if the promise is there, all that a manager can measure is their actual performance.
To get strength, one has to put up with weaknesses. If a man could do something, his lacks become secondary. Unless of course the weakness hampers the full deployment of strength.
PUTTING FIRST THINGS FIRST
Whatever systems and methods worked well when the organization was just starting will not work well when the organization has hit its third year. As a company grows, goals and needs are also evolving. Effective executives will have to realize that they should stop doing five years later what the leaders had pioneered five years before.
Typical executives often underestimate the time for any one task. They always expect things to go right, but the unexpected always happens. Effective executives therefore allow a fair margin of time beyond what is actually needed. Effective executives do not race - they plan ahead. They set an easy pace but keep going steadily.
Effective executives periodically review their work programs - and those of their associates - and ask: "If we did not already do this, would we go into this now?" Unless the answer is unconditional "Yes", they drop the activity and curtail it sharply.
Effective executives commit their resources to the future. He always asks: "Is this still worth doing?" Unless non-contributing activities are pruned ruthlessly, they drain the lifeblood from an organization.
A decision has to be made as to which tasks deserve priority and which are of less importance. The only question is which will make the decision - the executive or the pressure. Pressure-drive decisions always favor yesterday. Always favor what has happened over the future, crisis over opportunities, immediate and visible over the real, and urgent over the relevant.
Timing is an important element in the success of any effort. What one postpones, one actually abandons.
MAKING A DECISION
Timing is an important element in the success of any effort. What one postpones, one actually abandons.
High-leverage activities the team manager should focus on
(From Danny)
With everything you do w/ MaS I want you to audit yourself and ask "Is this the BEST use of my time?" Best typically means high leverage.
Examples of high leverage activities:
Hiring
Designing a system for the team to implement
Coaching team members
Designing (but NOT implementing - others should implement) a project that will increase leads (or conversions, or retention etc.)
Examples of low leverage activities:
Catching up on 3 weeks of Signal messages (YES some messages need checking. Others though, like EOD reports from every single day, don't. Better to just start with the new submitted reports)
Building app features
Building SOP training materials IF someone else can do it. If only you can do it, then it's good high leverage activity
Running a campaign yourself (unless everyone else on the team is failing)
Remember that CEO's of giant corps don't "DO" anything. They're just paid to make decisions.
As per coaching team members, SMART goals related to people I believe will be built on their KPI's. Ex. General VA w/ less than 1% error rate in tasks (this would be tedious to track, but might be needed) each week. Simply having them measure it might be enough to help improve. If not, then coaching. If still no, the last (extreme) resort would be firing.
Goals can be outcome-oriented or process-oriented.
How do you know if members are raising the bar for the team?
What are the types of members in a team?
A-players High capability, high commitment What do you do? Acknowledge them and grow their skills
B-players Type 1 High capability, low commitment What do you do? Give credit where credit is due, and then challenge them. Poke a hole on their ego. They have to embrace full compliance. Even though they're producing results, they have to be committed. Good analogy to this is team sports. If someone on the team plays really well but doesn't show up to practice, you want to give them credit for their talent but want to challenge them to level up and put in more effort.
B-players Type 2 Low capability, high commitment What do you do? Acknowledge them for their commitment, but tell them that they need to contribute. Provide what support they need to make them capable - coaching, resources, mentoring. If they keep up, you can see that they are truly committed. If not, they only act committed because they're being tolerated in the team.
C-players Low capability, low commitment What do you do? Teach them. If they don't learn, fire. We don't want this type of people in the team.
Why do members underperform?
Possible reasons team members are slipping:
Personal issue. Is something going on in your life that's causing the performance dip and you'll bounce back when it's settled?
Organization issue. Are there blockers or issues at work that's holding you back?
Commitment issue. Is your low engagement caused by the fact that you're looking for another job?
Task issue. Change in tasking that you're not well-suited for? Or perhaps overloaded?
Career progress issue. Feel like there's no opportunity to get rewarded/promoted? Hence, performance stays average? "I can afford to take it easy and still have a job"
Mentor issue. Do you feel like leadership and guidance is lacking? Or did you get used to your work being checked and you have grown a co-dependence with supervisor?
Mindset issue. Do you approach work with pre-conditioned mindset? For example, you already declare to yourself that you're overwhelmed? Or that the task is bound to fail before you start doing them?
How do you know if your team is incompetent?
Ask yourself:
Do they raise the bar for the team? If not, don't hire them or let them go.
Do they have ego when we give them feedback? Are we able to coach them or are they not willing to grow and match our pace? If not, they don't fit here.
Does the leader have to learn the processes/systems and have to teach members everything? If so, management has very low standards.
What's that one thing that contributes high impact to MaS that you're doing right now? If the team can't answer this, they don't know what they're doing and they're doing nothing important.
Does the member have some sort of measurement to track their work? If not, they are time-wasters.
How do you coach underperforming team members?
It's conversations with someone you know that you like, but isn't cutting it, that hinders you to communicate with them and coach them effectively.
Give them feedback on how to improve
Instead of saying the problem, say what you want. Confusing feedback: "Accordion when expanded has no buttons - only links. There's an HTML code for this I think." Clear feedback: "Plz include buttons in the accordion menu (not just links)"
Positive request = positive reaction; "What you did wrong" request = negative reaction Negative wording: In the mobile layout, the video about going to ViBe studio is not under the Vibe Map. Please combine them into one column so it's not confusing. Positive wording: In the mobile layout, the video about going to ViBe studio is not under the Vibe Map. Please combine them into one column so it's clear.
Emphasize accountability
When we get to a point where our confidence in the team member starts to shake, it's best to remind them that we want to depend on them and that will be possible if they communicate the most effective way they do work.
We can say:
Hi {vaName}. I need to know that I can depend on you.
This means a couple of things:
1. When a recurring task is given, I know with 100% confidence that you will remember to get it done.
2. If you don’t understand something, you should ask me.
How can we make sure 100% moving forward that these things happen?
