5 Tips to Bring out the Best in Your Team

As a manager, your responsibility is to ensure that everyone is contributing in a team. 

Here are 5 tips to help you bring out the best in your team:

“Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold.”—Proverbs 11:27

1. Be a good coach

An important skill for any team leader or manager is to be able to coach effectively to draw out the capabilities of your team members. Your ability to ask the right questions and bring different insights becomes more important than finding the right solution. This means that the manager must be willing to take a step back and not be in direct control. Success comes when you can enable others to review and reframe their contributions, bringing them to a new level of thoughts.

2. Encourage collaboration rather than competition

While some individuals thrive on competition, trust can be eroded when a “I win, you lose” mindset is ingrained within the team. Be clear to the team about when your expectations are collaboration and when it is competition with a different organisation. Notice and describe good collaboration examples when you see it.

3. Make recognition count

Most human beings need praise and recognition as a form of motivation. The more you are able to recognise the contributions of your team members to your team, the more committed they will be to play a part in the success of the team. Be specific when issuing praise so that everyone is clear about what in particular you are recognising. Try to get team members to speak up on what they appreciate about the others in team meetings for an instant morale boost.

 4. Encourage people to speak up

As a manager, you have probably forgot what it was like when joining a new team. It can be a rather daunting experience having to fit in and people often try to blend in without much fanfare. However, encouraging people to speak up shows that you are welcoming them to have their voice heard and asking them to influence the flow of thoughts within the group. Sometimes, it may be necessary to have a change of environment to prompt reflective and honest conversations. Instead of having meetings at the usual office space, try conducting occasional meetings outside of the office.

 5. Be aware of work preferences

Leveraging on the diversity of different working styles and preferences may also help to bring out the best in the team. Managers may consider using personality tests to gain insights how individuals think and make decisions at work. When team members understand one another’s differences, they will be more open to making allowances for different styles of working.