While leading and managing staff members, you’ve probably encountered poor performance caused by miscommunication, lack of motivation, conflicting viewpoints, and office distractions, among other causes. Now, you’re pondering, “How can a small team improve efficiency?”
You can boost efficiency in a small team by clarifying members’ roles, making group decisions, providing training, and giving regular feedback. Moreover, you can spur motivation with incentives and reward stellar achievement. Also, build trust by being flexible, transparent, and accessible.
This post brims with practical tips for bringing out the best in your team. Upper management will be impressed. Moreover, your staff will take pride in their work, reflecting glowingly on you!
How Can a Small Team Be Improved?
A small team can be improved by clarifying the role of each member and coaching them to equip them with the skills to work effectively. As does constructive feedback, fostering team cohesion and collaboration goes a long way.
Below are some tips you can follow to improve small teams.
1. Clarify Each Staff Member’s Role and Responsibilities
This way, they’ll understand the purpose and goals of their job, giving them a clear focus.
When hiring an employee, define their position on the team. Specify what their tasks and responsibilities will be.
Next, explain why your employee is so valuable to the team effort.
At the end of the meeting, summarize what you’ve discussed. Lastly, encourage your new hire to consult you whenever they need guidance.
Then, if your employees’ roles change when you start a new project, clarify their altered responsibilities.
2. Foster Collaboration Among Your Team Members
Use weekly meetings as a forum to tackle problems and share ideas. Since you have a small staff, conduct the sessions face-to-face rather than virtually.
For a productive caucus, devise an agenda of the objectives and issues. Then, distribute your outline in advance, giving your employees time to review the matters.
When you open the meeting, announce a time limit, helping everyone to stay on-task. Next, present each topic, inviting your staff members to voice their thoughts. Meanwhile, take notes on your team’s input.
Finally, try to reach a consensus on each course of action. By collaborating and making joint decisions, you’ll build a cohesive team.
3. Provide Growth Opportunities for Your Employees
An esteemed leader grooms their team members for success. Toward this end, meet with each staff member privately to discuss their career goals.
Then, offer training programs to fulfill their aspirations. Webinars are one means. With online courses, team members can interact with each other virtually. You can also sponsor in-house classes, checking in to observe your staff participating.
Or you can design “stretch assignments” for an ambitious team member. These are projects that develop a particular strength an employee has. In turn, you’ll heighten their enthusiasm and job engagement.
Do you have a worker with exemplary skills in a particular area? If so, let them conduct peer coaching sessions in an office conference room. Encourage your staff to ask questions and voice any difficulties they’re having. When teammates help each other, they grow in mutual respect and solidarity.
Is there a highly motivated staff member with leadership potential? If so, find another charismatic manager like yourself to mentor them.
4. Empower Your Crew With Constructive Feedback
Productive leading involves both tactful correction and earnest praise. By guiding your staff in this way, you’ll improve the quality of their work. Plus, giving regular feedback shows your commitment to helping them succeed.
Be careful with your delivery for a favorable response and put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. Whereas criticism feels degrading, constructive advice is edifying.
So, plan what to say. When you want to commend a staff member, consider doing it publicly in the presence of their teammates. However, if you must correct a person, do it privately, saving them embarrassment. Also, look into using a coaching approach versus a directive leadership style.
Let’s say you need to address mediocre customer service. DO NOT Start your discussion by praising what the employee does well; you can read more on how to offer feedback properly here.
Next, you can increase the likelihood of your message being accepted by saying “we” versus “you.” For instance, “When handling customer complaints, we must be patient and empathetic.”
… You can increase the likelihood of your message being accepted by saying “we” versus “you.” For instance, “When handling customer complaints, we must be patient and empathetic.”
Lastly, end your appraisal on a constructive note, ensuring your employee gets actionable feedback.
5. Affirm Excellent Work in Tangible Ways
You can easily rouse staff motivation with incentives and rewards. Concrete forms of recognition boost employee morale and job satisfaction. They also promote staff retention.
Incentives and rewards differ in how they raise productivity. An incentive is a catalyst for meeting a future goal. On the other hand, a reward is a prize for a job already completed (link).
| 5 Tips For Average-Performing Small Teams! | Task To Make The TeamWork Work! |
| Clarify Each Staff Member’s Role and Responsibilities | When hiring an employee, define their position on the team. Specify what their tasks and responsibilities will be. |
| Foster Collaboration Among Your Team Members | Use weekly meetings as a forum to tackle problems and share ideas. Since you have a small staff, conduct the sessions face-to-face rather than virtually. |
| Provide Growth Opportunities for Your Employees | Offer training programs to fulfill their aspirations. Webinars are one means. With online courses, team members can interact with each other virtually. |
| Empower Your Crew With Constructive Feedback | By guiding your staff, you’ll improve the quality of their work. Plus, giving regular feedback shows your commitment to helping them succeed. |
| Affirm Excellent Work in Tangible Ways | Easily rouse staff motivation with incentives and rewards. Concrete forms of recognition boost employee morale and job satisfaction. |
When using incentives and rewards, consider what employees value most; here are some common examples;
Incentives
- Money – performance bonuses, profit sharing, paid vacation time, stock options, and tuition reimbursement.
- Privileges – a private office or a reserved parking space.
- Accolades – Employee of the Month award, a featured spot in the company newsletter, or a commendation letter from your CEO.
Rewards
- Gifts – gym memberships, restaurant gift cards, and subscriptions to Apple Music or Spotify Premium.
- Services – house cleaning, laundry, vehicle maintenance, meal delivery, and dog-walking services.
- Experiences – paid classes in cooking, painting and wine sipping, yoga, pottery-making, a spa day, concert tickets, and catered lunches.
50% of Americans have left a job to “get away from their manager at some point in their career.”
Gallup State of The Workplace Report
But remember, these incentives and rewards only add significant value if the team is healthy (in every aspect of their lives) and has good leadership!
How Do You Work Effectively in a Small Team?
You work effectively in a small team by dividing the workload equitably, communicating clearly, and managing conflict constructively. You should also avoid potentially harmful practices like micromanagement.
Managing a small team is most gratifying! With fewer employees to supervise, you can work closely with them, developing their talents and strengths. Additionally, it’s easier to keep your finger on the pulse of team dynamics.
Here are tips for leading your group and achieving your departmental goals.
1. Divide the Workload Evenly
When assigning tasks, match them to employees with the skills to complete them well. Even so, avoid overloading your most proficient team members. Instead, distribute tasks equally, maintaining workload balance and preventing burnout.
Also, with each job you delegate, explain its purpose and the goals to reach. This way, your staff members know what you expect of them.
2. Avoid Over-Supervising and Perfectionism
Managers who constantly overshadow their team members create a tense atmosphere, undermining efficiency. Instead, let your staff members work on their tasks with minimum supervision. You’re showing respect and trust by giving your employees a degree of autonomy.
Meanwhile, refrain from magnifying errors and dwelling on them. In turn, your employees will gain confidence, helping them to work productively.
3. Maintain an Open-Door Policy
If you’re easygoing and approachable, staff members will seek your guidance as needed. Then, since you’re readily accessible, they’re less likely to make mistakes.
When communicating with your staff, listen attentively without interrupting. Also, take a sincere interest in the personal lives of your team members. Showing you care about them as people build rapport and company loyalty.
Furthermore, share some relatable details about yourself or your family. Doing so fosters a sense of connectedness.
4. Be Quick To Manage Conflict
Strive to be a keen observer of voice tones and body language, attuned to signs of antagonism. If you overhear gossip, clarify that they understand how spreading rumors impact the organization and themselves. Then, coach them to see the best in their coworkers, as you do with everyone on staff.
If you detect hostility between two parties, speak with each one privately. Then, decide whether to mediate based on how much anger they exhibit.
Are the irritated staff members civil with each other? In that case, urge them to settle their differences without your help. On the other hand, if they’re livid, intervene by fostering a calm discussion.
First, lay some ground rules. You might say, “I want each of you to be respectful toward the other. Also, when one person is speaking, don’t interrupt. You’ll both have ample time to present your story.”
Next, let each team member voice their complaints. Then, ask that they put themselves in the other person’s shoes. This approach should diffuse some anger. Now, help the two reach an agreement, perhaps through compromise. Lastly, document the incident after your meeting to track any further discord.
5. Set a Professional Example
Model the mindset, behavior, and performance you desire in your team. For instance, come to work on time and be punctual when holding meetings.
Meanwhile, regard everyone kindly and respectfully. Also, follow through on plans and commitments, showing your integrity. Even when pressure mounts and deadlines loom, stay levelheaded and composed.
If you can keep a neat, organized office, it will help your crew see that you have your things in order. Also, be flexible and willing to try new technologies and methods of achieving goals.
In short, try to be an upbeat person, a confident manager, and a trustworthy leader. By this, your team will enjoy being at work, giving their utmost to each task.
Leading Insightfully
You can bolster team efficiency by clearly defining tasks, fostering collaboration, and ensuring progressive training to hone needed skills. Periodic evaluations will keep your staff moving forward.
Then, inspire outstanding work with attractive perks, such as performance bonuses and paid vacation time. When your employees achieve desired goals, be generous with rewards. Especially valued are gift cards and funded services like meal delivery.
To build trust, delegate work fairly, keep your word, and be easy to approach. Also, show personal interest in each staff member, sharing your commonalities.
Under your insightful leadership, your small team will thrive!
