Managing a team is no small feat. Many people have struggled for years to learn the art and science of team management, but many of them have fallen flat on their faces in their attempts to do so. Fortunately, enough people have succeeded and have shared their insights and experiences that principles of managing teams can be derived.

When it comes to team management and leadership, two of the most important and significant elements are a clear and concise vision and the communication of this vision to the entire team. In addition, this communication must not flow one way – e.g. from the leadership to those on the lower levels of the management structure – but must be a dynamic, actively maintained two-way flow between management and everyone on the lower rungs.

Here are some specific things you can do as a leader to build the sort of team that operates along these two lines.

1. Start with the vision – and start with yourself. Internalize your vision. LIVE your vision. Believe in it and extol its virtues. Your enthusiasm will be contagious and it will be easy enough to proceed to the next step.

2. Build a team that shares your vision. If you believe in your vision enough and promulgate it enthusiastically, you will be able to gather together a set of people who share your vision and your enthusiasm. Begin to select your team from this group.

3. Communicate to your team exactly what you expect of them. Lay down the law. But make sure you also get to know your putative team members’ expectations and ideas as well. Don’t just let this be a one-man show.

4. In like note, make sure you listen before you speak or order people around. Get everyone’s inputs before you act. Don’t just act on what you know, or what you think you know. Challenge what you think you know.

5. Be consistent in all you do. An inconsistent leader is a bad leader because he sets a poor example for his staff.

6. Encourage feedback. Do all that you can to get your people to contribute to the company. Cultivate a culture of openness, honesty, and transparency.

7. Get people involved! Don’t just have them sit on the sidelines and cheer for those who are already ‘in the game’.

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Many people are of the opinion that it’s impossible to change people, but that’s not entirely true. While it certainly is impossible to get them to change by acting on them directly, it can be done by doing so INdirectly – influencing those other people to want to change themselves – as follows:

1. Start off with a little praise. Being critical of someone, or, worse, pointing the finger of blame at them, will only result in getting them riled up, and you certainly will not be able to get an angry person to listen to you – much less change him- or herself.

2. Make sure to mention mistakes you yourself have committed. Bring yourself down to people’s level and they’ll be a little more willing to work with you and do as you suggest. Besides, no one wants to deal with someone who is pitching him- or herself as holier-than-thou.

3. Discuss (gently) the problems that their old behavior has brought about or caused. Get them to realize that this situation is not sustainable and that they have to stop doing those things.

4. Understand why they are guilty of doing those things in the first place. Treat the problem at the source or else it’ll keep on cropping up despite whatever you try to do to solve it. If you don’t know why it’s happening, you won’t be able to come up with a true-blue solution to it.

5. Begin to sell the benefits of changing and improving. Explain why the new behavior is so much better than the one that needs to be gotten rid of.

6. Convince them the change is well within their capabilities. Most likely they will be nervous because they have to go outside their comfort zones to do so, and this can be a harrowing experience for anyone.

7. Set mutually agreed-on targets for improved behavior, as well as sanctions if they refuse or are unable to change. This should be able to convince them of the seriousness of the whole affair.

Link: Beyond Reason http://tumblr.com/xlk1i9dmk

True leaders seek to energize their organizations through what they do day in and day out. They always seek new and better opportunities to be able to transmit good positive energy to the organizations they manage and enable them to meet their goals. Nor can this be a “sometime” thing – companies really need this energy combined with excellent guidance to help them succeed.

Here are some tips as to how you can energize the company you manage.

•First of all, make sure that you yourself a) embody the principles of good leadership, and b) possess the positive energy that you have to give out. True leaders always act as examples for their staff. It’s a poor leader who doesn’t live up to the standards that he espouses.

•Next, make a private, personal commitment to energize your people. What use is the power to get your people fired up if you don’t make use of it to do so?

•Subsume yourself in your work life. Redefine yourself around your personal, community, and business goals. The only way you are going to be successful at them is if you focus on them (without necessarily neglecting your work-life balance, of course).

•Make a detailed plan to achieve these goals.

•Take a long hard look at yourself. What has held you back from your life achievements? What helped you achieve your goals despite the presence of what held you back?

•Next look at the people around you. Do they contribute to your success and that of the company you run? Are they people who can and do support and challenge you? What do you plan to do if they aren’t?

•Do you go out of your way to conduct regular reality checks? Or are you one of those leaders who prefers to lead from a personal ivory tower?

•Lastly, think about your external stakeholders. Do you have any? If so, Who are these people that you partner with and challenge you?

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If you’re in a position of leadership you should avoid being the sort of leader who simply points and directs and commands and expects his or her people to follow his commands. You have to be “on point” as well, in the sense that you have to know that you need to join your men in the trenches and out in front sometimes.

1. Elicit each and every team member’s inputs and be thankful for and respectful of them. (Which also includes making good use of these inputs.)

2. Get everyone to bring his or her skills to bear and make use of them in a way that benefits both each individual team member and the team itself.

3. Always keep everyone properly informed and motivated.

4. Show that you deserve of that leadership position! Work harder than everyone else (but don’t rub this in anyone’s face).

5. Be strict but fair with everyone. If this necessitates firing someone who refuses to “get with the program” and work properly with the team, by all means do so. People may be mad but they will understand.

6. Make smart use of incentives to spur productivity (“smart” use meaning be sensitive to the possibility that they may not be having the desired effect; be ready to stop making use of them if so). Remember, though, that a simple heartfelt thank-you can have a motivational effect that is all out of proportion to its “ease of use”.

7. Spread the praise, rewards, and profit around. Don’t abrogate everything to yourself (or, conversely, blame everyone and anyone else for failure except yourself.)

8. Train people. Be sensitive to training needs and areas where people need to improve in. Also, give your people room space to grow. If they’re hemmed in, they won’t be happy or even productive.

In short, work to reduce the “distance” between you and your people – avoid leading from an ivory tower of privilege – and you’ll have learned an excellent lesson about leadership and team management.

Does your workspace look like a tornado hit it? Reports are on one corner of your desk; current work is spread across the keyboard; you know you have an appointment coming up, but you can’t find your calendar under the mess.

It seems you may need to learn how to organize your workspace!

Having an organized workspace can do more for you than make your desktop look better. Being organized can help you be more productive and reduce the amount of stress you feel when you get to work, during the day, and when you leave for home.

Organizing your desk may take more time than you have available during your workday. Ask your boss if you can come in on your own time to clear and organize your desk. They’ll appreciate your desire. After all, organizing your workspace benefits them as well as you.

These steps will help you organize your workspace:

1. Remove everything from the top of your desk and out of the drawers. Of course, you can leave large items such as your computer or printer where they are. Everything else should be put into boxes.

2. Wipe down the entire surface of your desk and inside each drawer.

3. Sort through the items you removed from your desk and drawers. Group items together such as office supplies, filing materials, items to be filed, reference materials, and desk accessories.

4. Get rid of paperwork you no longer need. Do you have unnecessary duplicates of reports or files? Recycle them. Are there items you still need? Keep those items and set them aside until later.

5. Make a plan for where you’ll put things back. You’ll want items you use frequently to remain within reach, so those items will take precedence on your desk.

6. Create an area where you can keep current papers handy. Paper trays are often used. Vertical files are another option if you have quite a bit of paperwork. Establish a tickler file for various activities you perform regularly – To Read, To File, To Pay, To Do, and others.

7. Put items back into place after you’ve gone through them and purged what isn’t needed. Only the items you need at your desk should be put back.

Maintaining Your Organized Workspace

The old saying goes “a place for everything and everything in its place.” Decide where each item goes and then leave it there unless you’re actively using it. If you’re in the middle of a big project and it’s taking up much needed space, don’t be afraid to remove an item and then put it right back when you’re finished with the project.

Remember that your goal is to have an organized desk. This doesn’t mean it has to be totally cleared off, but you do want to have space so you can function.

If you’ve noticed something that will help you become more organized, don’t be afraid to ask your boss to pay for it. In the long run, your increased productivity will more than pay for the item.

After you have your desk organized, do what you can to keep it clean. Decide what you’re going to do with each item as it’s placed on your desk. Use the tickler file if you have paper, or write important dates on your calendar instead of setting things aside to deal with later.

It can be so easy to keep your desk clear once you’ve learned how to organize your workspace and put things back in their home when you’re done with them. Take the last five minutes of your day to straighten your desk and it will hopefully stay that way from here on out.

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