5 Steps to Build an Effective Management Team

Every business owner needs a strong accountable team around them to take care of day-to-day business. By giving these responsibilities to carefully chosen staff it creates time for business owners to work on longer-term planning and strategic matters. However, delegating isn’t as easy as it sounds. In this article we look at 5 better ways of managing that will work for you, your staff and your business.

1. Select Well

Developing accountability in your team will only be a success if you select the right people. It’s likely that you already have great people in your team who are keen to develop and take on more responsibility. Make a plan of all the tasks and responsibilities that you want to delegate and select the best individual for each area based on their mix of skills. Discuss your plans with your staff and work with each individual to prepare them.

2. Set Clear Expectations

Successful managers set clear objectives and expectations with their team. This leads to increased motivation levels and reduced workplace confusion because everyone understands what they are aiming for. Make sure you give everyone a job description that sets out their responsibilities and links their personal objectives to corporate goals. Set targets and communicate them with staff, explaining how you will measure their performance. Check understanding with staff before they begin.

3. Manage Performance

Measure individual performance against targets as objectively as you can and use data wherever possible to keep things factual rather than based on opinions. Discuss performance at regular intervals with both your team and each individual. Celebrate and reward good performance and support staff to improve where necessary by clarifying expectations and providing guidance and training.

4. Let Go!

Many business owners find it hard to let go. After all, you were probably doing these tasks before you delegated them so it can be hard to believe that anyone else can do them as well as you. But if you want to see your team develop you need to stop micromanaging and allow staff the space to find their own feet. If you have put clear expectations and targets in place and you are monitoring performance what’s the worst that can happen?

5. Embrace Mistakes

As you let go there are bound to be some mistakes but how you choose to react is important for future success. Of course, you need to point out errors and correct them, but be constructive and use it as an opportunity to improve. This might mean more training, but could also highlight where expectations are not clear or processes are imperfect. Finally, move on – don’t bring up past mistakes after the lesson has been learned but do make sure the same mistakes do not happen again!

A strong accountable management team is an essential ingredient of a growing business and a certain route to a successful business exit. Secantor has been helping business owners to develop accountable management teams for two decades. Book a call with one of our team to see how we can help you build your perfect team.

Image Source: Pixabay