7 Ways to Maximize Your Team’s Talent
(Team Relationship Series 5 of 5)
Maximizing team talent is not as easy as simply pushing the ‘That Was Easy’ button. It’s complicated. There are many different variables that impact team performance and maximum output. Regardless, the goal is to always strive for the ideal, which is to have a team that is performing at its’ peak and where the individual talents are maximized. Here’s 7 things you can start doing now if you haven’t already.
Key things you can do to maximize your team’s talent.
1) Trust them: This sounds so cliché but many team leaders fall into the micro-managing trap and don’t allow their team members any wiggle room. You must get comfortable at allowing your team members to fail small. It will create a sense of empowerment and heightened responsibility for them and truly show that you trust them. It will also give you the opportunity as team leader to overcome your fear of not being the smartest person in the room.
2) Invest in them financially, emotionally, and physically.
a. Financially: Ensure you have training and development budget. The need to constantly learn and educate and grow is not going away. Show you care about your team’s ongoing need to grow and develop by providing some budget for training and development. So long as they can justify how their training helps enhance their role, allow them to make the choice on what they’d like to study.
b. Emotionally and physically: According to Gallup, only 29% of employees are engaged making 71% dis-engaged. Want an engaged team? Connect with them! Know who they are on an emotional level. This means figure out what motivates them. Tie in their motivations to their work and that will result in maximizing their engagement and output! This also requires you are physically present for them! Get out of your office, walk around, and connect to your people!
3) Put your people in their ‘Superpower’ slot! Do you know the strengths and talents of each individual member of your team? It’s not just about their skillsets and competencies but what they are passionate about. Great teams are the result of great individual players contributing to the common good and purpose and them feeling that they are leveraging their superpower!
4) Make sure your ‘Team Inputs match your desired Outputs!’: What is your team’s major contribution to the rest of the business? As the team leader, it is your responsibility to make sure your team is properly aligned to deliver on the business needs. How well is your team positioned to do this? Make sure all roles on your team are appropriate, relevant and work inter-dependently to deliver on the major contributions expected of your team.
5) Measure, Measure, Measure: You have to be able to know whether or not your are getting the very best out of your team. That’s impossible without any metrics. What are your metrics you are using to measure your team’s performance? How often are you reviewing them with each individual member of your team?
6) Recognize, Reward and Hold Accountable: Recognize your team for their talents when appropriate. Showcase how they’ve used their strengths to deliver for the business. At the same time, hold your team accountable when their work is just ‘not good enough.’ Like a great head coach, you will push them to be better when their results and effort are not where they need to be.
7) Overcome your ‘inferiority complex’ if you have one: Some team leaders have a fear of not being the smartest person in the room. They have an inferiority complex! What does this mean? They don’t hire anyone they think will be smarter than them! I hope this is not you. It is impossible to have a fully leveraged team if you are a leader who has to be the smartest of the bunch! Fully maximized teams have leaders in place who are fully dependent on their team members to own their area and be the experts!
Rubi
