Five Fundamentals for Managing Teams

If you’re a small business owner or managing others for the first time, it’s natural to feel a bit anxious about your new role.

You may be filled with many questions and worry about made-up scenarios. To help you start off on the right foot and put your mind at ease, here are five management fundamentals that will put you on the path to managerial success.

1. Ditch the fancy titles

Terms like boss and supervisor may be what is written on your job description, but may not be how people think of you, at least not at first.  However, keeping these titles in mind may provide you with perspective. Your role as a manager is not to boss people around or to simply supervise their work. Your role is to ensure that you and your team members work effectively as individuals and as a team to accomplish or exceed goals. Your job is to make them successful, remove obstacles that impede their work and create an environment where success is within reach.

2. Be transparent

You should be honest with those who work for and with you and expect the same in return. If you sacrifice your integrity as a manager, you will certainly fail in the first step toward true leadership, which is to gain and share mutual trust and respect and to act as a role model. This can be harder than it seems because it demands you share your fears and show your weaknesses.  Be courageous, transparency helps your people understand you on a human level, and it breaks down barriers and opens doors.

3. Show Compassion

Try to “walk in others’ shoes” and see things from a different perspective. Take the time to ask someone to expand on what is going on in their head or heart that may be influencing their responses or behavior, then acknowledge their feelings and thoughts. Listen well and empathize. Try to get beyond the person’s first wave of emotion by asking probing questions to find out what is really going on. Think before you react. Seek to understand, then ask them to listen to your perspective, advice, or decision. Be genuinely caring. If you go to work only caring about yourself, it is going to be hard to connect with others and hard to be an effective manager.

4. Set Clear Expectations

If you want your team to deliver what you expect you must clearly outline both the results you are looking for and how you will measure their progress. There is nothing more frustrating for employees than finding out that what they are doing is not what was expected or hearing at their annual review that you have had unspoken issues with their performance. So, set expectations for behavior and results, and communicate any ongoing concerns and praise through regular employee coaching sessions. Don’t wait to say ‘good job’ – catch people doing little things well and let them know.  A few tips for setting expectations: Do what you say you’re going to do. Be clear about expected outcomes. Be generous with praise. 

5. Keep It Positive

There is no more dangerous path for a manager than the road to negativity. Joining in on negative commentary regarding the company, another manager, a co-worker, or a department will render you ineffective and will erode your team’s confidence and trust in you. If you think your boss is going to talk negatively about you behind your back, you tend to shut down and shut them out.  That is the opposite of what any manager hopes for in a team.  In addition, by joining in on negativity and gossip regarding the organization, its leaders, or its systems, you model and promote bad behaviors and attitudes.

You want your team to know you are on their side. However, there are ways you can do this without indulging in negativity. You can acknowledge their concerns and say that you understand why they might have a given view. You can ask them what solution they would like to see take place regarding their concern and discuss alternatives.  These actions build confidence, trust, and respect, and demonstrate true leadership.

Stepping up as a first-time manager, whether it is as the CEO of your own business or within a larger company is very exciting.  The people management role presents you with an opportunity to gain recognition, influence others and directly impact results and success. There will be days that aren’t as easy as you would like them to be. But keep in mind, every person in a leadership role had the first day.