This article has been written by Madhuri Penty pursuing a Remote freelancing and profile building program from Skill Arbitrage.

This article has been edited and published by Shashwat Kaushik.

Introduction

Building a team is similar to building a ladder to success, as with a good collaborative team, the goal can be achieved. Having a good team for any kind of upscaling work is really collaborative and worthwhile. When a team of passionate individuals meets at one table and works together on the same goals, the level of difficulty, energy, time, and responsibilities can be reduced. As per the division of the work, with proper time management and planning, the task can be done in a well-mannered way and hence the results can be achieved.

 From small data entry work to managing a whole bunch of complex projects, it can be really exhausting. That’s where a group of really passionate, smart working individuals are essential to making the task as easy as rolling off a log. A team leader has to communicate the essential topics of building, maintaining, and giving timely pay to the team to make the individuals work even more smartly and to be at ease, as it’s not just the passion but also the money that makes individuals work more effortlessly and with zeal.

 A team of people who share a similar mindset and passion for a similar goal would make a powerful team that produces exciting results. The team leader or manager should be wise enough to look for people of this sort, provided they have the dedication to stick to the organisation. The organisation should not just utilise the dedicated individuals for time-being purposes but also build their careers with sufficient exchange of money not just as employees but in order to make them a team of leaders, making them the owners of what they do, so that they work responsibly as the owners of the organisation in order to fetch effective results.

As the American football coach Vince Lombardi said, “Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilisation work.”

Tips for building an effective team

Hiring people of the same passion and goal

The HR in charge has to closely look after the individuals of talent who have similar interests and passions so that all the members work together effectively to generate the desired results and revenue. Working with enthusiastic people improves the work environment. The leads should take a look at candidates they are hiring who would work for them for a good period of time; in that way, they can also retain their employees for a good amount of time.

The organisation’s hiring management and managers must be transparent as to how their process runs, give details about their rules and regulations and how they are going to be, and be transparent about their workforce management and market value as well. Open communication regarding the core values of the organisation would make them trustworthy among the employees who are willing to put in their time and effort.

Collaborative team play

Work is absolutely fun with good team players. As much as the team would be interactive and would stay connected, the tasks of the work would be split into small milestones. Where all can come together virtually and discuss ideas on how all can work together to meaningfully complete the tasks. Interactive teammates make the work environment fruitful and cheerful, dividing the tasks. With certain online applications like Zoom meetings or Teams, the manager can easily track the tasks, availability, and deadlines of the team members and make changes accordingly.

Dividing tasks according to one’s abilities and interests

As there would be a different set of people with various interests, it’s good to divide the tasks accordingly. There would be sales, HR, management, finance, and security departments. The work would be divided as per the individual’s skill set, competency, and interest of the manager and the individual. This would lessen the workload of a single person doing different tasks, when assigned as per the skill set and ability, the work can be divided in such a way that all the team members would work on it diligently.

At times, to decrease the cut-off costs, the organisations would give the employees double work at the same pay, which isn’t right, which might as well increase the load for the individual and might result in burnout.

Giving credit and timely pay for the tasks accomplished

As the teammates do the work assigned and complete the tasks, the team leads or the manager should reward their teammates with bonuses so that it energises the individual to work for the better as the organisation doesn’t just utilise people or see the employees as mere employees but as individuals with their own career growth. 

You will create a trusting, cheerful, and enthusiastic environment when you recognise your team members’ efforts by giving them timely rewards and recognition. Valuing resourceful employees by giving them a raise after a certain period of time would make them feel recognised and appreciated, which boosts one’s self-esteem and encourages them to stick with the organisation as long as they can. Lack of recognition can make employees underperform in their assigned tasks on a long-term basis.

Taking honest feedback and improving the team’s drawbacks

Whatever feedback one gives to the team or when it comes from outside customers, the team has to work on it to resolve the issue. Make sure to take all the input from diverse customers and leads in order to rectify the mistakes and work on them effectively.

Scheduling feedback sessions twice or three times a week would make certain changes in the work performance of the employees, team leads and managers to make necessary changes to make things better. When the employees give feedback to the management or vice versa, take proper time to change the ways in which the management takes an approach with respect to the concerned department. When you see ways to be improved, there will be effective performance by the team as a whole.

Remote work is the best way to go

90% of remote employees would recommend working remotely to a friend, and 86% believe remote work is the future of work. Remote work is always a convenient and efficient option. There is no reason to spend time travelling for a couple of hours or staying stuck in traffic when you can do the tasks from home effectively. The tasks can be collaboratively done, with meetings being scheduled as required with the teammates according to the tasks being divided.

Flexibility would be there in remote work; you can work at your pace and complete the tasks as per the deadline or client’s requirements. It would reduce employee burnout issues and have a great work-life balance for not only the employees but also the organisation heads and management staff. It would cut the costs of the rental workspace and its maintenance, and every other maintenance that is required to keep the safety and security of the workplace and its assets as everything has been digital so that those cutting costs for a workspace can be used to give higher wages to the employees, which makes them willing to stick to the organisation.

Being available beyond working hours leads to burnout

Some organisations would make their employees work beyond their working hours. When an employee has already worked 7 or 8 hours for the company, the leads would ask them to work more or create a fake sense of urgency to finish the tasks as soon as possible, which can be draining for the employees. In order for an organisation to run smoothly without making the employees feel drained, it’s important to give the tasks to the team as per their skill set given in a timeline so that the results will also be quicker and better. The employees have to put result oriented efforts into the given timeline. In this way, the employees will not have burnout issues or become stressed about not finishing off the tasks.

Effective team management

The key responsibility for building a productive and efficient team lies in the hands of the management director and managers. They need to keep an eye on internal matters when choosing resourceful individuals. The management should not only focus on the background and experience of the individual but also look at the skills, even though the individual lacks experience. If they are self-starters willing to learn, apply the knowledge and grow, that would suffice in choosing effective team members that would produce substantial results.

Team management lies in the management’s hands-on ability to scale the results in a proper and effective way by incorporating team members’ availability, giving them timely pay and adding a good amount of paid leaves, bonuses, and yearly increments. This makes an organisation really worthwhile to invest one’s time and energy in while choosing to stick with it without having unnecessary layoffs. Layoffs will only make the organisation condescend.

 All these tips essentially will build a highly sophisticated management and its team that would comprise a meaningful organisation that values every working individual for the time and efforts they have put in dedicated to their career growth along with the rise in financial flow to live a healthy, purposeful life consisting of good work-life balance.

References

• 52 Remote Work Statistics You’ve Got to Know in 2024 – Flamingo (flamingoapp.com)
• 6 Crucial Effective Team Management Tips (monday.com)