How to Oversee Teams Correctly

As a supervisor, your job is to inspire debate and encourage brainstorming. Employees often feel afraid to disagree and end up making mediocre decisions. Instead, you should encourage debate, as it fosters creativity and spurs the team to achieve better results. When you foster debate, employees will be more likely to come to good decisions. Hence, you should be transparent and be vulnerable in order to foster trust. The following are some of the ways to effectively foster teamwork:

Be authentic

Being authentic is about showing up as yourself - as a real person - in a professional setting. Managers need to spend time getting to know their team members - not as a robot who works behind a desk. They must learn the quirks and personalities of their team members and look for ways to bring authenticity into their work. Only then can they be truly authentic in their leadership style. Here are some tips for being authentic in leadership:

The ability to enact change is one of the most important leadership skills in the modern workplace. By inspiring employees and creating a positive culture, leaders help create a healthy work environment. Some managers create change by forcing people to accept a new way of doing things, while others advocate change by winning people over and guiding them through a plan. To be successful, advocates must be authentic in their approach, which allows them to build a support system and get everyone on the same page.

Being authentic is also about owning mistakes. When mistakes happen, managers should own them and talk about them with their teams. Being authentic encourages employees to be themselves, even if that means embracing mistakes. Authenticity fosters trust, which leads to a better working environment. And if mistakes happen, managers should own up to them and try to learn from them rather than hide them from their team. The more honest a manager is, the more likely the team will feel genuinely safe under him or her.

Being authentic also means being aware of your own values and valuing others' opinions. In addition to being aware of your own values, authentic leaders also have a keen sense of empathy. Empathy will help you understand other people's perspectives and pass this on to their team. This kind of empathy can help you relate to employees, enabling them to express their concerns and ideas in an authentic way. When these qualities are reflected in leadership, authenticity becomes apparent and reflects in every area of the business.

Be vulnerable

Being vulnerable is a key component of leading teams. Being vulnerable does not mean letting everyone know all your intimate details. It simply means being open and honest about your own strengths and weaknesses. If you are uncomfortable with this, try to stay calm and ask questions. In order to build a culture of vulnerability, try to start with small conversations that involve your direct reports. After that, you can introduce more difficult issues, such as race, gender, and other issues that may affect the team's performance.

One of the first steps toward building trust and respect with your team members is to be vulnerable. Leaders must be open and honest about their own feelings and those of their team members. It is important to remember that managers are always in a position of power and their behavior affects the trust and respect they have among their team members. If they are closed off, they will most likely lead to closed-off behaviors among direct reports. However, managers who are vulnerable can open the floodgates of communication and encourage the best ideas from others.

Leaders need to show vulnerability when overseeing teams. They must be authentic in expressing their emotions. Sharing personal experience with their teams fosters human bonds, which is crucial for organizational work. For instance, Sheryl Sandberg's emotional impact of losing her husband was revealed in her keynote speech at the Women's March conference. In addition, Cory Bush's victory speech in the 2020 election inspired his team to be vulnerable.

Communicate expectations

When overseeing a team, you should make it clear what is expected of the people on the team. Communicating expectations is essential, because it can help your team follow instructions, reduce confusion, and make the task easier to accomplish. It's also important to communicate your expectations in various formats, such as verbal and written documents. It's also important to consider nonverbal gestures. The right tone and manner of communication can greatly affect the success of the team.

While managing a team, you must communicate clearly and frequently. Make sure to communicate expectations in an easy-to-understand manner to encourage employees. Having a positive approach to communication can go a long way to increasing trust and productivity. Employees will be more motivated to exceed expectations if you express appreciation. As a manager, it is your responsibility to create a positive work environment. By setting positive expectations and showing appreciation for the efforts of your team, you can instill a positive attitude in your employees.

If you're overseeing a team, consider your employees' performance in the past. If they've delivered, they're likely to deliver again. If they haven't, make your requests more specific. Don't miss any details that might be misconstrued. Include things they've missed and failed to do before. Make sure to specify who is relying on their compliance, and make sure they know this.

Using a platform such as Officevibe to communicate expectations with your team members is an easy way to do this. This communication tool simplifies the communication process and enables you to contextualize expectations by providing visuals of success. With a platform like Officevibe, you can easily convey your expectations to your team in 1-on-meetings. Besides, the platform's 1-on-1 tool lets you easily add Talking Points and other tools to help you effectively communicate your expectations. Using this system ensures that your team members are motivated and report to clear expectations.

Encourage trust

A good leader knows the importance of trust and how to encourage it when overseeing a team. Trust enables team members to relax and know that they can rely on each other. It also enables them to take more initiative and pull their own weight. However, there are several factors that hinder trust. Feltman's definition highlights the importance of vulnerability, a key characteristic of high-trusting teams. Trusted individuals are more willing to take risks and engage in risky activities.

One way to create a culture of trust is to check if your team members are demonstrating team spirit. If you are the kind of leader who controls everything, building trust in your team will be difficult. Controlling others makes the impression that you do not trust them, and that can be detrimental. Instead, delegate tasks to your team members to show your confidence in them. Trust is the key to team productivity. By taking this approach, you will create a culture of trust in your team.

Another key factor that builds trust is focusing on individuals' backgrounds. When people feel comfortable with each other, they can share their deepest secrets and be vulnerable. By focusing on the person's background, you will be able to determine what steps need to be taken in order to encourage that trust. The key ingredient in trust is communication. If a team member doesn't feel comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities, then they won't be open to the ideas and perspectives of others. As a leader, you should strive to build trust in your teams and make sure your employees are comfortable sharing their thoughts.

Another way to build trust is to be honest and open. Many managers unknowingly micromanage their team members, which can be detrimental to trust. Instead, try to schedule check-in meetings with your team members once a week or monthly to check in on them. At these meetings, make sure you provide honest feedback that includes praise and constructive criticism. A manager must be honest and show genuine interest in their lives. In addition, it is crucial that managers learn how to engage in informal conversations with employees.

Avoid micro-management

One of the most common problems facing managers is micro-management. Micro-managers feel the need to constantly check in with their teams and keep tabs on everything they're doing. However, this approach does nothing but hinder the overall effectiveness of the team. To avoid this problem, try changing your mindset and shifting your focus from interference to facilitation. Rather than nitpicking over your employees' work, ask them what they can do to help them and focus on their objectives. You will notice a dramatic increase in productivity, which will translate into better overall company performance.

Micro-management kills trust. Micromanagers are often untrustworthy and end up controlling their teams instead of allowing them to develop on their own. Not only does micromanagement undermine the organization, it also inhibits personal development. Without trust, your team will become unmotivated and less productive. It's also impossible for a micromanager to keep up with every detail of a team's work, which limits their ability to scale.

Micro-management affects work-life balance. When you're micromanaging, you're too concerned with every detail and risk losing the big picture. Instead of focusing on every line of code, focus on ensuring the finished product meets your client's standards. If you don't trust your team members, they won't be willing to provide meaningful feedback. By limiting your involvement, you can ensure that everyone is able to contribute their best ideas to the project.

A good manager will always look out for their team. If he doesn't trust them, he'll waste your best assets. A micromanager's style not only undermines their abilities, but it also communicates lack of trust and creates a toxic work environment. Furthermore, it's likely to cause attrition. But the first step in correcting the problem is acknowledging it. The next step is to change your habits and learn how to delegate properly.