Building a Great Team at Work

In many professions, there are times when you’ll work as part as a formal or informal team. A great skill is being able to build and lead those teams yourself, particularly if you’re hoping to advance in your career.

When to Lead

One of the more difficult professional situations you may find yourself in, especially early in your career, is one in which you are part of a team with a leader who is largely ineffectual. This can be bad for a number of reasons, not least of which is that if the group performs poorly as a result, that could reflect on you. However, if you’re seen as trying to take over and undermine the actual leader, this could have a negative impact as well. There are a few things you can do in a situation like this one.

One is to check your ego and make sure that you aren’t just upset that things aren’t being done the way you would do them. The actual leader’s way may still be effective. If you’ve considered this and there truly are problems, one way to handle it is to push for things such as concrete goals, deadlines, and clear assignments so that everyone knows what they’re working on and why. Keep in mind that this can be a learning experience in which you get an object lesson in how not to manage.

Be a Facilitator

As a team leader, one of the most important things you can do is make it possible for everyone to do their jobs. This means finding out what obstacles are in their way and removing them. This might involve looking at the chemistry between people, seeing if there are some who don’t work well together and figuring out a way to put them on different parts of the project. It could mean clarifying responsibilities.

It might mean making sure they have the tools they need. If you have a team member who’s trying to take a look at fuel trends within your fleet, they may need a fuel management system. This offers greater visibility into those trends and ultimately helps with fuel efficiency. Your job is to persuade whoever is responsible for approving the purchase of this software of its necessity so that your team can succeed.

Choose Your Staff

Unfortunately, you don’t always get to choose who you will be working with, but when you do have the opportunity, there are a few things that you can look for. A savvy manager will know if there are individuals who have personality clashes and cannot work well together. You may want to leave one or both off your team, first because you don’t want to waste time mediating interpersonal squabbles and secondly because allowing those difficulties to interfere with their work could indicate a lack of professionalism.

Think about the type of culture that you want to promote. Look for those who have a vision for the project that aligns with yours. They don’t have to have the same working style that you do, but their work style does need to be compatible with your own. In addition, try to choose people whose skills will be complementary.