One of the most important aspects of an effective team is COMMUNICATION!!
More often than not, employees fail to deliver on items because they have not understood what was required. Now I could leave that statement there, but we’d never solve the problem… the reason employees often don’t understand what they have to do is because their employer or leader has not communicated what they need to do clearly!!
So often I have spoken with employees when they have done something other than what their supervisor has wanted and they have said “but I was just doing what I thought they wanted.” And they were probably doing the wrong thing to the best of their ability!! It’s a double bad thing!
If the student hasn’t learnt it is because the teacher hasn’t taught!!! Leaders must take responsibility to ensure team members understand what is required… and this takes time. This investment of time spent to ensure the correct result the first time however will save a lot of time down the track. It is important when there has been a “miscommunication” that the leader takes responsibility and ownership of the situation for there to be change. This situation will reoccur and reoccur if the blame is placed on the individual.
There are several ways to increase understanding within the organisation.
Have daily team ‘check-ins’… short 10-15 minute meetings at the start of the day to discuss what is to be achieved, what is required to achieve it and any issues that people may see that could prevent them from achieving it.
Continuously reiterating the organisational core values so personnel live and make decisions according to these values, will help reduce misunderstandings.
Clearly establishing targets and objectives on the individuals’ job scorecard will also ensure clarity as to what they are expected to do.
Regularly discussing and reviewing performance against the scorecard will keep the individual focussed on what is important to the team and the organisation.
A manager is a coach for the team. This means they are responsible for the performance and ability of their team members. It is the manager/coach’s obligation to work with the weakest members of that team to strengthen the team. This occurs through regular communication.
A good coach makes sure that team members understand “what” they are to do and “why” they are to do it. They then empower the individual to determine the “how” they will deliver the solution – using their expertise. (obviously once they are competent working within the confines of the system and procedures).
If you want to know how to build systems within your business that will increase the communication within your team or workplace, please click on the link below or contact me for more information.
