Engaging your teams in the context of the recovery

4 points for even better team management!

New trends have emerged in recent years, linked to the crisis and the acceleration of digital transformation. A greater use of digital tools in companies and the adaptation to hybrid mode has changed the rhythm of employees' work and may have impacted their commitment. In this context, leading teams means asking the right questions:

• How do you define everyone's roles and tasks?
• How to foster collaboration and idea exchange?
• How can you avoid misunderstandings by setting clear, achievable objectives?
• How can you make your teams more autonomous and committed?

For many employees, this requires a good understanding of their role, regular training on the tools they use and good management and leadership within the company. These elements are essential to ensure that the team remains motivated.

1 - Creating a team culture

Team members move forward better and perform more effectively when they feel a sense of belonging and unity in the achievement of objectives. Creating a team culture fueled by a system of internal communication and collaboration will encourage initiative-taking and the sharing of ideas.

Companies are encouraged to create this team culture in order to :

• Creating friendly relationships
• Promoting values and applying them to employee relations
• Make hierarchies less visible: make everyone feel that they are on the same level when it comes to expressing themselves.
• Expressing gratitude
• Ask the right questions. E.g.: ask what's going wrong and how you can help a colleague in difficulty.
• Encouraging everyone to be autonomous and responsible

2 - Learn to give constructive feedback

The objectives of feedback: to develop and motivate employees and reduce turnover. According to Officevibe in this article:

• "Companies that implement a regular feedback process have a 14.9% lower turnover rate.
• 65% of employees would like to receive more feedback.
• Only 58% of managers think they give enough feedback to their staff.
• 98% of employees will not feel committed to the company if their manager gives them little or no feedback on their work.
• 78% of employees mentioned that recognition at work is motivating."

Based on these numbers, what can you change about the way you give constructive feedback? How do you incorporate this into your company's culture?

For the employee, receiving feedback means :

• Recognize that he has a place in the company and show him the importance of his work
• See its evolution, weaknesses and successes
• Be able to express your opinion on your work
• Have the opportunity to adjust and perform better

Good feedback is given:

• Hindsight, not heat
• Regularly, but without micro-management
• With thoughtful timing (during a scheduled meeting, not in the middle of a task) and with advance notice of the subject.
• With an intention/objective
• Objectively speaking

This includes in part :

• Thanks or congratulations to keep you motivated
• Encouragement
• The results of a special project
• Constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement: always keep a balance between the positive and the negative.
• Time for employees to reflect and express their feelings

3 - Set achievable goals, taking the situation into account

Why use the SMART method?

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realists
• Definedin Time.

By using a specific method and being organized, your projects will be more likely to succeed. It's simple: the clearer and more precise your objectives, the more achievable they will be, and the vision of success will motivate those involved. What's more, this clarity makes it less difficult to evaluate them.

When objectives are precise, they are all the easier to communicate to your team. This will enable you to build an effective action plan in a collaborative manner. Everyone will know what their tasks are, and will be mobilized to achieve one or more specific objectives.

Deconstructing your goals using this method - or one of your own - is essential. This will serve as a reference for the rest of your projects. Make sure that everything is written down, so that you can discuss it with your team, take into account everyone's feedback and make adjustments.

The R for "Realistic" needs to be considered carefully these days. Indeed, the covid years have taught us to adapt and review each person's real capacity within the constraints of the crisis. Today, this has evolved even further. However, living in a post-crisis context does not erase the impact the crisis has had on companies, their performance and employees. Keep your goals high and aim ever higher, while remaining realistic.

Last but not least, set time objectives. Define milestones and deadlines to give everyone visibility. The more concrete your objectives, the more achievable they are. We can't stress this enough.

For more information on how to define your goals in detail using the SMART method, read this article.

4 - Encouraging autonomy and initiative

In a nutshell: it's about going beyond expectations and coming up with innovative ideas.

The more initiative employees take, the more successful your company becomes. Employees are the best placed people in the company to propose relevant solutions. Their daily experience of the processes in place and their participation in the various projects give them the necessary perspective to be a source of proposals. Regardless of their hierarchical level, it is important to encourage everyone to take initiatives.

These are at the heart of the implementation of an intraprenarial culture. The aim is for the best solutions to help your company progress and evolve to come from the employees themselves.

For this to happen naturally, a relationship of trust needs to be established. As explained above, receiving feedback helps move projects forward, generate new ideas and move towards solutions. It also means that employees who take the initiative understand that they have the right to make mistakes. The company's culture must encourage its employees to test and try again.

Recommendations:

• Depending on how your company is organized, the best thing to do is for employees to approach management in the first instance, to make sure they really do have the opportunity to intervene.
• Next, you need to know how to identify the right projects to propose solutions for. Since taking initiative is a risky business, it will be better received and supported by others if it is part of a collective project.
• Proposing solutions for an individual project is also very interesting, but the effort is likely to be less noticeable and may not have as much impact on overall performance.
• Self-assessment is essential: you need to know your abilities and strengths.

4 reasons to encourage initiative:

• Giving everyone the chance to become more independent
• Encouraging creativity
• Engage everyone
• Driving the company forward

In conclusion:

Working collaboratively means that every member of the team has a contribution to make. Everyone's human and professional skills can have a positive impact on the success of projects.

Providing training on the company's organization and objectives, on the tools used to simplify everyone's tasks, etc. helps employees to understand their role and feel at ease in their work. This is what will then motivate these employees to stand out from the crowd, by becoming more involved in the organization and the projects assigned to them.

Digital transformation can make a major contribution to the mobilization of team members working on projects. The many tools available eliminate non-value-added tasks, and make it easier to accomplish other tasks. Employees are more focused on their job and their progress.