Efficient and effective design and management of teams is a topic that is regularly explored on good management training courses. If a team of individuals can pool their resources, they are capable of achieving much more that if they were working alone and in this economic climate, this is more important than ever.

The following factors should be considered when putting together a good team:

The right roles
In order to give them focus, each individual needs to be allocated a specific role or task to perform. That’s not to say they shouldn’t get support from other members of the team, but they need to be given a specific responsibility.

Of course in order to do this, the team must be aware of their overall objectives or targets, which then in turn need to be sub-divided into smaller chunks to be tackled by the individuals.

Outcomes
In addition to being made aware of the global goals of the team, each individual must be aware of the methods, timescale and quality of work expected from them. The clearer the outcome expected, the more focused the individual will be on achieving it. It’s often useful for the team to discuss these outcomes and collectively agree the standards they wish to achieve. It’s a balance between shared ownership and individual commitment.

Communication channels
Make sure that effective channels of communication, as well as appropriate methods exist in order for the team to share their knowledge and results. There should also be opportunities and channels made available for each to request support from colleagues as and when they require it.

In a recent article (Bullet Proof Your Job), we discussed positive constructive ways in which you could impress on senior management the value of your contribution to your company. This would potentially protect you from appearing on the list of ‘possibles’ in a dreaded round of job cuts.

However, if job numbers are threatened, managers will be looking at the following factors relating to your levels of performance and motivation, which you should be aware of:

Absence
Be aware of the amount of time you have off work, including frequency. Every day you have off loses productivity and money to the company.

Attitude
Be aware of your interpersonal and communication skills, make sure that you make a positive contribution in discussions and meetings, and fight the tendency to block others ideas and opinions, no matter how good your intentions.

Performance
Have you set yourself targets, or have you had targets set upon you by management? How are you performing against expectations and what could you do to improve them? It’s healthy to take an objective look at your own personal development progress.

Skills
How competitive are your skills compared to your colleagues or other potential candidates for employment in your industry. For example, would a sales training course give you that extra edge you need?

The principle of synergy suggests that the measure of outcome as a result of group activity is greater than the sum of each individual’s potential contribution. In economic times when managers are expected to achieve more, with fewer resources, teamwork and team projects are once again high on the priority list.

If you have just been asked to head up a team for a project, there are simple hints for consideration:

Goals
The team must be absolutely clear what the collective goal or target should be. This should follow the SMART target principle (see previous articles on SMART targets); most importantly a measurable outcome within a specific period of time.

Apportioning
The overall goal or target should be divided into mini targets and apportioned to individuals. This ought to be as fair and balanced as possible, tailored to individual’s strengths and experience. Of course, better to have people volunteer to take ownership of a task, but this may not always be possible.

Meetings
The team should meet at the same place, at regular agreed intervals during the course of the project. There should be an agenda and an expectation of reporting of progress. This is much more disciplined than an ‘as and when’ information sharing strategy.

Chair
Where possible, meetings should have a chair, who acts as a gateway for communication.

By following these simple hints, you should be able to navigate your team through the project. Of course if you were to undertake a management training course, you’d learn a lot more in-depth principles of targets, and team work such as Belbin’s team roles and team dynamics.

Many brave business leaders are taking the opportunity to try and secure their company’s future in these uncertain times by looking to implement positive change strategies.

So, if you are a senior or middle manager and feel that it’s time for your company to take a fresh look at its operations, here are three factors you may want to consider in a bid to sustain or improve your market share:

Customer Service
Differentiate yourself from the competition by centralising the importance of the customer experience, and identify new systems, procedures and policies to ensure customer retention and attract new business. Customer loyalty is more important than ever in the current economic climate.

Innovation
Positively encourage the personal development and creative thinking of key members of staff to improve existing products and services and come up with new offerings for your current and prospective clients. This is a much better forward thinking approach than ‘battening down the hatches’ and watching the business stagnate during this recession storm.

Human Resources
Take a big look at how you can improve the motivation, performance, and personal development of your existing staff. Through investing in your staff, you will save the company money with better retention figures and boost your profits with better performance. It is crucial to do what you can to improve the productivity and job satisfaction of all your staff.

Ok, so you’re under a lot of pressure, and in the current economic climate, it’s not getting easier. You might be working longer hours, dealing with more responsibility and juggling them all with less resources. Well, you need to ask one more time demand of yourself – invest in your own personal development.

It might sound like a catch 22; you feel you don’t have the time to put aside to spend developing yourself, let alone going on a the latest sales or management training course. Well, you have to have to make an investment, this time in yourself, and like any sound investment, you’ll get much better returns in the future.

Here is some food for thought:

Step back and change your thinking
Back away from the day to day every now and again and remind yourself of your abilities and previous successes. Apply that positive state of mind into tackling the challenges more holistically.

Clarify your goals
You need to decide what your main purpose is for the next week, the next month and beyond. If you can identify this, you can much more clearly apply your work to meet your goals

Grow your skills
Be brave and learn how to do things better, whether by a structured training course or by seeking someone to coach or mentor you, there are people out there who can help – don’t be afraid to ask for it.

In a recent article we discussed that Waitrose had come top of a survey performed by consumer based organisation Which? as favourite high street shop. So who didn’t fare so well in the survey and why according to Which?

Well, electrical retailer Curry’s were near the bottom, as were PC World and Vodafone. The report also commented:

“Once again, JJB Sports and JD Sports claim the dubious honour of being the bottom two and, like poor performers in other sectors, staff are a key letdown – both score a dismal one star for environment, staff and a mediocre two stars for product,”

JJB has said that they are going to review the report. One would hope that they will invest in some management training courses, and invest in the personal development and learning of their store staff, as well as more senior positions.

Some consumers sympathised with the bottom performing stores, blaming the need to employ very young staff allegedly at minimum wage. However, there are many companies that employ young staff on low wages, yet still have processes to provide them with career development and new learning and skills options. Perhaps that’s why they continue to perform well?