Developing the Team

Jacqueline Hodges

You’re an effective leader, you direct and delegate your work to you team. You understand the unique strengths of each of your team members. After all you’re only as good as the people around you. This might be your perfect scenario but how do you know that your team are performing at their best? Have you identified their strengths? Do you understand the skills required to perform their jobs? How do you develop the team?

Team Development Starts with You

Leaders who are capable of building and developing effective teams have a critical advantage over others. When delivered correctly, team development can create an atmosphere that encourages cooperation, teamwork and trust within the team. But this development has to start with you. Shaping good behaviour within the team starts with role modelling, and good self-development will also help refine the skills you need to help develop others. Start by building trust so you can inspire your team to take ownership of their roles. Show you are invested in their success and on their side. Turn weekly meetings into learning opportunities. In fact, all your interactions with the team, from reviews, to catch ups, to weekly meetings, are opportunities to develop your team. How are you integrating a development mindset into your regular meetings? Try asking questions. Involve your team by asking good questions. Your teams’ success equates to your success. Your ability to inspire and develop people is critical to not only your own future, as you climb up the leadership ladder, but also to the business objectives and goals.

Your Leadership Approach

As a manager, you will choose different leadership approaches to respond to different team members and situations according to the experience and knowledge of the team member and the level of complexity of the situation. When approaching a given scenario, you may choose an approach that is coaching, mentoring, training or counselling. Understanding which approach is the right one for a given situation equips you to help your team.