Management Tips:

Code of good practices to build high performance teams

Dr. K. Kuhathasan, CEO: Cenlead

It is said that 90 per cent of team failure is due to failure in human relations. It is necessary to identify the underlying principles involved in dealing with your team. Whether you appreciate it or not, you control the actions and attitudes of your team by your own actions and attitudes.

Act with enthusiasm and you will arouse enthusiasm among your team. Develop enthusiasm in your work. Be enthusiastic! Arouse enthusiasm in others.

Act with confidence and determination. You will be able to infuse confidence, determination and courage, in your team.

Be hearty in your appreciation and lavish in your praise

1. Use the principle of multiple management, giving each member of the team a voice in how the team is to operate. Arouse in your team members an eager want. Look for the best in them to get the best out of them.

2. Set up your own brain trust and make use of the ideas, suggestions and advice of the pool. Let the team members feel that the ideas originated from them. Be sympathetic with the members’ ideas and desires.

3. Encourage the youngsters by offering sincere praise for their contribution and participation. Admire and appreciate their work.

4. Give the team members credit for what they have done, Appreciate their activities and contributions. Give honest sincere appreciation. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement.

Be hearty in your appreciation and lavish in your praise. Be there to witness and praise achievements as they happen. Let “thank you” be part of your working vocabulary. Remember your praise is worth more than any monetary value.

5. Every member of your team wants to be important. The deepest urge of your members is the desire to be great. There is deep urge for approval. Satisfy the desire for self-esteem and they will be more closer to you. Be generous with kind statements. Gratitude is not a common thing. By being generous with gratitude you make yourself outstanding.

Criticise in a friendly mannar

* Criticism, to be successful, must be for the purpose of accomplishing something for both yourself and the members you are criticising. As far as possible, do not criticise, condemn or complain.

* Criticism must be made in absolute privacy. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly. Never tell “you are wrong”. Never laugh at their mistakes. Do not succumb to opportunities for humour at the expense of others.

* Preface criticism with a kind word or compliment. Begin with a praise and honest appreciation. Begin in a friendly way. Maintain a balance between constructive criticism and praise. When giving guidance, ensure that it is constructive.

* Make the criticism impersonal. Criticise the act, not the person. Use encouragement, make the mistake easy to understand and improve.

* Appeal for co-operation. Do not demand for same. Keep an open mind and avoid defensiveness. Seek mutual understanding not a “Victory based on arguments and conflict”.

* Criticise in a friendly manner. Try honestly to see things from other person’s point of view. Analyse your own mistakes and criticise yourself. Talk about your own mistakes before criticising others. If you are wrong admit it quickly and emphatically.

Make others feel important

* Be a more patient listener than an eager speaker. Encourage others to speak about themselves. Talk in terms of the interests of your team.

* Never indulge in gossip. Never pass comment on others. Never encourage gossiping. Never encourage negative comments on others. It will prove to be your worst liability. Don’t support or participate in unconstructive gossip sessions behind the back of others.

* Avoid arguments. Even you win the argument the changes are that you lose the confidence of the members who lost the argument. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.

* Develop greater understanding of human problems. Make others feel important and do it sincerely. Show respects to others’ opinion. Never tell a member that he is wrong. He is bad. Encourage them. Appreciate them. Recognise them. Try honestly to see things from the point of view of your team.

* Satisfy the members’ hunger for self-esteem and recognition. He is a member of the team, not only to gain rewards, but also to gain recognition and respect.

* Make it your business to take care of your team. Your team will take care of all activities.

Create a friendly atmosphere

1. Smile! it costs nothing but creates much! It enriches those who receive without impoverishing those who give. If fosters goodwill. It creates a friendly atmosphere. If you want your team to appreciate admire and accept your leadership, ‘Smile’! Be friendly and cheerful.

Be positive in your interactions. Look at the brighter side of everything. Do not unnecessarily burden others with your problems or negative outlook. A member without a smile should not be in a team. A ready, pleasant and spontaneous smile invariably creates a friendly and favourable working environment.

2. Remember the names of your team members. Address them by their name. Remember that a member’s name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Satisfy your members hunger for self esteem and recognition. He is a member of your team, not only to gain rewards, but also to gain recognition and respect.

Speak Less! Listen More!!

3. Tell the truth, and don’t be vague when you have unpopular messages. Convey it with understanding.

4. Be a good listener. Speak less than you listen! Talk in term of others’ interests. Talk less about yourself. Listen to what others have to say. Choose a subject which is of interest to the members. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Make listening your first choise. Remember that you have two ears and one mouth and use them accordingly.

5. Try to understand the point of view of your members. Put yourself in his or her place. If people are angry about something which affects them, find out what it is objectively. Treat others as you would like them to treat yourself.

6. Not everyone has the ability to speak clearly. Try to separate what one is saying from what he or she may be trying to tell you. Sometimes the words and the messages may be quite different.

7. Courtesy costs nothing. Begin your relations with an effort. Continue by listening more than talking, and end with a “thank you”. “Thank you” can be a magic word in team activities, if it is used appropriately. Thanks should be sincere. Thank people by name. Look at the person you are thanking. Thank people when they least expect it.

8. Know how to begin and keep the conversation interesting. This can be done by first deciding how to approach. Be courteous. Be sensitive. Have something interesting to talk about.

9. When a third member joins the conversation, try to draw him in by briefly telling him about the subject under discussion.

10. Accept compliments gracious by by thanking the members. Forget the mistake of yesterday. Remember the achievements of the past!

11. If any member inquires whether you know something, “London Stock Exchange” for example, do not just say ‘No’. Follow it up with another statement like, ‘But I know the working of the Colombo Stock Exchange’. A new topic of conversation can thus develop.

12. Do not question anyone’s opinion in front of others. For instance, if a member strongly predicts that the property market will slide and you disagree, do not challenge him. Say something neutral like ‘Let’s wait and see’, if asked to comment.

Pleasing and pleasant manners

* Pleasing and pleasant manners help you to stay ahead in the competitive business world. Winning the cooperation of your team depends not only on technical skills, but also on how smartly you behave.

* Good manners help you to gain goodwill from the team members. Every working day offers the opportunity to accumulate one of the most valuable assets a person can acquire- “goodwill”. Without goodwill a Team or business can never flourish.

* Pleasing manners promote fruitful and rewarding relationships with your team members. Participation and contribution is easy in a cordial environment.

* Pleasant manners promote teams effectiveness. Leaders with good manners are the best form of an image for any organisation.

* Develop greater understanding of human problems. Hold others in high esteem. Appreciate others as worthy human beings with personal feeling, including their needs for self-esteem and recognition. Be interested in their thoughts, their circumstances, their families and their future. Remember that the way you say something is more significant than what you say. When you non-verbal message is in conflict with the verbal, the non-verbal prevails.