Have you evaluated your team?

You have probably evaluated each team member separately during their performance reviews.  Likely the typical things: quality of work, attendance, etc.  But have you evaluated your team and how they can actually help each other?

I am sure you have heard of a SWOT analysis.  You take a situation or project, review your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats so you can work through to achieving your goal.  Have you ever thought of doing a SWOT on your team?

You don't do this with the team, but by yourself evaluating each one.  If you have 3 direct reports and there are some issues here and there for all of them, then do  a SW - Strengths and Weakness on each of those reports.  Maybe a strength of A is that they are punctual, but not very accurate.  Another one (B) is always late, but they are extremely accurate.  Perhaps C is always punctual and a great trainer.  So now look at your Opportunities - Can team member C help team member B with accuracy?  Can team member B help team member A with how to train?  Can team member A help someone be on time somehow?  Then review your threats - perhaps the person who is not punctual is bored and maybe having them do some training with another team member that is struggling will help them feel more empowered.  Maybe you need to have 1:1 meetings to discuss their weaknesses and strengths so they can improve and your team can be great!  Be cautious not to put people down though.  For example, maybe I say to team member A "I see you are having some trouble getting to meetings on time.  What do you think the people who are on time may do differently than you?  Do you think you may be able to do those things to help with being punctual?"

People love praise, so work with things found strengths to help those on your team who may have these as weaknesses.  Help each other be productive.  Basically, you need to know where your teams strengths and weaknesses are so you can make opportunities to improve the team and remove any possible threats.

There is the food for thought for today.  If you need to get in touch with me, please email me at tara@twinlifecoaching.ca or www.twinlifecoaching.ca for our website.

Are you educating yourself?

As a leader or manager, we should always be ensuring continual training and education of our employees, but what about you?

Learning and growing is part of life.  Without it we get stagnant and can't move forward or even get left behind.  Most leaders will take some sort of course, seminar or webinar every now and then (at least quarterly) on the key aspects of their role.  It not only helps you stay updated on our ever changing world, but also allows your employees to see that you too need to always stay educated or trained.  Remember the saying "knowledge is power"?  It is true.  The more knowledge we have, the better we are at making the right decisions.

So, what as a leader do you need training on regularly?  It depends on your role, but if you have direct reports, you should at the very least take an employment law course and then follow that up every year with an update conference or seminar.  Labour laws change frequently and you need to stay abreast of all the changes.

Another one would be human rights.  You need to ensure that not only yourself, but your co-workers and employees are following the human rights laws.  If not, then you need to assess the situation and get legal advice.

A leader should always find a webinar or seminar on leadership.  Even reading a book or this blog is working towards keep yourself educated and updated on the changing leadership world.

Need a leadership coach?  I can help.  Feel free to email me at tara@twinlifecoaching.ca or check out our website at www.twinlifecoaching.ca.

Tara