How to Elevate Your Team’s Performance

11 Dec How to Elevate Your Team’s Performance

When it comes down to getting things done in your business, and taking your productivity to the next level, it all falls back on how your team executes – and if they execute well.

If your teams are not performing, then it is time to start asking yourself, “Do I have the right team in place?” Many times, the reasons things are not progressing as they should is because you don’t have the right team in place to execute. Here are the 5 ways you can get your teams to perform, and to perform at their highest potential – every time.

1) Have the right people in the right place. Having the right people in your company or on your teams is only one part of the “winning” formula. The key is to have them doing the tasks that they are best at. This will require you to know your employees enough to immediately know their strengths. That way you can assign them work that is perfectly aligned with their strengths. For example, taking your top salesperson and making them the sales manager is a waste of talent, especially if supervising and mentoring is not one of their strengths. If they are a stellar salesperson, make sure they are given sales tasks. If you have an employee that thrives on organizing projects and keeping everyone on tasks, then seek to put them in project management type roles. The right fit is everything when you’re assembling peak performing teams.

2) Always provide training to your team. As your business evolves and the needs of your business change, you need to ensure that your team is adequately skilled to get the job done. Whether you have in-house training or send them to annual conferences to get more support, make learning a priority within your organization. Many times, teams are not performing because they don’t have the resources and/or the skills to get the job done.

3) Put metrics and milestones in place. Remember, it is not in what you know, but instead in how you execute. And, this principle rings especially true for teams. If you do not put deadlines and measuring systems in place, you will never know if your teams are performing as they should. Always have an accountability system in place so you are quickly able to see where all of your teams stand, in terms of their performance, so you can also determine how best to address any productivity concerns.

4) Communicate expectations. Do your teams know what they are responsible for doing? If you have not clearly communicated what you expect them to produce, then take time this week to do that. Outline your expectations along with deadlines and establish consequences (that you will actually enforce) should the team fall short.

5) Be present. Teams always perform when they have accountability and a leader present that is firm in pushing them to excel. This does not mean that you need to be a micromanager, however, having a presence is important in establishing your authority. I often have quick round-up meetings with my teams for them to share what they are doing, their progress, and their goals with me on a daily, if not weekly basis. Not only does this give me insight into what everyone is working on, but it also conveys to my teams that I am serious and committed to seeing them perform.

If you find that your teams need a little motivation to kick their performance in overdrive, try any one (or all) of these strategies.