How to build an effective team

For example, a project manager is responsible for implementing a customer service plan, which includes a large amount of information processing work. To improve the efficiency of the information processing personnel, the Project Manager stressed to his superiors: to ensure the success of the plan, the project manager needs more power. The project manager was eventually authorized to directly manage the work of the project team members and have the right to reward them based on their performance. That day became a holiday for all the project managers in the company. But the next day, the manager worried about how to use these new powers. When should we assess the performance of project team members? After each task is completed, or after the entire plan is completed? How should we grasp the monitoring metrics? After careful consideration, the project manager decided to evaluate the information processing staff's performance based on the number of encoding lines written by each person. Anyone who meets the standards will receive a $ one thousand prize from him. It is not hard to predict that the information processing staff wrote thousands of lines of code, and the number of programs compiled was staggering, so everyone got the bonus. It is also hard to imagine that the system compiled in this way cannot play any role in promoting customer service. As a result, the project manager was dismissed. Worse, since then, no project manager has been given the right to directly manage project team members.

One of the meanings of this story is that software coding, although very important, cannot be used as an evaluation standard. The real standard should be to optimize customer services. The project supervisor should have evaluated the contribution of each member to promoting customer service and rewarded them accordingly, rather than simply looking at the number of codes. This is the project management method of "paying by performance. Another implication of this story is that no matter what evaluation criteria you use, you should pay attention to the "strength" of the reward ". Only when you have mastered the art of setting performance goals can you reward those who complete the indicators. Unfortunately, many project managers often give up all their assessment methods once they find that their assessment criteria are wrong. They often give subjective comments on the performance of relevant personnel based on their work results afterwards. This seriously violates the "Three 'C' principles" that must be followed for a project team to succeed ":
1. the predefined goals are not clear enough (Clarity)
2. The team members lack the "commitment" to completing the task)
3. consequence cannot be applied to the performance of members ).
This "helpless" approach is especially harmful to the project team. If you do a good job, people will lose the enthusiasm for hard work. If people do not know their responsibilities and goals at all, they will think: "I will design something at will, the Project Manager can determine the target only when the progress is half done." Therefore, the use of incorrect evaluation standards is the same as that of "useless governance. These problems can be solved only by performing appropriate performance evaluations.
There is a big difference between performance and goals. In the above example, encoding is only a necessary process to achieve the expected goal, and the expected goal may be: ensure that the user of this system can obtain the customer transaction records of the past six months within 30 seconds.
If you manage members of a project team on such a scale, you don't have to worry about using wrong assessment criteria. You have already set a clear goal for them, so that you can reward and punish them based on the expected goal.
It is not easy to break down an overall work goal into an individual, but it is worth a try. in the management process, the established work objectives are always taken as the core, it will be able to meet the "3C" principle requirements: clearly set the work objectives, get the commitment of the team members, and give appropriate rewards and punishments based on the completion of each person's work.
The second decision that a project manager must make is to reward and punish employees. Of course, you will not dismiss all those who fail to complete the performance indicators. Similarly, for a work plan that can be completed within one month, you should not offer a high bonus equivalent to half a year's salary.
This is the issue of grasping the rewards and punishments. The higher the rewards and punishments associated with the score, the higher the Members' work attitude. On the one hand, you need to let your subordinates know that the rewards and punishments for them are closely related to their performance. People with outstanding performance should be able to see that their performance has been recognized and rewarded by the management. Those who do not do well should be aware that the management is aware of their performance.
However, the rewards and punishments linked to performance should not be too large. Otherwise, employees will become indifferent to work without bonuses. An excellent project manager should formulate a suitable reward structure to combine monetary rewards with non-monetary rewards. Determine the proportion of the "risk bonus" linked to performance among all the rewards based on the psychological endurance of different personnel.
If you are in a "welfare-type" corporate culture and people are not comfortable with this "Reward System of performance-based payment", you must step by step. At the beginning, the bonus proportion linked to performance should be relatively small. As people increase their affordability and performance, and gradually increase the proportion of "risk bonus" to stimulate the team's vitality, the key issue must be identified. In my opinion, the team encountered problems not because the management layer is less than the management layer, but because of the team concept, and the low team intelligence (rather than the individual) is the culprit in the failure of the team to run normally. Team intelligence refers to the ability to work effectively together. A self-informed team should master both its own strengths and weaknesses. Team members should understand the characteristics of other members, know how to learn from each other, and communicate with each other. A smart team should strive to reach this level of understanding and keep it up. Most teams have poor performance in terms of vitality. This is partly because of the team's own defects. Team members do not respect each other and do not want to listen to the opinions of other members, or even conceal the information they have mastered. Such a team is no longer real, and Members just get together to start the meeting. In more cases, the team is not very energetic because of its own setup problems. The organization to which the team belongs cannot provide clear goals, reasonable instructions, or tools for solving problems. The internal atmosphere of the team is tense, and Members cannot even communicate with each other through simple conversations, let alone exchange and share information.
Low team intelligence (including goals, procedures, and decision-making) is the culprit in the failure of the team to operate normally. The specific performance is as follows:
1. Target disorder. People often fail to set their targets because they have paid too much attention to the long-term prospects of their primary targets. Correct goal setting should begin with the final goal for the entire team. With the participation of team members, the final goal will be divided into a series of short-term goals that are interrelated and easy to operate. Successful teams always focus on long-term goals and start with short-term goals. Because short-term goals are easy to implement and easy to display. You can plan for the long term, but you must start looking at it. The more goals a team has set, the worse the result it will have.
2. No adjustments were made to the target. Although we can prepare multiple parties, things always have their own evolutionary rules. New knowledge will be gained. Therefore, the goal should be constantly corrected to maintain "Easy to use" flexibility.
3. poor decision-making model. The way a team makes decisions is itself one of the most important decisions. You should first understand the situation and then take drastic actions. The implementation of specific actions varies with the discussion results. Naturally, correct decisions are generated. There are many decision-making modes. For example, in a pass-through decision-making model, all team members have the opportunity to express their opinions and eventually achieve consistent results. In a participatory decision-making model, they will have a heated discussion on specific issues. There is no right or wrong decision-making model, but it is important to determine which decision-making model to adopt first. It is strange that if every Member is aware of the decision-making process, even the authoritarian approach will be affirmed and supported.
4. Fuzzy authorization. The Organization has created a team for some purpose. The Organization may "authorize" its subordinate teams-usually vague-that is, the team can take all necessary actions to some extent to achieve the purpose. However, organizations may not be authorized in this way. The team either feels that they are not authorized to do the work, or they cannot determine what their permissions are. In any case, such a team is doomed to fail. We can consider replacing authorization with boundary management. Authorization needs to be defined. Without knowing the definition of power content, who will exercise it, where it starts and where it ends, there will be no real authorization. Border Management is a way to negotiate and reach an agreement on a series of constraints or boundaries. Team members can determine the constraints or boundaries of power and use power freely within the boundaries. These boundaries vary with the experience and professional knowledge of each member.
5. The role is not fixed. When more than one person in the team is responsible for a task, which is usually an attractive task, the problem arises. A typical example in this regard: the senior management team is not actually a team, because the willingness and ambition of individual members have replaced the task of the team, and the result is inner. Once an inner node is formed, members should discuss relevant tasks in public to find a solution. What is important is how to communicate with tasks and achieve consistency in procedures such as updates, contacts, cooperation, and trust. Members should be reminded at any time that excellent teams are complementary. As in war, members depend on each other. Cross-training personnel are responsible for different primary and secondary roles. If a soldier falls down, the latter will replace his position. Therefore, you should always ask yourself these questions: who is responsible for what? When does it start? How can we communicate with our colleagues to determine whether we are in the correct position?
6. Bad atmosphere. For example, you won't plant flowers in ammonia, nor can you cultivate healthy teams in carbon monoxide. Therefore, if the environment is unfavorable, the team cannot grow. In fact, creating a healthy and cooperative atmosphere is neither mysterious nor costly. Only a simple and clear signal within the Organization is needed: to suppress destructive and Competitive Behaviors and to encourage behaviors that start from the interests of groups. Check carefully how your organization runs. Is someone hiding the information and not sharing it with others? Does someone stand by when others encounter difficulties? In an organization, are people afraid of anything? If the symptoms are described above, teamwork will be a special medicine for treatment.
7. Lack of trust. Trust is the blood of a team-the river that breeds life. Trust nourishes the team and brings vitality to the team. If mutual trust is lost in the team, it will be the same as the blood of the body, the dream cannot be fulfilled. If someone loses trust in other members, it means that he will be evicted from the team and no one will ignore him. The best way to fix trust is to never destroy it. Always tell the truth, be generous, have a fair attitude, be willing to listen, keep your promise, and be trustworthy. If you do something wrong unfortunately, you must sincerely and modestly ask for forgiveness from others.
8. Insufficient communication. A simple misunderstanding can make the best team suffer setbacks. You often encounter misunderstandings. Why? Simply put, it is the diversity of people. Each of us has a different mindset, disposition, and background. How you communicate with others depends largely on who you are-that is, how you behave-and, of course, what kind of people you communicate. Therefore, you need to learn a new communication method that can take into account the needs of others.
9. No effective help is provided. Communication can eliminate misunderstandings and discover problems in our work. We can help each other to complete tasks efficiently and form an efficient team.
10. Leadership mistakes. When meeting the needs of different personnel, team leaders will face the "difficult to tune" dilemma. Team members may want you to assume different roles: Father (mother), tyrant, Shepherd, and disruptive. If a team lead tries to assume all these roles, it may drive himself crazy. However, if you do not care what your subordinates expect to assume a role, it is also very bad. Fortunately, many teams allow their leaders to switch roles without interruption. A wise team allows its members to check and balance each other so that each member can get motivation, guidance, and permission to a corresponding extent. If your team can reach this level, it is able to partially meet everyone's needs for leadership roles-even if you are half done. How can a team become a versatile player? The answer is to fully understand and appreciate how the individual characteristics of different members complement each other. As a team leader, the challenge you face is to determine your own leadership style and understand the gains and losses of such a leadership style in the face of different subordinates.
11. Unknown prospects. Prospects are the ambitious goals of the team and the goals of team leaders. So it can be said that if there is no prospect, it doesn't matter to the team. The prospects come from the company's organization level and are the guidelines of the entire company. Then, the management layer will embody and refine this major political policy among various departments of the company, so that each department can recognize its role in achieving the goal. The relationship between a leader and a new goal is like that between a broadcaster and a seed. A leader seizes an idea, cares for it, and maintains its vitality in the minds of its members. Through various efforts, it is superior and achievable to let the team members understand this concept and accept it. The proper way to disseminate the outlook concept is to closely integrate the aspirations and needs of each member with the prospects of the team. Treat each member equally. We need to give people the respect they deserve from both the members and the team so that they can exchange the same respect for their ideas. Unless the members are willing to accept your ideas, you cannot force them to do anything.
12. hazards of competition. Competition is essentially a question of winning or losing. The winner gains profit, and the loser has to wait until the next time to flip the book. Competition can cause harm to the team, because competition leads to a lack of trust among team members and the lack of smooth cooperation in peace. On the other hand, teamwork means that the participants make joint efforts on important issues and do not mean individual actions. Therefore, cooperation is mutually beneficial to every member of the team. Competitors are competitors. Unlike partners like family members, competitors block information from each other. Partners not only need to communicate with each other, but also need to rely on the experience and professional skills of the other party to achieve the goals of the team and achieve self-fulfillment.

Maintaining a high level of team intelligence-using various skills, attitudes, and emotional flexibility to deal with inherent differences within the team for optimal results-is a specific medicine for treating team problems. If you believe that the team can be used for you, you should make your team dynamic. In this regard, nothing is more important than the correct use of team intelligence.