{"id":8103,"date":"2018-08-28T11:03:08","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T15:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.katherinespinney.com\/meetup-for-two-other-facing-fears-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-11-05T18:53:12","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T18:53:12","slug":"providing-individualized-management-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/providing-individualized-management-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Providing Individualized Management for Your Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Managing a team is not a one-size-fits-all task.\u00a0 Your team members have different skills, experiences and nee<\/span>ds and are at different points in their career.\u00a0 You need to manage each person with that in mind.\u00a0 But don\u2019t panic!\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to be a diffe<\/span>rent person to each one and managing will not consume all your time.\u00a0 But it will take some time to get to know your staff and learn what they excel at, where they need some skill building and what management style works best for him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The best place to start? Ask them.\u00a0 People are usually fairly well attuned to their strengths and weaknesses.\u00a0 They also know what type of management they respond to best.\u00a0 But don\u2019t just take their word for it.\u00a0 Observe how they complete the tasks related to their position, how they interact with other teammates and colleagues, and how they interact with you.\u00a0 Do they miss deadlines or ask for extensions on a regular basis?\u00a0 Do they struggle with a certain component of their role?\u00a0 Do they reach out to you when they need support?\u00a0 Are they \u201csuperstars\u201d and do everything well and on time?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have more than 2 or 3 people on your team, you likely have a mix of skills.\u00a0 For example, I managed a team of 7 re<\/span>mote\u00a0<\/span>\"individualizedstaff.\u00a0 Two staff were experienced and extremely capable of performing their jobs very well with little guidance.\u00a0 I gave them the task or reminded them of an upcoming recurring project once and trusted that the work would be done well and on time, and it was.\u00a0 If they needed support they would reach out.\u00a0 I also had a couple of team members who I needed to monitor more closely.\u00a0 They benefited from daily reminders and check ins to stay on track.\u00a0 I had to remind them to reach out if they needed support (it is hard for some people to ask for help).\u00a0 The quality of their work was every bit as good as the staff that I monitored less, they just required a bit more support.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It may sound like I was only really managing the staff that required more support, but that\u2019s not the case.\u00a0 While my teammates who were independent performed their tasks with little guidance, they still needed management.\u00a0 I needed to engage them or run the risk that they would become bored and look for more challenging work elsewhere.\u00a0 This might include giving them special projects to work on, or better yet, helping to train the other staff.\u00a0 I had one teammate who was a wiz with the new database system we were using \u2013 admittedly better than I was \u2013 so I tapped him when others on the team were struggling with the functions or had questions.\u00a0 He also helped out with onboarding new staff on using the database.\u00a0 He gained training skills, the new staff learned how to navigate the database, and I had more time to devote to other training.\u00a0 Win-win-win!<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, new staff will likely need more guidance and support until they are more familiar with the responsibilities of the role and how the team functions.\u00a0 While training is ultimately the manager\u2019s responsibility, your more seasoned staff can be part of training schedule.\u00a0 It\u2019s also beneficial to the new staff as they can have a mentor to ask questions and show them the specifics and best practices of the role.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"individualizedBONUS TIP:<\/strong> You can effectively manage all staff with one email!\u00a0 This practice may not work in your situation, but I established a daily communication email which I sent to all of my team members.\u00a0 It included a celebration of a deadline we had met or other good news in our region, upcoming tasks and deadlines for the day and week, and a reminder to please reach out to me when they needed support in any area.\u00a0 The format was bullet points so it the information was easy to read and digest.\u00a0 The email helped my staff who needed more support to organize and prioritize their day and was a reminder for my more independent staff.\u00a0 This also prevented any miscommunication and ensured that everyone understood their responsibilities.\u00a0 I requested that each staff member replied to the email to ensure they read it.\u00a0 It encouraged accountability without micromanaging.<\/span><\/p>\n

Managing numerous staff members can be challenging, but with the proper planning and organization you can meet everyone\u2019s needs.\u00a0 Understand the amount of support and coaching each staff requires, use your stronger team members to assist in training new or lesser skilled staff, and keep all your team accountable.\u00a0 Soon you will all be working together like a well-oiled, seasoned team.<\/span><\/p>\n

************************************************************************<\/p>\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0<\/span>Joanna is a program & operations manager experienced in the human services & educations industries.\u00a0 She has managed teams of up to seven remote staff for mission driven organization in the metro Boston area.\u00a0 Joanna builds trusting relationships that lead to highly productive teams, company-highest customer satisfaction and increased sales.\u00a0 She is a skilled leader, collaborator and communicator. Connect with Joanna on LinkedIn<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Managing a team is not a one-size-fits-all task.\u00a0 Your team members have different skills, experiences and needs and are at different points in their career.\u00a0 You need to manage each person with that in mind.\u00a0 But don\u2019t panic!\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to be a different person to each one and managing will not consume all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12606,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8103\/revisions\/12606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}