Becoming a team manager is often overwhelming for employees. The role might look glamorous from outside but it comes with its own challenges as it suddenly becomes more important to motivate people and drive performance. It thus becomes important for HR and business leaders to support team managers in their people journey. Assessing their current capabilities, continually evaluating their progress and offering development interventions would help organizations in strengthening the foundation of their leadership pipeline. 

If you are responsible for developing team managers here are 5 things which you should regularly gauge in them to assess their effectiveness.

Business understanding

Team managers should develop an understanding of the vision, mission, business model, growth plans, and goals of the organization. They should also understand who their internal and external partners, competitors are. This will help them in showing the big picture to their team members. An effective manager would be spending his time understanding the strategy and rationales behind key decisions from leaders.   

Delegating capability

An effective team manager would set expectations clearly and clarify the importance of opportunities to his team members. This would motivate them to give their best. He would refrain from doing the work himself to save time or get better quality. Rather he would create an environment where team members collaborate with each other to learn and deliver quality projects. 

Interest in developing team

In order to achieve business goals, effective team managers conduct regular meetings with their team members. They not just review project progress but also provide regular constructive developmental feedback. They create an environment of learning and themselves learn from others. This changes the dynamics of their relationship with their subordinates who now become ready to go beyond transactional relationships. 

Appreciative attitude

Effective team managers realize that appreciation of good work or sound values in public is a great motivator for people. They use it to the fullest to get high performance from their team members. 

Role model attributes

Team managers realize that they are under the scanner of their team members. It is important for them to gain credibility in the eyes of their subordinates. You would notice effective team managers exercising a lot of patience and making informed decisions rather than taking constant U-turns. They would also exhibit a lot of professionalism and dedication. They would deal gracefully with conflicts and ambiguities and win the trust of their team members. 

Organizations should invest in developing the above capabilities in their team managers. Employees look up to their managers for guidance and support. An effective manager would play a key role in grooming and retaining them. After all people do not leave their organization but their bosses….

References: 

https://cdns3.trainingindustry.com/media/13108643/top_ten_leadership_tips-_with_blog_url.pdf

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/247046