Managing your team’s performance, motivation and wellbeing can be challenging when they’re overstretched and you’re trying to balance this with managing relationships with other teams and producing deliverables.
While it can be tempting to explain away the situation as “everyone’s busy”, it’s best to be proactive in taking stock and implementing a plan that key people are on board with. Here are three steps you can take:
- Clarify your team’s mission and goals. What impact is your team aiming to have and what are the key objectives that will help them do this? Check with yourself and your team that everyone is on the same page on the answer to this question. When people are unclear what the goals and priorities are, it’s easier for the more impactful work to get lost in the pile. Understanding the team’s mission will also help your team feel connected with the value of their work which will help with their motivation and wellbeing.
- Develop a structured requests process. Are there particular areas or teams that account for a significant proportion of the requests? If so, develop a more intentional, structured process to replace the ad hoc approach that may have developed up to now. Speak with the relevant leaders to share your respective priorities and work out how your teams can work better together to help both teams achieve their goals. You might also spot opportunities for your team to have greater impact where there are types of requests that complement your team’s mission. Get your team’s input as they’re likely to have insights from their experience which will also help with getting their buy-in.
- Help your team build prioritisation and delegation skills. Are your team taking on the right tasks and referring / delegating tasks that are better executed by someone else? Steps 1 and 2 above will shape your team’s priorities but they may need help with translating this into practice. For example, team members can fall into a pattern of executing all requests, thinking it’s easier to just do the task rather than referring the request to a more appropriate person or team. Encourage them to discriminate whether the request has come to the right place and, if not, to invest the initial effort to connect the requestor with someone more appropriate. This way your team and the people making requests will learn to be more effective in having the right people work on the right tasks.
Taking these steps has the advantage of building capacity for your team to focus on the most impactful work. Your team will want to know that you understand the situation and that any messaging for them to manage their work life balance is supported by solutions that address the actual source of the problem. These steps are also about strengthening your leadership skills of bringing your team together on a common mission and helping them work sustainably, and for you to build effective relationships with other leaders and teams. These are invaluable skills that will stand you in good stead as a leader.
