As a small business owner, the gratitude you feel towards your team is likely to be considerable. During the festive season, it's common to show your appreciation to staff who have worked hard all year. This may be in the form of a card, a bottle of wine or even a juicy Christmas bonus! And who doesn't look forward to the annual office Christmas party?
Regardless of the season, however, it's always a good idea to show your team you appreciate them. Read on to learn more about how to do this effectively; it's just one of the top tip sections we have compiled to help you lead a small team.
Hold regular team meetings
If you’re working together on a daily basis, you may think that frequent team meetings are unnecessary. After all, if you’re talking about work on a regular basis, why designate more time to talking about it?
The problem however is that, without team meetings, you’re missing a valuable opportunity to critically check in and discuss the progress of certain tasks from a different perspective. For example, are recurring issues occurring that aren’t being solved? Are you heading in the direction you want to be? Has a project gone a bit skewwhiff?
A regular team meeting is the perfect opportunity to check in on all of your targets and answer these questions. It allows you to discuss achievements as a group, review ongoing tasks and delegate further responsibilities.
Maintain good communication and listen to your team
It's not revolutionary to state that good team leadership relies on clear communication. At the end of the day, good communication is what allows your team to understand what is expected of them and know how they are expected to achieve it.
Communication however isn’t a one-way street. In order to truly manage your team to the best of your abilities, you need to be able to listen to what your employees or team members have to say. Ultimately, your team members are the ones that work on tasks day in and day out, so they know a thing or two about what they are saying. Show them that you respect their opinion by actively encouraging their cooperation.
If there is a problem, ask how they think it should be fixed. If there is a decision to be made, ask how they think you should proceed. You don’t have to take on board everything they suggest, but you do have to listen to them and respect their voice. And if you don’t like their idea, communicate your thoughts and explain why. They won’t ever learn if you don’t guide them.
Show appreciation and give recognition all year long
Continuing with the theme of respect and recognition, our third tip is to show appreciation to your team members. If you are working in a small team within a small company, you may not be able to reward large bonuses or grant fancy promotions, but that doesn’t mean you can’t show your team that you appreciate them. This could be done with a quick email praising a recent sale or sharing public acknowledgement of a problem well-solved.
A happy team is a productive team, so anything you can do to put a smile on your team members’ faces is an act worth doing!
Distribute the workload fairly
If you’re managing a small team in which everyone chips in and plays a part in all tasks, make sure that you’re distributing the workload fairly. Regularly check in and see who is doing what. Make sure that one person isn’t doing the bulk of the work.
Furthermore, managing a small team effectively includes knowing how to distribute the workload efficiently. You need to use each team member’s skills and strengths to your advantage. Consider carefully assigning responsibilities to those who are best suited. What is more, encourage collaboration so that everyone can learn and when necessary be pushed outside of their comfort zone.
Lead by example
The fifth and final piece of advice on how to manage a small team is to lead by example. At the end of the day, your team, no matter how small it may be, looks up to you. You are the one with the answers. You are the one with the decision-making power. Your team will respect you and as such, you need to lead by example.
If you want your employees to wield a positive attitude, then you need to do so yourself. If you wish your employees to have a work-life balance, then you need to have a work-life balance. Fundamentally, a healthy team starts at the core, that is, with you.
We hope these tips have been of use to you! Despite the many advantages of a small team, managing a small number is no walk in the park! And if you’re reading this and thinking that perhaps you haven’t led your team in the best way in recent months, don’t fret! It’s never too late to change your ways. After all, that’s what Ebenezer Scrooge did, didn’t he?!
Guest post by Charlotte Graver
