What Managers Need To Do To Help Their Teams Achieve Their Goals

by Vartika Kashyap

Let’s face it—handling a team and helping them to achieve their goals is a tough row to hoe. Why should you care? Well, when your team doesn’t feel supported in their goals or doesn’t see opportunities for advancement within the organization, they become disengaged. Not only that, but they also become less productive and more likely to miss deadlines too.

It’s proven that having a strategy is important and 90% of the leaders think an engagement strategy will impact business success. At the same time, only 25% have a strategy to influence their employees.

If you do not want to witness your star performers leave for a better gig, you’ve got to apply strategies that will help them.

Let’s have a look at what managers need to do to help their teams achieve their goals:

Give Them A Chase.

As a manager or a leader, you have to give your team a reason to jump out of the bed every day. That is called motivation. Give your team something to look forward to. As soon as a team anticipates new goals, they automatically show interest. Getting familiar with the prospective goal will encourage them to encounter opportunities to grow as an individual as well as a part of the organization.

Encourage Them To Self-manage.

Regardless there is limited decision-making authority in the team’s hands, they at least should not have to keep on asking you about what’s next and just work independently. The Kanban boards in ProofHub—a project management software for teams—let your team visualize every stage of a task and empower them to self-manage with a better understanding of workflows and work in progress.

Train And Let The Team Train.

Don’t assume everyone on the team to be at the top of their game. The moment you set goals not only you should identify people’s strengths, but also keep in mind their weaknesses. In that process, people get to know how to train and develop their skills in order to do the job. As a leader, you should encourage peer-to-peer coaching within the team too. A leader creates leaders, not followers.

Turn Team Discussions A Habit.

Letting people know that their ideas are always welcome is a great way to not let the good ones end up on the back burner. There are team collaboration tools that allow discussions on particular topics at one central place where not only the discussion is open to all but also doesn’t get derailed. The information doesn’t get lost in the long email threads. This way the team is encouraged to share ideas in the first flush of enthusiasm.

Don’t Let Bad Times Control The Situation.

As you help your team achieve their goals, it’s important to not dwell on problems. Instead, you should be the one who offers solutions. You bet the team will bring in more value. One sure-shot way that will help you show that hurdles do not define you is to share a time when you cut your own throat. Seeing you think of an obstacle as a stepping stone in your career will only motivate them towards their goal.

All of this has a ripple effect on the bottom line. Do not forget to acknowledge the team’s efforts. Recognition is certainly priceless and holds status more than money. Once you praise one person in front of others, it will surely encourage the whole team to work harder and feel engaged.

About the Author: Vartika Kashyap runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. She is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn.