From supervisor to team leader

The concept

You may be an excellent supervisor of your staff on a one-on-one basis, doing such great things as:

  • Giving recognition and appreciation
  • Working with them to ensure role clarity
  • Providing one-on-one coaching

…and so on.

However, by merely being the ‘sun around which the planets revolve’, you are likely leaving a significant team performance uplift on the table.

There are great benefits from creating real connectedness amongst members of the team:

  • Team members working together will learn from each other.  
  • Team members receiving feedback and appreciation from their colleagues has more impact than just receiving it from the boss.
  • Team members providing emotional support to each other positively impacts wellbeing and morale in the team.
  • A connected team will create its own energy and not be solely reliant on the team leader to create enthusiasm.

Why it’s useful

It is a great reminder for Team Leaders to put conscious and deliberate effort into ‘working on the team’.  This is not about team building activities, but rather deliberately setting up practices and mechanisms that facilitate team member interaction and engagement with each other.

How/when to apply it

A range of strategies can be pursued to create connectedness in the team, including:

  • Deliberately setting up team members to work on tasks/projects together.
  • Team members pairing up as buddies or mentors.
  • Create space and opportunities for team problem solving and participation in decision-making.
  • Actively encouraging team members to demonstrate appreciation and gratitude towards each other.
  • Establish peer review mechanisms.
  • Create opportunities for team members to socialise and get to know each other.

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