Are You Leading A Team Or Group Of Individuals? & Which is Better

Are you leading a team or group of individuals? How much does it really matter in performance terms? These are the questions being answered. Every ambition manager should be very interested in increasing team performance because this is how your personal performance is being measured. Find out about the performance of team vs group at work.--- --- Leading a team or a group of individuals can be the different between hitting targets or missing them. It is easy to say that working on build teamwork within your team is a must do. Actually, in some situations a group of individuals will perform as well or better than a team. I share the definitions of team vs group in the office so that you are clear on the differences in leading a team or group of individuals. This should make spotting a team vs group of individuals easier. In practice, you will be somewhere between the two.  I provide a scale with multiple indicators so you can answer “Do you lead a team or a group of individuals?”. The performance difference between a group and a team can be really significant, reaching hundreds of £’000s and more . Team or group which is better – in 80%+ of cases, I would say the team every time. There are several factors that go into how big this difference in performance gets.  I share some examples of the monetary difference of teams vs groups. Towards then end I take you through six of my favourite and very effective actions to increase teamwork in any team.  If you have any questions on “Are You Leading A Team Or Group Of Individuals? & Which is Better”, please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you.  Jess Colesenhance.training 

How many employees for each manager? Don’t apply a one-size-fits-all approach when considering staff numbers per manager. Do so is likely to be detrimental for your business and team & manager retention. I share 5 crucial drivers of team size for each manager. --- --- The first factors in employee numbers per manager is the pace of change within a business, function or team. The higher the pace of change, the lower the staff per manager ratio should be. Employees don’t like change, and it takes a lot more time and effort from the manager to successfully guide teams through change.The second factor for how many staff per manager is team capabilities versus business requirements. The more time a manager needs to spend on developing team capabilities, the lower the manager vs staff ratio. The third factor for employee numbers per manager is the complexity of work undertaken by both employee and manager. I share 7 different factors that increase complexity within the workplace. The fourth factor for number of employees for each manager is the tools and technology available and being used by the team. Technology tends to standardise employee roles and their tasks and activities. The more standardised the roles, the more people that a manager can effectively manage.   The fifth factor in the number of employees for each manager is what the specific role of the manager is. What goals and objectives are you asking the manager to achieve. For example, is the role maintaining performance or improving performance. Expectations for the manager impacts the number of employees per manager.If you have any questions on “How Many Employees For Each Manager – 5 Crucial Drivers Of Team Size”, please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you.  Jess Colesenhance.training

I share 5 ways to keep your boss happy with better communication. You don’t have to work harder. You don’t have to pander to your boss. Just use these communication tips to keep your manager happy.  ---- ----  How to have a conversation with your boss starts with looking for and understanding their communication preferences. How to communicate with your boss should be one of the first things you sus out. Think about how often, methods and styles with communicating with boss. Next for effective communication skills with your manager, over-communicate rather than under-communicate. When you are proactively telling your boss what you are up to each day, they get a sense of control and involvement. Very important in how to keep your boss happy. To keep your manager happy with better communication, focus on giving clear, concise and progress focused updates. Bosses are more time poor than we are. Spend time thinking about the keep points you want to get across before speaking to your boss. This is one of the best communication tips to keep your boss happy. Next in how to communicate with your manager, spend the time to question, listen and respond. Asking questions and listening is the other HALF of communicating with managers. Find out what your manager is working on and their pressures. Finally, when communicating with your boss, commit to ensuring “no surprises”. Every boss hates surprises, even the good ones. Remove surprises with good and proactive communication. If you have any questions on “5 Ways To Keep Your Boss Happy With Better Communication”, please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you. Jess Coles enhance.training 

In this manager training success guide we cover some of the key factors to deliver effective management training. I share the best managers to give management training to, who you should train first, how to measure the benefits and 6 core skills to focus on first. --- --- Why training is important for managers? Managing a diverse team with different strengths, interests, energy levels and more is not an easy job as any manager knows. Good managers will multiply the value of output from their team. The top 5% of managers deliver more than 8 times what an AVERAGE manager delivers through their team. That is tens of £’000s to £’millions in profits for the company depending on the size of the team.Think how much you are losing through missed opportunities. Over 80% of new managers are not given any training. Training new managers will give them confidence, tools and a route to delivering better team performance.  Which managers to train? Those that are keen to learn, enthusiastic and are energised by leading teams – these are the best managers to enrol in training.Training managers at any time will help company performance. Managers are responsible for all the decisions with significant impact. Managers are also responsible for helping everyone else be as productive as possible. Training managers leverages your training spend in effect across everyone in the company. Who gets the most from manager training are those managers that are ambitious and put their team ahead of themselves. Measuring the benefits of training managers is not as easy as other forms of training as managers generate most of their value indirectly through the team they lead. With good KPIs and feedback from their team you will know which managers get the most from training.Finally, I share 6 core management skills that any manager should focus on first. When managers get really good at these skills and they generate a lot more profit through their team.If you have any questions on “Manager Training Success Guide – Deliver Effective Management Training”, please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you. Jess Colesenhance.training

How to balance boss and staff, especially when they have conflicting demands is not easy. For managers to avoid feeling stuck in between these two important groups for your success, I share 3 tactics that every manager should use. Make you like as a manager more enjoyable and professionally successful by keeping your boss and your team very happy with you! --- ---  How to deliver for both boss and team starts with understand what both parties want. If you don’t find out what both parties really want and need keeping your boss and your team happy is nearly an impossible task. To balance your boss and your team, without feeling you are being batter from both sides. It is a good tactic to act as a bridge between the two groups rather than being a barrier. How to balance boss and team starts with expectations. When you set aligned expectations with boss and team, communicate them clearly and repeatedly, you will have the least hassle and disconnect. When the desires of both groups are out of alignment or in conflict, overcommunicate and negotiate balance your boss and your team's demands. Balancing boss and staff is not easy. It is easy to focus on one, rather than both. The wheels can start coming off the wagon if you do. One of the best ways to balance the demands of your boss and your team is to overcommunicate with both groups. Understanding and appreciate solves lots of problems. Lastly, for how to balance boss and team members, really work hard at delegating and developing your team. Delegating well gives you the personal space and time to focus on the highest value work you can and gives you time to develop the capability of your team. This enables you to delegate even more, and is essential to progress through the management ranks. If you have any questions on “How To Balance Boss And Staff – 3 Tactics For Managers To Keep Both Happy”, please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you. Jess Coles enhance.training 

Overcome the fears that stop you giving feedback and you open the doors to a ton of benefits as a manager. Giving feedback to help your team member builds trust, increases performance, develops and a lot more. What stops managers giving feedback – the fears we all have of annoying, upsetting, of damaging relationships. I share a tried and test approach to build your feedback skills no matter where you are in your career. --- --- What stops you giving feedback to your team are fears that we may upset others and cause ourselves social harm. What stops you giving feedback to your team is fear of what might happen. You have been promoted into a manager position because you have good communication and people skills or good potential in this area. You won’t mess up.To help you overcome the fears that stops you giving feedback I take you through 8 fears and why they are a barrier in your head only. These 8 barriers to giving feedback are easily overcome with a little practice. To reduce your fears about giving feedback, I share some really interesting survey findings about feedback. The bottom line – employees are desperate for more feedback – positive or corrective. The mindset you have giving feedback is probably the most important thing. Then I take you through the practical steps to start giving team feedback in the lowest risk way, building up to being a master at giving all feedback, including corrective feedback. Giving feedback to your team daily, is one of the most important jobs as a manager or leader because it enables so many other really good management practices. Why no feedback means no manager promotion is because you miss out on encouraging and helping the team perform that much better.If you have any questions about “Lead With Courage - Overcome The Fears That Stop You Giving Feedback”, please leave a comment below and I will get back to you.Jess Colesenhance.training

Build great teamwork fast! I share 6 ways to create great teams quickly. This have been tried and tested with many teams, in top companies and when transforming the performance of the worst team in multiple companies. Most managers lead a group of individuals, not a team. Groups of individuals typically work alongside each other, doing their own work. There is chat but not a lot of in depth discussion, not much collaboration and little joint problem solving. Use these tips to build teamwork in any team, no matter where the level of teamwork is in your team today. ------ The leader or manager is the most effective person in building a great team culture. I share multiple ways to teach teamwork to your team. Each are ways to increase teamwork so you will see a noticeable improvement within weeks. The first of my tips to encourage great teamwork is to show you have the team’s back. Trust is one of the most important currencies managers have with their team. Everything you do in front of your team should be to demonstrate you are trustable and have the best interests of the team at heart (rather than you own). I share 6 actions you can take to build trust quickly – essential in building high performing teams. The next of my tips for great teamwork is to advertise responsibility and accountability.  To build a strong team, each team member needs to know what is expected of them AND what their team members will be covering. Make this clear to each team member and advertise responsibilities across the team. This is the first important step to holding team members accountable. The next of my tips for effective teamwork is to incentivise a lot of communication. Lead from the front. One of the ways to coach teamwork is to demonstrate communication and then help each team member build to build stronger relationships with each team mate. Create the expectation for a lot of talking, discussing and joint work together. Another of the really important activities to build teamwork is to find goals that scream success. Choose goals that have a story, that are relevant to team members and that the team can get behind. Don’t just talk about goals in terms of financial targets. Common shared goals are a key part of team building and essential to build a strong team.  I explain how to start finding valuable goals. How to build a great team at work is a process that any manager can follow. Chances are you have the skills. You just need to know what to do AND work hard in service of the team. If you have any questions on “Build Great Team work Fast – 6 Ways to Create Great Teams Quickly” please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you. Jess Coles enhance.training  

Making decisions at work and having good decisions making skills are highly prized by all organisations. I have 9 questions to ask yourself when making decisions at work. These form a framework, a decision making process, that will keep you making GOOD decisions at work.--- --- The first question to ask when making decisions at work is “How much time do I have to make the decision?” With a day, there is lots that you can do and a lot of questions to ask yourself when making decisions. With 5 minutes, the questions you can ask are much more limited. You nearly always have more time to make a decision than you (or the other person) thinks. How to make decisions quickly, in my view, is about following a process, a framework. Following a framework will feel clunky and slow to start with as you learn the steps. After a few weeks, the process will feel very natural. After a few months, you won’t realise you are following it out of habit.  The next of the questions to ask yourself to make great decisions at work is “What specifically is the desired outcome?” Being really clear on what is needed is huge in terms of how to make decisions faster. You also get better decisions. Start asking questions to really understand what the decision you are making or being asked to make is really trying to achieve. Once you have this really clear, everything else in the decision making process will be a lot quicker and easier.  The third of the questions to ask when making decisions is “What is the context of the decision?” The context of the decision will literally change what you decide. Think about authorising a hiring request. In a growing business your decision would be yes. In a struggling company, your decision is very likely to be no.  The fourth question when making decisions is the last of the core questions that you should always ask yourself regardless of the type of decision you are making.  Then I share 5 very valuable questions to ask for the more complex decisions, the ones with larger impacts or those with only bad options to choose from.  The 9th of the questions to ask yourself when making decisions at work is the one missed by many decision makers. Missing this question nearly always causes a lot more problems later on and can be pretty embarrassing. Always ask this question whenever you need to make any significant decision.  If you have any questions on “9 Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself When Making Decisions At Work” please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you.  Jess Colesenhance.training

Working with an insecure boss can be very bad news for your development, your happiness at work and your career progress IF you don’t know how to handle the situation. It is easy to find yourself on the end of put downs, criticism, and undermining when you don’t know how to work with an insecure boss.I share 5 actions of insecure managers and then 5 key actions to take to gain the support and trust of an insecure manager.------I take you through 5 actions of insecure leaders. Knowing the signs, you can quickly spot an insecure boss and take action that will improve rather than damage your relationship with your boss. For example, A person’s natural reactions to their boss trying to exert too much control is to push them away and communicate less. This type of reaction makes things worse not better. Another classic action of insecure managers is be overly concerned about what other people think of them. They take decisions and actions for popularity rather than what is best for the team and business. I share other signs your boss is worried by you. These are each signs your boss is intimidated by you in some way. Next, learn about 5 ways for how to work with an insecure manager. These work just as well for how to work with a jealous boss or a boss intimidated by you. When you are working with insecure leaders, the first action is to play to what they need from you. Understand what makes them feel insecure or what actions or language creates a negative reaction in them. With understanding you can then plan tactics to avoid their trigger points while giving them what they need to feel more in control and secure. I share practical tips for what to do and how to use language to keep them feeling safer. Another very important tactic when working with an insecure boss is to position yourself as a ally and not be a rival to them. Again, use all the practical tips I share to achieve this quickly and with confidence. If you have any questions on “5 Actions of Insecure Managers & How to Work with an Insecure Boss”, please email me on [email protected] and I will get back to you.Jess Colesenhance.training

Creating strong ownership in teams is a great step to significantly improve team performance. Team performance defines a manager’s performance and directly impacts a manager’s personal rewards. I share 3 approaches to create strong ownership in teams for great performance in any team.--- --- The first of the stages to create strong ownership in teams is all about responsibilities. If a team member doesn’t take responsibility, you have little chance of they taking ownership. The most important insight to remember – employees will only take ownership if the CHOOSE to. How to create strong ownership in teams starts with creating responsibility. I share my best tips for HOW to create responsibilities in teams - the first stage to create high ownership in teams.The second stage to create high ownership in teams is to build accountability. Creating accountability is undertaking 5 inter-dependant actions, that when put into practice well, will drive strong accountability in any team. I share very practical tips of how to start creating accountability. For example, you can’t hold team members accountable for performance unless they have clear goals and objectives, which they understand.To create more ownership in teams at work first allocate clear responsibilities and then create accountability for those responsibilities. Finally to get your team taking ownership, and creating ownership at work more generally, work on the creating the right environment for ownership to flourish. This absolutely in the control of nearly all leaders and managers in nearly any business. To create high levels of ownership in teams put into practice the 5 actions I discuss. Pretty much every manager is able to work on each of these actions to drive team ownership of work.If you have any questions on “3 Approaches to Create Strong Ownership in Teams for Great Performance”, please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you. Jess Colesenhance.training