How To Manage A Team Effectively

Running a small business presents many different challenges and requires you to adapt on the job.

People management and internal operations are huge factors in day-to-day activity because effectively managing a team is crucial for business success.

Are you unsure how best to manage employees in a small business? You’re not alone.

When it comes to operating a small business, employee management differs greatly from large companies with fully functioning HR teams and large departments.

Developing people management skills not only helps you understand your management style but highlights employee preferences.

Discover our expert tips and advice on how to create a productive and effective working environment within your small business.

Define The Expectations And Goals For Each Employee

Have you set clear employee expectations?

Not only will this aid in preventing confusion but increase employees’ ability to successfully achieve business goals. Implementing targeted strategies for employees to work towards is crucial for small business owners to measure success in innovative ways.

Clear and realistic expectations are essential for smaller internal teams to remain accountable for individual processes by ensuring employees stay on track with business goals and objectives.

Employee expectations work simultaneously to increase business efficiency and employee morale, allowing small business owners to leverage employee motivation for the greater good of the business.

Common expectations of employees, to consider in your small business:

Setting employee expectations creates a clear pathway to results, empowering employees to work to their full potential.

Expectations are likely to align employees to business goals by preventing employees from feeling overwhelmed or misinformed, defining what exactly success looks like for your internal team.

Establish An Effective Communication Plan

A communication plan is an essential aspect of employee management.

Why is it important? A communication plan is key for effectively managing employees by clearly and concisely providing an outline of communication channels.

Creating an effective communication plan identifies what objective needs addressing, who is best to do so, and the best way to achieve it.

Establishing the purpose of your communication and identifying the right audience prevents confusion and miscommunication amongst employees.

The main components of a successful communication plan:

Hold Employees Accountable For Their Work

Accountability within your small business is crucial to prevent other aspects of the business from suffering.
When you neglect the importance of employee accountability, this can have a negative impact on performance, business culture, and morale.

Whether it’s bad behaviour or missed deadlines, as a manager or business owner it’s your duty to hold employees accountable for their actions.

Recognising the role and responsibilities of your employees correctly, breeds trust among your internal team as each employee’s contribution is respected within the business.

Strong accountability within your small business eliminates complacency by strengthening and validating the standards set within your working environment.

Reward And Recognise Employees For Their Contributions And Successes

Employee recognition is vital for the continued success of your small business. Rewarding and recognising employees can propel productivity and motivation within your workplace, as employees feel the work they are putting in is appreciated and respected.

Rewarding desired behaviours within the workplace increases the chance it will be repeated, encouraging employees to continuously thrive to be productive and efficient.

As a business owner, monitoring and positively rewarding hard work impacts employee satisfaction and engagement by showing that you trust and respect the time and energy put into achieving the shared business goals.

Unsure how best to reward employees? Here are our top ways to recognise employees:

Address Any Performance Issues As They Come Up

Employee productivity and performance are not linear but can change due to various personal or professional reasons.

During any performance management process, it’s essential to monitor employee processes to gain an understanding of skill gaps in individuals, workforce productivity and employee suitability.

Here are our 7 best practices for managing employee performance issues:

1. Track and monitor employee outputs and attitudes to prevent problems before they start
2. Continuously provide informed feedback
3. Develop a performance improvement plan
4. Document the various stages of the issue, this may be necessary for future disputes
5. Try not to make it personal by being specific and factual
6. Consider the needs of your employee
7. Follow through with employee issues to fully eliminate them from reoccurring

Identifying and preventing performance issues as early as possible helps keep your working environment healthy and efficient.

The best way to lead a team is by encouraging employees to be comfortable presenting issues or circumstances that may be negatively impacting their professional performance.

Encourage Employees To Take Ownership Of Their Work

The best way to create a working environment with mutual respect and productivity is by allowing employees to take full ownership of their work.

Establishing expectations and defining the route to success is important for small business owners, however, stepping back and letting employees have control and influence over their work, guarantees business objectives will be achieved.

Showing employees they can be trusted is a huge morale booster, encouraging your team to independently thrive for success.

How can you encourage employees to take ownership? It doesn’t have to be complicated, here are our top ways to strive for employee excellence:

Every organisation is different, which means mastering effective team management takes time and resilience. Leading a team can be inspiring and rewarding, it’s important to establish a productive and supportive team with your business goals at the forefront.

Read more on how you can start, grow and succeed in your endeavours on the My New Venture platform.