During the growth journey, a stage comes in career where you need to go through a transition period. Most important transition is when you move from being an individual contributor to becoming a manager of a team. While there are many newly added responsibilities, developing team members is one of the most important responsibilities of managers. In our previous blog published on 5th of May, we came across an abridged version of tips for effective people development and management. Let us look at them in detail now.

How to develop team members: 

1.  Genuine interest in people development: 

Firstly, ask yourself – are you genuinely interested in developing people? Doing it as a compulsion of your job is unlikely to give you best results. 

We come across some managers who are very comfortable with team members who are ready to perform; they do not like to spend time grooming them; such managers will not be genuine in their attempts in developing team members. They may simply do the talking about development but they do not demonstrate in their behavior.

2.  Believe and inculcate belief: 

Have belief in your team members’ potential; More importantly, inculcate self-belief in them too; “Don’t you know even this much?” is a sure way of killing their confidence. It is only when you demonstrate a belief that your team members are capable of much more that they challenge themselves and discover their potential.

I have seen managers who genuinely believe that their team members have more capability and push them into taking up higher responsibilities. In due course, the team members develop self-confidence. 

3. Risk-taking:

Take risks by assigning tasks that are beyond their immediate competence; they need to learn and discover themselves. Your team members need to understand that by discussing about swimming on the poolside, they can never learn swimming. They need to plunge in and test the waters. For them to take a plunge, you need to own the risk and give them an assurance that you are there for them to fall back. Otherwise, the fear of failure and the consequences attached to it will hold the team members back.

4.  Be realistic:

Be patient; they may not take off instantly. Can you grow the plant in your garden by pouring more and more water? It has its natural cycle of development. There is no point in losing cool and getting restless. Demand more, yet be realistic that they need time to learn and come up to speed. If you are hassled about their development, it will only result in stress at both ends.

5.  Coaching style of working:

Correct their mistakes through discussion than review; correcting them without affecting their confidence is the key.

I have seen managers who wait for team members to make a mistake, highlight it and tell them how better they are than their team members. It is a sure path to kill the confidence. Managers must remember that they are in the process of enhancing the capability and not highlighting how incapable the team member is. 

6. Visibility & Credit:

Give credit for good work done – however small it is; it simply reinforces “I can do” attitude. Early success will only create greater confidence. Be on the look out and openly tell the world how your team member has enhanced his or her performance. It will be very inspiring to the team member and the speed of development will increase!

Do not be greedy to share the credit; make it their moment of celebration. You will be surprised to see how you get the credit – not for finishing a task, but for developing your people. 

7.  Help them to help you:

It is true that you are helping your team members to learn and grow; it is also true that it is a time consuming effort before you actually see any gains. However, remember that your success is when your team members succeed! You will be able to scale up when your team members are able to scale up. It is therefore important to note that managers are also the beneficiaries in the long run.

Those managers who deliver higher productivity are surely rewarded; however, those managers who focus on people development are remembered! They grow into becoming inspiring leaders in their careers!

This Article was published in HR Mirror
Hans India.
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