Creating a Stronger Team Starts with Better Management Habits

The equation is straightforward: a leader with poor or ineffective management habits will probably get less out of his team, while employees under strong business leadership work harder and get more things done.

Think about the benefits that accrue when small business team leadership focuses on improving individual and group performance:

• A boost in productivity
• Stronger employee engagement
• Higher morale
• Opportunities to promote talented employees
• Decreased employee turnover

As the project management firm Flowlu notes:

“When your employees are happy, they tend to produce more. They know what they have to do, and what the ultimate goal of the company is, and they want to comply with it, they don’t want to fail … When you adopt group supervision practices that allow you good team management, everyone wins.”

This guide explores bad management habits to avoid and better leadership habits to embrace—so you can answer critical questions:

• Why is my team underperforming?
• How do I improve team performance?
• What leadership skills matter most for success?

Identify Bad Habits, then Get Rid of Them

Strong leaders understand they may have “blind spots” in their leadership style. Bad management habits can be readily identified, followed by action taken to eliminate those habits and replace them with more effective processes.

Micromanagement

One frequently noted leadership mistake is micromanagement. Not only is this style unproductive in the long run, but it can also alienate employees who might otherwise be fully capable of productivity on their own. Micromanagers:

• Constantly monitor their teams
• Demand repeated check-ins
• Hover over employees and frequently critique performance
• Neglect to listen and collaborate

When employees feel their managers are consistently second-guessing their performance, they feel less motivated and engaged.

To avoid micromanaging, focus instead on developing your team members’ skills. Resist the impulse to “fix” things on your own. Let team members figure out things for themselves. Sometimes, mistakes will occur, but in the long-term your employees will feel more trusted to meet their job responsibilities.

Poor Delegation

Another area in which business leaders sometimes fall short is delegation. The failure to delegate specific tasks (which don’t have be accomplished by executives or managers) stems from a lack of confidence in their team members. This message comes across loud and clear to individuals and teams who might otherwise have the capability to accomplish key tasks.

By contrast, strong teams emerge from a leader’s willingness to assign duties and responsibilities to others, so he or she may better focus on long-term growth strategies.

Lack of Communication

Finally—and perhaps most importantly—a common bad habit is lack of communications. Sometimes, leaders withhold information when they feel it’s unnecessary to share news or updates about company initiatives. But this only contributes to a growing sense of concern and dissatisfaction among team members. As Fora Financial, a business financing lender, notes:

“No matter how experienced or talented your team is, communication breakdowns will always undercut productivity. Whether it’s unclear direction, inconsistent updates, or lack of feedback, poor communication creates frustration and slows things down.”

Executives and managers can benefit from looking closely at how they interact with the team and with individual employees. Consider areas where employees might be uninformed, where a lack of information can hinder business operations. Work to refine the ways in which you communicate with your workforce, through emails, staff meetings, or one-to-ones. The result will likely be fewer misunderstandings and stronger employee engagement.

To bolster your business leadership communication skills, download our free TAB Boss white paper, “The Communication Challenges You May Face as a Business Owner and How to Overcome Them.”

How to Counter Underperformance in Your Teams

Signs of underperformance are often easy to identify. When teams underperform, it’s due a lack of coordination, decreased morale, and a generally negative “vibe” in the workplace. Causes of this unfortunate situation range from insufficient resources to do one’s job, a gap in knowledge or experience, or conflicting demands from managers and team leaders.

To counter this underperformance, LinkedIn advises:

“You should have a candid and respectful conversation with your underperforming employees, and listen to their perspectives and concerns. You should also review their work history, performance data, and feedback from other sources, such as peers, customers, or suppliers. By identifying the root causes of underperformance, you can tailor your support and intervention strategies accordingly.”

The first step in addressing a lack of productivity is understanding why this is happening. With a clear understanding of why, you can proceed more effectively with strategies to improve the situation.

What a Strong Leader Can Do

Underperformance is not a “condition” business leaders have to live with. Taking corrective actions usually leads to improved results.

So, what steps can leaders demonstrate to inspire their teams?

Cultivate and promote your vision of success.

How well does your team understand the company’s core values and mission? Employees look to you to inform them about both short-term strategies and the long-term vision for growth. Armed with this knowledge, they see how well they fit into “the big picture.” Devote some of your communications time to sharing your vision of the future and promoting the idea that “we’re all in this together.”

Ensure alignment between your team and your company’s goals.

With proper alignment to company goals, team members share a well-defined understanding of the core values, objectives, and priorities, and how to complete their tasks in a consistent, orchestrated way. Alignment “really means building a meaningful consensus in your team on direction, purpose, and accountability.”

Lead by example.

What you do and say also influences the effectiveness of your team. Whether you’re aware of it or not, your conduct and attitude set the tone for the organization. When you lead by example—maintaining integrity in everything you do, handling challenges and criticism in a respectful, competent way—you demonstrate how you expect others to behave.

How Feedback and Empowerment Can Grow Your Team

Team members sometimes underperform because they’re unsure of how their work is viewed by their managers or because they don’t have opportunities to grow in their jobs and acquire new, more productive skills.

Employees are hungry for constructive feedback. Rather than wait for a once-a-year performance review, managers can motivate team members by offering ongoing feedback that lets them know how well they are doing in their jobs. This can take the form of scheduled or impromptu meetings that track individual performance, refine expectations, and provide feedback that’s helpful, not discouraging.

Many experts contend that performance reviews should take place more often. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, elements of such a review performance should include:

• Describing specific areas “where performance is lacking … and what success looks like in concrete terms”
• Assigning small, attainable action steps that measure progress
• Providing support to employees in training and development

It’s also helpful to document the plan for improved performance in writing. This ensures that leaders and their teams are working from the same script.

Let’s assume you’ve hired talented, ambitious people. When they underperform, it may be that employees sense they can’t take initiative on their own without fear of a negative response if things go wrong. As Small Business Expo points out:

“To empower your team, provide them with the necessary resources, training, and support they need to succeed. Encourage them to make decisions and take calculated risks, reinforcing that mistakes are part of the learning process. When team members feel trusted and valued, their engagement levels rise, leading to greater innovation and productivity.”

Feedback, empowerment, and the opportunity to grow within the company are powerful motivators for strong individual and team performance.

Celebrate Achievements

As a team’s performance improves, due to adoption of better management habits, it’s important to honor individual and team achievements wherever possible.

Public recognition is a powerful motivator, demonstrating leadership appreciation for a job well done. Such recognition can take the form of an informal “Thank you!” delivered to an employee by his or her manager. It can also take place during all-staff meetings, so an employee’s co-workers see for themselves that the company they work for respects and welcomes their efforts. In Forbes, staff writer Dennis O’Reilly notes:

“It’s one thing to give workers a ‘Nice job!’ shoutout when they go above and beyond, but it’s quite another to demonstrate how thankful you are … Among the more creative approaches to demonstrating appreciation for employees are department-specific awards posted prominently on an employee Wall of Fame, an upgrade for the employee break room (cappuccino break, anyone?) and wellness perks such as chair massages, yoga breaks and line dance classes.”

Celebrate individual and team accomplishments in the company newsletter or feature them on your company website. Recognition and reward enhance loyalty and serve as key elements in the successful retention of valued team members.

Better Management Habits FAQs

Q: Why is my business team underperforming?

A: The causes behind a team’s underperformance can vary. In some cases, there’s confusion about what’s expected of the team and how it can go about achieving organizational goals. In other cases, a lack of collaboration can lead to underperformance, especially when bad trends emerge (miscommunications, infighting, etc.). Generally speaking, team or individual underperformance can be traced back to inadequate leadership and/or internal, bureaucratic obstacles to success.

Q: How can I improve my management habits?

A: Recognizing the need to improve your management habits represents a critical first step in achieving this goal. Savvy business leaders understand they may have “blind spots” in their leadership style, and work to remedy these shortcomings by adopting new perspectives and approaches. Look carefully at any tendency to micromanage or otherwise second-guess your team. Seek out opportunities to delegate tasks which team members can tackle, thus freeing you up for strategic thinking and proving your trust in their abilities. And whenever possible, communicate with the team on where they are meeting expectations, and where they might be falling short.

Q: How can I improve my business team’s performance?

A: Start the improvement process by candidly discussing what the team does well and where it falls short. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, offer constructive feedback that clarifies your expectations and standards for excellence. Be sure your team is well-equipped with the resources needed to get the job done, such as up-to-date digital technology, high-quality communications tools, and an online platform where team members can interact and exchange ideas.

Q: What can we do to boost morale and increase retention?

A: The first thing to do is examine your leadership style and ensure you’re projecting an upbeat manner. Remember, the team looks to you for guidance. If you value integrity and adherence to core values, be sure to walk the walk yourself.

Other methods for boosting morale range from publicly recognizing individual and team accomplishments and rewarding those milestones in some tangible form (incentives, bonuses, etc.). Make sure the company workplace is free of toxic behavior and emphasize the value you see in the entire workforce. Whenever possible, look to promote from within the organization—a clear demonstration of how people and teams can grow if they stay with the company.

 Want to learn more? Here’s how becoming a member of TAB can help you boost employee performance and strategize your company’s approach to success.