A team is defined as a small group of people with complementary skills, committed to a common purpose and a set of specific performance goals. As a team leader you are likely to inherit or build a new team at some point during your career. To be successful you need to produce a team with individuals who share visions and interests, enjoy working with each other and have a winning attitude.

Here are five factors that should be given due weightage by team leaders or project managers when managing a team.

Set out the team agenda.

As a team leader, it is important to set out a clear agenda before starting on any project. Team members need to know precisely what is expected of them in the team and how they need to interact with others to achieve their objectives. Involving team members in developing the agenda whenever possible and including them in planning, will increase the interaction between leaders and team members. In addition, it gives individuals a sense of ownership and responsibility which ultimately increases their interest in the project.

Select suitable team members.

It is important to select the right people for every project. Individuals chosen for each team should be able to interact and work closely with others while at the same time have the ability to work on their own and make important decisions. If you have inherited an already existing team, you should carefully evaluate each team member to detect any imbalance in the structure of the team. Individuals’ expertise, experiences and skills should be taken into consideration as well as their social skills and emotional intelligence. Individuals chosen for the team should be similar enough in background or education to want to work with each other but not so similar to offer no added values when it comes to ideas or innovations.

Manage team boundaries.

Team leaders are responsible for monitoring and managing team boundaries. Some constituents of team boundary include customers, financial markets and competitors. By monitoring these factors constantly, team leaders can decide what changes or improvements are needed to adapt to the changes in customer’s requirements, changes in competitors or the influence of financial markets. Building key relationships with those outside the team are vital as this allows leaders to notice any change in these factors quickly and respond accordingly and in time.

Assess team effectiveness.

When evaluating team performance, there are three key areas that need to be considered.

• Team performance. This involves assessing the effectiveness of decisions made and ensuring that the products or services provided meet the standards of clients.
• Team satisfaction. This is an important objective which is often overlooked by team leaders. Leaders who allow their teams to make decisions and take responsibility for their actions and subsequent success or failure, help team members to satisfy their individual needs. Team leaders should never make output their sole focus.
• Team adaptability. Members of a team should learn from experience to enable them to better anticipate their team mate’s responses and actions and react accordingly to support their actions. Lack of adaptability leads to ineffective teams with reduced output.

Be aware of eliminators.

Eliminators are problems, such as jealousy and negativity that can prevent teams from flourishing and achieving its objectives. Here are some tactics you can employ to deal with these problems effectively.

• Praise current team members on their achievements and emphasize how they have contributed to the teams’ success in the past, while encouraging them to continue doing so. This attitude will reduce the risk of jealousy whenever a new skilled member is added to the team or someone  has been promoted.
• Some people are by inclined to be pessimistic. They can only perceive the short comings of the team when faced with a challenging project. To deal with these types of employees, ensure you highlight the teams’ achievements, the success of the company or the project so far and emphasize how a clear vision and efficient planning will guarantee the future success. Deal with negativity assertively as this sort of attitude can damage morals and reduce productivity. Besides, a negative attitude tends to rub off on others.