Leading your team

First, decide on an an organizational structure and leadership system that fits the purpose, philosophy and roles of your organization. If you're a small orgaization, you can often be more informal, but a large orginization will have clear reporting and staffing procedures.

It is critical that you operate effectively as a team. At this stage, you need to figure out how to lead your team, keep them motivated and on track, and maintain effectiveness. You will need to communicate with other team members and relate personally to them.

Start by asking what kinds of abilities each team member has, their motivations for being part of the project, and their temperament. Your team will be most effective when each member contribute their strengths and depends on each other.

I suggest that you have regular team meetings. If you are all in the same city, it isn't too hard to meet once a week or once a fortnight. I was once in a team spread out over several distant cities, We only had meetings every few months, but each one was several days long. We covered policy and procedure issues, planning, Professional Development, pastoral care, and team building.

From time to time, team members will find their work very stressful and will need pastoral support from a senior team member. Conflicts within the team are fairly normal, and the supervisor will need to manage such conflicts.

See the Leadership page.

 

Accountability

Then ask how will team members be accountable for what they do. Each team member, including the team leader, should have a job description and a way to regularly review it with their supervisor. it will help help team members to keep their eyes on the ball. They can be very easily distracted in subtle ways. For example, they could start to think it's only about providing a particular service, not really about helping people. Or they could use most of their time in office work or socializing with other team members.

You probably also have (and need) a system of job descriptions, regular reporting, and performance appraisal. You might also include performance goals or indicators. The ACAS on-job learning guide has suitable planning forms that you can use if you don't already have something in place.

You will need to plan your own work, manage your own time and prioritize what you do at the end of any period, have a look at what you've achieved and evaluate. Assess yourself: what skills to you still need? And how will you acquire them?

 

Team training

Remember you looked at your team skills areas? Now your plan is firmed up, you need to identify the training needs of your team members.

Then you need to plan training, and give it (or organize someone else to give it). This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to give a series of lectures. Training may be formal or informal, individualized or in groups. Be creative and look at ways that will be effective in your context.

Besides specific skills, each new team member will need some kind of induction or orientation so that they understand the program and their role.