When you manage a team you are judged by your boss and by the team you manage. You are judged on the achievement of targets and your success as a people-manager, both of individuals and of the team as a whole. Managing teams is therefore a huge challenge. It is also a hugely rewarding career!

I first became a manager of a team in the 1970s and in the early days I made every mistake imaginable! In the 1980s I trained properly in team management and leadership and had a lot more success. Since then, I’ve managed formal and informal teams, teams of volunteers and staff, virtual teams and cross-functional teams.

In the 1990s I started designing and delivering training events in the management of teams for public and private sector organizations. This gave me a further insight beyond my own direct experience, in the pitfalls and possibilities of team management.

This book is a distillation of what I have learned over the years about managing teams. The book contains 50 secrets about the successful management of teams, which, if you follow them, will save you and your teams from a lot of misery. The secrets are organized into seven themed chapters.

• Is this a team? You need to ensure that you have a team, not just a bunch of people! This is the foundation of getting it right.

• Form your team. Teams don’t just happen by chance; you have to work to create a team. That means you have to understand about teams, not just people.

• Lead your team. If you are going to be a team manager then you have to lead them day-to-day. You can’t sit back and rest on your laurels!

• Communicate with your team. Most complaints about team managers relate to communication. It is a two-way process, and you have to get it right to be successful.

• Protect and serve your team. You might be the one who gets paid more and has the bigger office, but your job is to protect and serve your team, not the other way round.

• Manage team changes. Nothing stays the same for long. Teams change and the work changes. The team looks to you to manage them through the changes.

• Disband your team. When the time comes, people don’t like to leave without saying goodbye. If you manage the team disbandment well, the future opportunities are greater for all.

Whether you have been managing teams for a while or are a new leader, you will find that by using these secrets your people will follow you far more readily and willingly than if you don’t.

The way you manage teams affects lots of people; it also affects your standing in the world.

Is this a team?

You may have the title of ‘team manager’ or ‘team leader’, but that doesn’t mean you actually have a ‘team’! A team has characteristics that set it apart from being just a group of people. If you don’t recognize these characteristics, your team might fragment, or the work won’t be done, or you might even find that a charismatic member of the team will actually become the real team manager whilst you flounder at the edge!

1.1 Know what you mean by ‘team’

First of all, you need to be sure that you have a real team and not simply a group of people who have been put into the same room/organization/coloured shirt! Make sure you have a clear understanding of what a ‘team’ is from the outset.

There are several definitions for the word ‘team’, depending on different situations. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology defines a team as: ‘People working together in a committed way to achieve a common goal or mission. The work is interdependent and team members share responsibility and hold themselves accountable for attaining the results.’

Shorter definitions simply refer to a group of people and a common goal. Some definitions include interdependence of team members rather than the ability to function alone. Some add the requirement for team members to work cooperatively or harmoniously, defining the style of the interaction as well as the actuality. A team may be created for a specific task or it may have a longer lifespan. Some definitions include mutual accountability and responsibility for a team.

“I realised that I did not so much “lead a team” as preside over a bunch of egos”

Anonymous manager in the banking industry

From this you can see that although individual definitions of ‘team’ show some variation, there are some fairly universal concepts, which can be defined as:

• Teams have a common goal or purpose.

• Teams have more than one member.

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Author’s note

Managing teams is a balancing act

Is this a team?

1.1 Know what you mean by ‘team’

Team Management. Rus Slater
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