Sofften Up Your People

 Quite rightly, many productivity gurus (like me) stress the importance of team working, team skills and team motivation in driving high performance.  Few important tasks in industry and commerce are completed solely by individuals - they mostly require groups of people to work together in teams …. possibly small teams, possibly large sections or departments of an organisation

Much of the leadership/management literature therefore concentrates on issues such as team building and team leading..

However, though these issues are important, teams work much better when the members of these teams have the right ‘soft skills’ that glue a team together. - skills and attributes, indeed, such as communication (especially listening) skills, empathy, negotiation skills and problem-solving skills,,

Development of these skills should start at school when kids are malleable and impressionable but they need constant development and improvement.  

Firms need to establish processes to help develop these skills.  This can be done beneficially alongside team development exercises …..a win-win situation.

So, as a senior team leader, you need to understand how to lead a team effectively but your team members need to know how to be an effective team member,  making their maximum contribution to  overall team performance.