7 Things to Do When Teammates Don’t Learn
You’re team leader? Great!
But sometimes, it’s frustrating dealing with members of a team when:
- You have to repeat instructions at least twice.
- They need constant assistance.
- They leave it up to you to make all the decisions - even if they could make it themselves.
What now? What SHOULD you do?
- Listen. Become a genuine listener when trying to figure out what goes wrong. Is it unfamiliarity with the topics or technology surrounding the project? Is it lack of exposure to learning materials?
- Examine. Maybe the problem isn’t with the people, it’s with the process. See if there’s a way you can make your workflow smoother and more efficient.
- Engage. Let your team become engaged in working on projects together. Find out what interests them and incorporate these interests into your workflow.
- Encourage. Even if they are doing things wrong, you need to throw in some encouragement with the criticism - or else they’ll think they’ll never get it right and they’ll act that way.
- Educate. Hand over some great learning materials while encouraging them to look for additional resources. Also, show them examples of high quality output - otherwise, how are they to tell the difference between excellent and excrement?
- Show consequences. What are the consequences when a team member performs poorly? Whenever your team members give poor quality work, tell them how this kind of performance affects both him/her and the team. When people know that their own performance affects their own situation, they are more likely to listen.
- Reward. People know they did well when they are rewarded. Even if it’s just rest-time or a family-sized pizza, your team needs to get that ‘pat on the back’ for a job well done.
What you SHOULDN’T do:
- Spoonfeed them with the information they need.
- Do their jobs yourself.
- Assume that you are 100% of the problem.
- Assume that your team is 100% of the problem.
This post is part of the b5media Business Channel Great Blog Off! Find out more about the Blog Off here: http://www.b5media.com/b5media
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Image credit: Photo by Daniel Wildman from stock.xchng
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