Managing a Team

This is the eighth part of a series of blogs examining why people come to Hattrick Advisory Services for executive coaching and/or mentoring services. Of course, few come to us for only one thing, but these blogs examine the most common themes that arise in our confidential services. You can read the seventh article in this series here.

We all wonder about the ‘right’ approach to leadership and how we should lead ourselves and others. At HAS, we believe that authenticity and values ultimately matter. And those values are yours. Clients often have very practical challenges, too, such as managing challenging teams, how to deal with performance issues, and much broader issues on style and approach to leadership. 

What follows is an unscientific guess. There might be more books full of largely meaningless words on management in general and team leadership in particular than most other subjects. Even Forbes partly agrees.  Why? Because the potential market for hungry learners is huge. So many of us manage teams, and everyone, at times, struggles with bringing together an often very different group of meaning and trying to create a forward movement focused on joint goals. 

At Hattrick we find few leaders and executives come to us with a specific issue about managing their team. We also find almost no coaching finished without it coming up.  Every manager manages someone. Many managers manage teams of between 4 and 8. We once had a client who managed 43 people, although that was down to 9 by the time he had finished his coaching journey. 

At HAS we will always start with you. What do you want to achieve? What are your values and aspirations? What really matters to you? A good coach will always move you forward and ask questions without judgement. This is, first and foremost, about you, not us. 

What are the common issues people bring to coaching on this subject? In no particular order, here are some of those clients bring to coaching. 

1. My team isn’t performing; what do I do?

No manager has gone through a successful career without facing this issue at least once. We will first invite you to look closely at yourself. How do you lead? How do your team see you? Have you asked them? What feedback do you receive? 

We will invite you to look inward first. We understand the power of self knowledge as a leader and will work with you to fully understand yourself. What do you want from your team? How do they need to meet your expectations? 

2. I have a particular team member who just won’t listen.

This is a widespread dilemma. Is it because your leadership style doesn’t work for them, or is it really because they have no real interest in performing? Can you coach them to do better, or is it time to move on and ask them to leave? Is there an ego issue for you or her? At HAS, we will examine these dynamics with you so that you can resolve the issue and plot a way forward.  

3. My team doesn’t think I am up to the job.

This is a perfectly normal dilemma for leaders to face. We have partly examined this in our blog on feeling like an imposter. We ask clients to explore this from their perspective. What kind of leader are they? What kind of leader do they want to be? Have you spoken with them openly about their perceptions? What about one-on-one conversations? How can you best engage with them?

Sometimes, it is true that you are not the right person for whatever reason. But usually, through communication, listening, empathy, and a willingness to learn, you can be successful in your role. Coaching can assist you in finding the right questions, looking within, and asking your team open questions from a position of vulnerability. 

4. I do twice as much work as the rest of the team.

Again, many leaders think this is true. We may invite you to reflect if this is really the case or take time to really examine yourself and your perceptions.  If it is the case, then we will work with you to understand why. Perhaps you really do have a troublesome team. Or is it that you don’t trust them, empower them and give them the space they need to be successful?   

5. My boss worries that my team is too successful.

Insecure managers worry about teams that show too much success. It could be an ego issue, their insecurity or that they simply don’t want you to succeed. It happens, probably more than you may think. At HAS we have strategies that you can adopt to mitigate this. We also know from personal experience that sometimes this issue has no resolution because your boss cannot handle your success. Coaching can help you understand something you can’t change and plan your next step.  

6. How do I communicate to the team that I am leaving? 

Feeling guilty when leaving your team behind is not unnatural or unusual. But it happens, and life goes on. We will explore your feelings and how you can communicate this to the team positively. We all move on, and coaching can help you accept that and turn it into a positive for others.  

At HAS we also offer team coaching, working with you and those you lead to create the best team possible. We will first work with each team member to set the parameters and goals. Then, we will work with the team together, looking for synergies, focusing on strengths and truly understanding how they can best work together, 

Leading and managing a team is tough—we know that. We don’t pretend coaching can make it easy, but it can help you and your team develop strategies to progress, move forward, and thrive.