Andrew Callejo | Become a Good Leader to Your Team

Andrew Callejo - No matter if you're the person in charge of the team or maybe one of the key persons that help get the project done; you're in a position that's vital to making every task go like clockwork in a team.

Often things can easily get out of hand when working as a team. You can sometimes feel frustrated when dealing with other people irrespective of what's the situation.

The good news is there are things you can do to make working in a team easier and enjoyable. Here're 4 tips by Andrew Callejo to make the experience worthwhile for everyone who's part of it:

1. Define every team member's role. Each member's duties and responsibilities must be clearly defined. This must be done even if the team is made up of just 2 people. This'll help cut down problems such as duplicate work or missing pieces. A team won't be effective unless each member knows exactly what they're supposed to do and they're allowed to do it without interference from others.

Here are a few things to remember while working in a team:

Always be sure of your duties and responsibilities.

Cross-check the other tasks being done and see how they relate to any particular duty.

Establish the skills require to carry out a task and to find out the right team member to do it.

Ensure each member has a thorough understanding of their respective task and all the steps needed to get it done correctly.

Call for regular meetings to discuss problems and actively find solutions to address them throughout the project.

2. Sharing the workload. No one likes having to do most of the work for the project. So look into how long each task of the project will take and divide the work fairly among the team members.

Always find out:

How long to do each specific task.

How will loading additional tasks affect each member's work schedule?

If any team member's workload is too much, redistribute some tasks to other team members.

Bear in mind that people may not necessarily do things exactly the way you wanted it, and that's fine! The important thing is the end result rather than how you got there.

3. Don't attempt to micromanage. The people you're assigned to work in your team may be chosen based on certain skills each of them may have. If you've entrusted them with the respective tasks, just trust them to do their job. Of course, occasionally asking for a progress update is okay, but persistently looking over their shoulders and pressing them about meeting their deadline is one surefire way to piss them off!

Micromanaging can be really annoying to any member. It's important to make your team feel comfortable with their assigned tasks or you may end up with some really unhappy members.

4. Settling Conflict. It's not unusual to have conflicts with your team members every now and then. Andrew Callejo says as a leader of a team, you'll have to deal with it in a tactful manner. In some ways, having a teacher's outlook is helpful. For instance, unless the conflicting members are coming to you to find a solution, it's often advisable not to get yourself entangled in it.

Nevertheless, if you see that the conflict has escalated into a full-blown war, take immediate action to put a stop to it. While it's quite all right to have heated arguments but ensure that the whole team is aware that hostility or disrespect simply can't be tolerated.

There you've it, the 4 tips that'll help you manage your team effectively. Working with a team can be very rewarding when you can harness the individual strength of each team member to work in harmony with each other as well as to complete the team project efficiently and timely.