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TEAM FIRST
ED SCHELL | HD SUPPLY
THOUGHTS
LEAP THOUGHTS is a new series of commentaries written by AAMD Leadership on Teamwork and Team Excellence
Communication is Key in Leading a Great Team
Some of the components of a team include a common goal, interdependency, coordinated activity, and results oriented competition. Communication is what links all of these together. If any of these components is missing there is not really a team, and if communication is not robust, the team will not perform well. Good communication takes time, attention and effort, and when you have good communication your team will appreciate that you are putting the team first!
The business teams I currently work with have all of these components and we emphasize communication. As with many multifamily management and owner structures we cover large geographic regions which can be a challenge to building and maintaining a team. Healthy and robust communication will improve any team and is essential for a remote team.
There are many“ Dos and Don’ ts” when communication with remote teams. Don’ t leave communication to an“ open door policy” and don’ t be comfortable with the thoughts that“ I haven’ t heard anything so all must be okay”! Instead, you should
be proactive, sincere, and personal. And you should pick up the phone.
I think we have all caught ourselves saying“ my door is always open”. In my experience saying that“ my door is always open” rarely causes people to cross the threshold or to make the call. Team members tend to talk with the people closest to them, and don’ t seek out contact with the remote supervisors.
Don’ t get caught in the comfort of“ I haven’ t heard anything so all must be okay”. Most employees want to fix problems on their own and will
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only make the call when a problem has escalated to a much more involved situation.
I do two things with my teams to keep out of these traps. First, we use a method we call“ skip level calling”. This is a series of scheduled calls with employees at least two levels down on the organizational chart. The call is about
30 minutes and is designed to talk about things that are not in the usual communication stream. It is a great method to build relationships and gain information from different perspectives.
I think we all get caught in cycle of e-mail and text, so secondly, I will recommend that at least once a day, break an e-mail or text cycle and pick up the phone. I find that this is always well received, and often get things going much more quickly.
Be proactive. Make good communication a priority. Ask for feedback from your team on how to improve communication. They do always know how you can make it better. Be sincere in your communication. People don’ t tend to like robots and respond best to sincere communication.
Be personal. Avoid presenting to groups. Group e-mails often just become background noise. Take the time to personalize communication, even if that is only using a person’ s name and the team will respond.
Most importantly- set aside e-mail, text, Skype, etc., and pick up the phone. The time spent for the personal contact will have a huge return on the investement in your team, and in your business.
Do you have a story or idea about developing at Team First approach in your organization? Send it to us for publication consideration at cdean @ aamdhq. org www. aamdhq. org FEBRUARY 2017 • TRENDS | 31