Resource/Team Management - tips & tricks

Know your team better:

Have a “resource/team tracking & information” sheet ready based on your project. You need to capture all relevant information related to your team. For example:

Contact Information:

• Name
• Emp id
• Internal org and client provided email id’s
• Phone number
• Role and grade
• Years of experience
• Skillsets
• Latest performance rating or band
• Which team they belong too and his/her supervisor
• Location
• Mandatory training/compliance status
• Planned and unplanned leaves
• List of activities they are assigned to and status
• Etc…

Assets & access related information:

• Laptop or desktop (along with serial number)
• Relevant software's access
• Relevant environment access
• Etc…

Career & goals related information:

• Short term and long term goals
• Challenges to achieve goals
• Guidance and support needed
• What they want to improve and how

This information will help you manage and support each resource individually. These are based on my personal experience, you can have your own based on the type of project and activities you are managing.

Encourage/boost your team:

• Ask team to write their goals on paper and to keep somewhere visible. Because those who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them. 
• Praise & reward them socially.
• Instead of saying, “you are doing a great job”. Please highlight a specific project/job and explain why their help was so important. You can say, “The project for ABC was very difficult, but the way you communicated their need to the entire team is what made us get it right. I was really impressed with that. Nice work!”.
• Discuss with individual resources about their way of working, improvement areas, feedback and project concerns.
• Give 5 positive comments for each criticism.
• If possible, disagree agreeably.
• Be transparent and let your team know, what’s going on.
• Talk to your team regularly, as they have a wealth of information to run the project smoothly.
• Never miss a chance to encourage your employees and congratulate them on an achievement, no matter how small. A positive response goes a long way to ensure that teams feel appreciated. Personally thank individuals who went above and beyond during projects. Cheering on your team nurtures a positive work environment.
• Have team members give you feedback on their progress to better track total team achievements. Set up times for team members to discuss their progress, and then plan a group meeting to see how the team can improve as a whole. Monitoring company goals through constant team feedback helps keep projects on track.
• All tasks should be captured in the system (like Jira, Project planner, etc.) for better bandwidth analysis and task allocation.
• While assigning any task, make sure you set the timeline. A solid timeline keeps employees on schedule when working on a team project.
• Individual KPI should be set for each resource, based on the project KPI. Individual goals keep team members from losing sight of how they should be contributing. It is easy for team members to feel as if they can “coast by” on the work of others; creating individual accountability builds a more cohesive team.
• Think of team members’ abilities as unique “cogs” in your team “machine”. When these cogs are positioned correctly, the machine runs smoothly. But when they grind together, the machine comes to a halt.
• If a shy team member is not contributing, ask their opinion on an issue to get them to speak up. Every team member should contribute to the conversation. Although public speaking may not be the employee’s strongest skill, the group needs to hear from everyone to avoid resentment over unbalanced contributions.
• Allow everyone to contribute when starting the brainstorming process. No idea is a bad idea when working as a team. Continuing to shoot down ideas leads to hesitation from employees previously eager to share their thoughts. The best teams have an open-door policy on sharing ideas. However, if you find a team is running down a tangent that does not fit the project, move the conversation along. To keep team members from feeling embarrassed or annoyed, write down each idea so that you have a paper outline for the team to evaluate as a whole.
• Make it a goal to get together outside of the office periodically to discuss work in a more casual setting. It’s creating a comfortable environment for coworkers to get to know each other will lead to a stronger bond among teammates.
• Never play favorites with employees. While you are only human and individual circumstances may change your views, try to maintain a fair and even reaction to each group member. In special cases, balance the needs of the group with individual workloads and schedules. If workloads are unfairly distributed, resentment builds, and your team members lose respect for your authority.
• Map out a solid plan for how disagreements will be handled internally. For example, if your team disagrees with a plan of action, have a voting system in place to create a fair process. By setting up a strategy for dealing with disagreements before they arise, you ensure the team learns how to deal with conflicts without resorting to anger or other unproductive responses.