How To Manage A Growing Team [From Solo To A Profitable Business]

Team development represents positive business growth. It’s important that you know how to manage a team so everyone has the opportunity to thrive and be at their best. A growing team is a great sign but you have to make sure you can move with that growth also. If your business is growing, time is of the essence to grow your team and get them up to speed. There are ways to make this transition easy.

Top traits of an Excellent Manager

If you’re wondering what effective team management strategies are, you must first look within. There are certain traits that a great manager has like organization, leadership skills, and the ability to motivate. You will need to delegate tasks and communicate effectively whether you’re managing a small team or managing a large team.

6 Tips to Manage a Growing Team Effectively

1. Open communication among the team members

Communication is key when you’re growing a team or managing teams. It helps to keep everyone on task and organized, minimizing confusion and promoting productivity. As a leader, you set the tone and through open communication, you inspire other team members to do the same. This not only creates the necessary efficiency but also keeps a team content because they feel they can openly communicate and share thoughts.

With team development, it’s not always easy to grow a team while ensuring everyone has all the information they need. If you’re adding new members to your team, ask the team you have to offer up three things they wish they’d known right when they started the job. Be as transparent as you can and have a clear direction for the goals of the company.

If you sense any conflict, make sure to address it. You may have to practice how to effectively deal with conflict so you can quickly diffuse any situation. Listen to your team so they feel their communication is valuable to the company. When you grow your team, you want to check in with them regularly to make sure everything is on track.

2. Establish a Clear Corporate Culture

Your growing team will need direction and goals. When you let them know what the corporate culture is, everyone has a clear picture of what’s expected of them. They feel a sense of pride as they’re a part of something when the culture of your business is defined. Through all tasks they perform, they will understand the vision. This streamlined approach will help everyone align with the necessary mindset that’s needed to carry out your valued corporate culture.

3. Track and evaluate how each team member spends their time

When there’s team growth, things will change in the work environment. It’s good to monitor how the growth is affecting productivity and efficiency. This can be done in a variety of ways. One of the best ways is to use time tracking software every day. If you’re looking for the best practices on how to manage a team and evaluate, this is a great method. You can see each individual member and analyze how they’re doing. This can allow you to adjust how you’re managing your team if necessary.

4. Recognize Achievements

A simple method to grow your team in the best way possible is to keep them happy. One of the ways to do this is to show appreciation for the effort team members are putting in. If you’re monitoring and evaluating team members, you want to let them know it’s not just to be a watchdog. It is also to have the opportunity to see who’s doing a great job.

With a team growing, you will likely be busy but don’t forget to recognize those for their achievements. Do fun things like pizza parties when the team has shown positive growth and met sales goals. Have some gift cards on hand when you notice someone doing something that impresses you. Personally thank team members that have stuck out and let them know you appreciate them. Keep it simple, be consistent, and be sure that it aligns with the company culture you’ve created.

5. Effectively Manage Resources

When you’re growing your team, you’re growing your business. This is great news but there’s going to be some work involved. New skills on your part to manage a growing team will need to be put in place. Having things like project management tools help everyone stay organized and allows you to collaborate easily.

For a team to grow, every person must know what their role is and what their goals should be. You want to be able to see the work status of team members as well, which is best done with the latest software. This way, you can manage the tasks with the right people and prioritize the projects going on at any given time.

6. Embrace Team Growth

When you grow a team, you need to be prepared for the change that comes with it. Change is hard and there’s usually a lot of work involved. It’s important to put more of a focus on the positive aspects of growing a team. Talk to everyone about the changes and the new colleagues being brought in. Let your team know about what skills the new members are bringing. Have a meeting with open conversation so everyone can ask questions and voice concerns.

If you’re growing your team or need additional help in managing teams, make sure to use the tips above. There are excellent software and apps that can help with the transition so you can focus on the deep work that’s needed to make use of the team's growth. Through time trackers and team management, you can more easily bring your new members into the fold for greater success.