How To Know Your Team Better? 10+ Questions For Managers

How To Know Your Team Better? 10+ Questions For Managers

In a team, you make decisions based on the strengths of your members. It is also one of the ways you get to know your team better. A manager’s job is to understand their team member’s strengths and weaknesses and ensure that everyone’s needs are met. The manager plays an important role in the success of any organization. But with so many responsibilities, managers face daily challenges, and it can be difficult for them to stay updated. For starters, managers need to know their team members well. To do this, we’ve created an extensive list of questions every manager should ask before developing new people. But before we get into the list, let’s talk about how you can know your team better as a manager.

Do you know your team members well?

A lot of managers just focus on the work. But there’s a lot that you are missing out on by not knowing who makes up your team. When shooting for the stars, it’s best to know everyone is keeping your effort going. Managers should know their team members because it helps to identify and address any issues early on before they become more challenging to fix. Additionally, managers can use this information to understand their team’s strengths and weaknesses better and make informed decisions to help the team achieve its goals. By understanding the team member’s strengths and weaknesses, managers can help to encourage and positively motivate team members and help them to develop their skills and abilities. Managers can also use this information to identify potential conflicts or disagreements and take appropriate steps to prevent or resolve them. Finally, by knowing what is going on with the team members, managers can provide feedback and guidance that is relevant and helpful to the team’s overall progress. Spending time with your team members outside of work can help you understand them better and build trust and rapport. Plus, this will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of each individual and tailor your leadership style to suit them. Effective communication is essential for building a solid working relationship with your team members. Get to know your employees through communication in a way that best suits them. Also, join Risely for managers to gain insight and advice on leading an effective team. It will help you develop strategies and processes that foster collaboration and creativity within your team. Besides, it will also help you identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments in the right direction.

Questions to know your team

Managers can ask many questions to get to know their team better. Make sure to ask questions at an appropriate time. It helps managers understand the team’s strengths and challenges better. Ask questions that help you delve into topics relevant to your organization’s goals.
  • What are your career aspirations?
  • What motivates you to come to work every day?
  • What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  • What are your preferred methods of communication?
  • What do you enjoy most about your job?
  • What kind of tasks do you find most challenging?
  • What kind of support or resources do you need to perform your job effectively?
  • How do you like to receive feedback?
  • What kind of work environment do you prefer?
  • What are your personal and professional goals for the next year?
  • What type of projects or tasks do you find most rewarding?
  • What training or development opportunities do you think would benefit you?
  • How do you like to collaborate with your colleagues?
  • What kind of recognition or rewards do you find most meaningful?
  • What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your role?
  • What kind of work-life balance do you prefer?
  • What sort of work culture do you thrive in?
  • Which leadership style do you find most effective?
  • What does your preferred work schedule look like?
  • What are your preferred methods of learning and problem-solving?
You can also take the help of team assessments on Risely to know your team’s thoughts on your specific leadership skills. Risely’s leadership skills assessments offer anonymous feedback reports from team members on managers that reflect their unfiltered opinion, and many open doors of development for leaders.

Icebreaker activities for new managers

A new manager’s role can be challenging, especially as the role evolves and becomes more complicated. New managers face many common challenges, such as building a solid team and creating a positive work environment. To do so, managers can take the help of some icebreaker activities. A few are listed below:
  • Taking a team out for a hike or bike ride to get to know each other better.
  • Holding team-building activities in the workplace, such as scavenger hunts or trivia contests.
  • Hosting social events outside work, such as movie nights or dinner parties.
  • Providing opportunities for team members to share their ideas and suggestions through brainstorming sessions.
  • Encouraging team members to share unique facts about themselves.

Skills to get to know your team better

There are a few skills that new managers need to get to know their team better. These include understanding team members’ individual personalities and strengths and having strong communication and interpersonal skills.

One-on-one catch-ups

One-on-one meetings with your team members can be beneficial for getting to know them better. These meetings allow you to share meals and potlucks with them, build trust and cohesion within the team, and learn more about their work and personalities. Asking your team questions can help you get to know them better. For example, you could ask them “20 questions” as a get-acquainted team-building activity. It would allow you to learn more about them as individuals while building trust and cohesion within the team. Such meetings provide a valuable opportunity for communicating and collaborating with your team, which can help you reach goals at work.

Constructive Feedback

Giving constructive feedback is an essential skill for managers. Managers should helpfully give feedback – mixing positive and negative remarks – and deliver it calmly and respectfully to the recipient. Moreover, feedback is not a one-sided activity. You can collect constructive feedback from your team members too. In addition to opening up new directions for a productive workplace, it will help you become a more humane manager who is honest about their vulnerabilities with their team members.

Active Listening

A key skill for managers is the ability to listen attentively. It means that you are actively engaged in what your team member is saying, and you are not just waiting for them to finish so that you can jump in with your opinion or advice. Listening actively allows managers to understand the ideas and thoughts of their team members properly. It also helps build trust between manager and employee, leading to better communication overall within the workplace. Managers who know their team well will be better equipped to achieve success both at work and personal levels. By taking the time to learn about your team, you can build a strong relationship of trust and collaboration that will help you achieve your goals.

Conclusion

The ability to get the right answers could change your entire team’s culture. To start, ask some of these questions to understand your team better and ensure you’re all on the same page. You can also organize team dinners or walking meetings to build a closer bond. These activities will help you understand how your team functions and create a more comfortable working environment for everyone.

Goal Setting 2023: Effective Tips Every Manager Must Know

Goal Setting 2023: Effective Tips Every Manager Must Know

If you’re an ambitious manager setting goals for next year, chances are you’re struggling to keep your motivation high. You’re setting goals, but they aren’t getting done. Well, that’s quite an achievement and one worth celebrating. But if goals aren’t working for you, it might be time to try something different with goal-setting in the new year. And that ‘something different’ could be anything from a new goal-setting framework to a vision board.

Goal setting 2023: Understand why you need goals

Managers need goals to help them achieve their objectives and optimize their work. Goals can be individual or team-based, and they can be either short-term or long-term. Short-term goals are designed to perform a specific result within a specific timeframe, while long-term goals are meant to achieve a larger goal over a more extended period. Managerial goals can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of team members by providing clear objectives and deadlines for completing tasks. They can also help managers identify areas to improve their skills or strategies and decide which projects to pursue. Goals help us stay motivated, stay focused, and plan our lives. Setting goals specific and tailored to needs is essential as this helps build a clear picture of the goal and makes it achievable. Setting goals should be your own and driven by personal passion, as this will help you work towards it with enthusiasm. Besides, goals should be clear and written down to serve as a constant reminder and guide us throughout our journey. Without goals, it can be challenging to focus and be productive, especially in the hectic environment of a manager. Read more: 5 Secrets Of Solid Goal Setting At Work You Can’t Miss

Review your successes and failures

Managers should routinely review their previous performance to identify areas of improvement and ensure that the team’s goals and objectives are being met. Reviewing past performance of employees can help managers improve their decision-making abilities, identify trends and patterns, and identify best practices that managers can apply in the future. Additionally, managers can use past performance data to benchmark their performance against industry standards and other managers within the organization. By regularly reviewing their past performance, managers can ensure that they are continuously improving their skills and knowledge and fulfilling their responsibilities as leaders of the team. Moreover, managers who regularly review their past performance can develop a sense of accountability and responsibility for their actions, which can help them be more productive and efficient in their work.

Test your skills to set great goals in the new year

Like any other skill, goal-setting becomes better with practice. While many of us try to set personal and team goals without thinking about them, setting specific, measurable, and time-bound goals can take time and effort. To help you develop more effective goal-setting skills, test your goal-setting skills and find out where you can improve. Risely offers free goal-setting assessments for effective managers and leaders. The free self-assessment for managers identifies the blind spots that frequently escape scrutiny. It clarifies the mistakes holding you back and sets you toward the right path that generates success. Managers should test their goal-setting skills regularly to ensure that their goals are aligned with the team’s overall objectives and strategies and that the resources and effort required to achieve these goals are realistic and achievable. By testing and adjusting the goals periodically, managers can ensure that their teams are working towards relevant and achievable targets and that the team is progressing towards its overall objectives. Additionally, periodic goal testing can help identify areas in which the company might need to make changes or improvements to its strategy or operations to achieve its desired outcomes.

Reflect on what you want to achieve

When setting goals, it is essential to be clear about what you want to achieve. It can be difficult, as goals can often feel abstract or far-fetched. It is helpful to break down your goal into smaller, more manageable pieces – this will make achieving the goal much less daunting and give you a better idea of what steps you need to take for it to happen. Setting overly ambitious goals isn’t always bad; after all, setting lofty goals guarantees that we’ll work hard toward them! But it’s important to set realistic expectations for yourself, as well. It’s tempting to aim for the stars when setting goals, but it’s crucial that you don’t forget about your day-to-day duties in the pursuit of greatness. Set goals that you can realistically achieve with your team. Read more: Are You Setting Unrealistic Goals At Work? 5 Tips To Avoid Them

Pick the right goal-setting framework for your needs

There are a number of goal-setting frameworks that can be helpful when setting goals. Some popular goal-setting frameworks include the You can read more about goal-setting frameworks in detail in our blog. Once you have a framework, it’s time to start setting goals! Here are some tips:
  • Create achievable goals – don’t aim too high or too low; try to set goals that will challenge you but still be within your reach. This way, you won’t feel discouraged after starting the goal-setting process but will actually feel inspired to reach your goals.
  • Shoot for short-term goals first – many times, short-term plans are easier to achieve than long-term goals. Start by setting smaller goals that you can realistically accomplish within a specific time frame, and work on building upon those successes as you move forward with goal setting.
  • Make sure your goal reflects who you are as an individual – don’t set arbitrary or unattainable objectives; instead, make sure the goal reflects your personal values and priorities. It will help keep you motivated during the process.

What goals are managers setting for the new year?

Digital transformation

With the continued acceleration of digitalization, managers are likely to set goals to leverage new technologies and digital platforms to streamline operations, enhance customer experience, and gain a competitive advantage.

Sustainability

The growing awareness of environmental and social issues leads many organizations to prioritize sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Managers may set goals related to reducing carbon emissions, increasing the use of renewable energy, minimizing waste, and improving social and ethical practices.

Talent management

In a highly competitive job market, attracting and retaining top talent is crucial for business success. As a result, managers may set goals around improving employee engagement, offering training and development opportunities, and creating a positive workplace culture.

Personal growth and development

Many managers want to learn new skills and develop their careers, and setting goals that support this aspiration can be a powerful way to increase productivity. As a result, managers in goal setting 2023 are turning toward leadership development guided by AI that offers personalized solutions to their people management challenges.

Keep going with motivation high!

Managers can help teams achieve goals by setting clear and attainable objectives, providing feedback and encouragement, and providing rewards and recognition when goals are achieved. In addition, by creating a motivating environment where team members feel appreciated and supported, managers can help teams work together more effectively and reach the goals they set for themselves. Goal setting 2023 is all about being open to new ideas and looking forward to embracing the world as it goes on, changing, and overcoming the challenges, it throws at team managers. Read more: Fueling success: The importance of employee motivation in the workplace

Conclusion

Goal setting in the new year is essential for growth and development. It motivates you to work toward a goal, which in turn helps achieve your goals. Besides, setting goals gives you a plan for success. However, setting goals without considering the various aspects that come into play is futile. For managers, setting goals based on the skills of their team members is crucial. If you follow the above tips, you can be sure of effective goal-setting in the new year.

Are you ready to ace goal setting in 2023?

Test now with Risely’s free goal-setting self-assessment for managers

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An employee’s perspective on what is it like to work for a great manager

An employee’s perspective on what is it like to work for a great manager

In the last edition of The Top newsletter, we brought light to the difference between a good and a great manager. As you can see, it is largely a question of the degree of certain behaviors that great managers go to. Largely, the impact of working for a good or great manager is extremely rewarding. Being a good or a great manager to your team members is not about making them happy by being soft on them. It is also not about compromising on performance. Instead, it is much deeper than that. It is about the experiences you give to your team members daily that make you a good manager to them. These experiences are like signals that anyone can feel and perceive. Not an exhaustive list, but this is what it looks like:
  • Employees feel appreciated, valued, and respected
  • They might feel like they can be themselves and let their work speak for them
  • They might feel like their work is essential and that the manager cares about their success
  • There is a feeling of calmness, order, and productivity in the workplace
Dilbert Comics characters
What do managers do that make employees feel like this? Is there anything they consciously don’t do also? Yes, a lot. Here is an employee’s perspective on working for a good or great manager. Often, managers think that likeability, i.e. how much will their team like them, is the key to success as a manager. There is some truth to it. People are generally more likely to respect, trust, and work with someone they like. And as we all know, people are usually more likely to be successful when they have positive relationships with those around them. In essence, if your team likes you as a manager, you are more likely to succeed in your role. And so will your team. Likeability is a quality that is difficult to define but easy to spot. It is intangible, but it has a significant impact on success. So what is likeability? Likeability is simply the ability to make others feel good about themselves. You do this by being positive, friendly, and interested in others. To be likable, you need to be genuine. You can’t pretend to be someone you’re not. People can see through fake personalities, and they won’t like you if you try to be someone you’re not. Be yourself, and people will appreciate that. Read more about likeability and its impact on managerial success here. The success of a manager is often measured in their ability to keep their teams productive and stick around. Managers who struggle to keep their teams productive and tight-knit, often think about what is blocking them. To answer that you need to go deeper into what causes an employee to be unproductive or quit the company. You will notice that there is a lot that can be controlled by the manager themselves. There are a few common mistakes that managers make in their journey of people management. These mistakes often result from a lack of understanding of the nuances of people management or blind spots that managers have. Two-thirds of employees feel that their bosses lack proper managerial training as per one research.  There are 8 proven manager mistakes that can make the team members quit their job. Read here to know more. Bonus read: Top 11 Reasons Why Humble Leaders Are More Successful.
Dilbert Comics
To conclude, a good manager knows how to motivate and lead his team in the right direction. They also set reasonable expectations and behave professionally. They have the unique ability to see the potential in their team and use this to their advantage. On the other hand, a bad manager can be toxic and destructive, leading to low morale and a lack of productivity on an organizational level. It is a journey that is arduous yet rewarding.
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