Team Support – Top Tips to Help You Give It To Your Team

Giving team support requires balance when delegating and managing a great team. You want to provide them with the right systems, support, and information to succeed, while not overwhelming them.

The following tips will help you effectively manage your online team.

1. Systems

Make it easy to access information and to organize communications. Choose a system to communicate with your team and stick with it. If you bounce from phone calls to email to text messages to file sharing services, then material and messages can get lost. Look for a system or service that supports all of your potential communication needs. For example Google Drive, Dropbox, or Basecamp can work as comprehensive communication and support systems.

2. Availability

Be available to your team. Make sure that their questions are answered in a timely manner, and that getting in touch with you is quick and easy. That will surely translate as team support.

3. Goals

Make sure that your team members have a good understanding of your goals for the project. What is the outcome that you expect?

4. Timeline

Along with establishing goals, make sure that your team members know exactly when you need to have their portion of the project delivered. What is your timeline and what is their role in that timeline? For example, if you have someone writing a report for you and another person creating a video and slideshow from the material, the writer may need to know when you need the content delivered and what’s being done next with the material.

5. Motivation and Inspiration for Team Support

You might be super-excited about your project and the team you’ve put together. However, if your team isn’t inspired and motivated then you may not get the results that you want. Find out what motivates them and give it to them. Some people are motivated by making a contribution, by acknowledgement, or by money. Build in motivations and share with your team why you’re so excited about the project.

6. Background

In most cases it can really help your team members provide exceptional results if they know more about your company. When you start working with someone, make sure that they know who you are, what you’re about, and what you offer. Talk about your brand, your voice, your vision and your values.

7. Autonomy

Don’t micromanage. Assign tasks and provide the information your team needs to succeed and then let them do what they do best. If you micromanage, then you either haven’t hired the best people or you have hired great people and you’re going to insult them with your lack of trust. Milestones can be put in place and information provided so that your team has everything they need to succeed. Now that’s proper team support.

Virtual team management can be a full-time job. If you have multiple projects going on and multiple teams, it’s vitally important that you have systems in place to support your business and your team. Keep in mind that you can hire a project manager to keep everyone organized and on task. This frees up your time to continue planning and growing your business.