Developing New Team Members

I've just finished reviewing homework assignments in my "Participative Management (Building High Performance Teams)" program. The assignment looks at the manager's expectations of the team, descriptions of stronger and weaker team players, and what the manager will do going forward to strengthen the weaker team player.

As usual, several people noted that their weakest team player was labeled that way simply because they were new to the team; hadn't learned the necessary jobs skills; and were still getting used to their role in the team.

One manager talked about a new employee who lacks confidence, is afraid to ask questions and makes mistakes. "He is slowly starting to rely on team members but still needs to improve." The manager went on to talk about his coaching plan for the team member. The entire coaching plan focused on the daily efforts of the manager to help develop the team member into a stronger team player.

Another manager talked about a new employee who simply hasn't had enough time on the job to be proficient in his work. The manager said "other team members are still 'feeling out' the new person and do not yet feel comfortable with his ability to contribute to the team." In a manner similar to the first manager, this manager went on to talk about his coaching plan which again focused on what the manager was doing to help develop the team member.

To the first manager I suggested he think about how he might get the other team members to reach out to the new person, instead of waiting for the new person to reach out to them. To the second manager I suggested he involve the entire team in helping to teach the new person so they can see and assess for themselves each increase in the new person's abilities.

In this post I will combine both thoughts. When you have new team members, get started on the right foot by having your team members make a special effort to make the new person to feel welcome and to begin immediately to help the person learn how the team operates, why he is important to its efforts, and how to do do his part of the work to team standards.

About Me: Dan Pelley teaches coaching and facilitation skills that support team member integration and positive team dynamics as part of his "Participative Management" (Building High Performance Teams) program. This program can be presented in-house at your company. Click here to visit our website to learn more about this and other programs offered.

Copyright (c) 2009 Daniel W. Pelley All rights reserved