▶︎ Strategy 1: 
Communicate Clear Priorities

Most meetings are spent providing updates on work done, rather than productively discussing next steps. Effective team development begins with the ability to communicate clearly, keeping the whole team aligned with key priorities. It’s critical to regularly discuss priorities with your team to ensure everyone understands.

• What is the goal/priority
• What’s most important to accomplish next
• When it must be completed

Whether in one-on-ones or group meetings, maintain alignment  by setting agendas that link back to team goals. Provide a very clear purpose for the meeting, state agenda topics as outcomes by starting with an action verb, and clearly note how each agenda topic ties back to a team priority or goal. Assign an owner and time expectations to each agenda item to ensure the team stays on track with each priority.

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Team Agenda Best Practices

▶︎ Strategy 2: 
Clarify Decision-Making

Teamwork relies on strong decision-making by employees as well as managers. Decision-making models can offer a framework to help teams analyze possible solutions to problems and arrive at the best decision.

The RACI model clarifies the role of different stakeholders in the decision-making process.

• ‘R’ identifies people who are responsible for implementing and “doing the work”
• ‘A’ indicates those accountable for decision outcomes
• ‘C’ means those consulted to provide input
• ‘I’ stands for those who are informed about the decision once it’s made 

▶︎ Strategy 3: 
Encourage Autonomy and Flexibility

As a leader, it’s important to empower team members to make decisions and manage their own work within the expectations and deadlines you set. You can course correct if necessary, but if team members have the authority to do that in real time, it reduces delays and enhances job satisfaction. It also helps to offer flexibility in work preferences, schedule, and location. 

When your team knows they have your support to shift gears, reprioritize, and get the job done while accommodating their own personal circumstances, they can be more focused on achieving business goals too. In this way, supporting your employees to take ownership over certain aspects of their job can actually enhance productivity.

▶︎ Strategy 4: 
Develop Problem-Solving Skills

Leaders can enhance their team’s ability to handle challenges more efficiently through improved problem-solving methods. This begins by ensuring that your team knows how to define and clearly communicate problems that arise. Once everyone is aware of the problem that needs to be solved, the team can brainstorm multiple potential solutions before deciding on one and implementing it. 

Your job as a leader is to encourage critical thinking throughout this process by asking probing questions and testing their assumptions. Encourage people to be open to different viewpoints—and remain fact-based in their judgement of possible solutions—to avoid bias.

▶︎ Strategy 5: 
Facilitate Regular Feedback

Leaders can also support their team’s growth by offering both positive and constructive feedback that is specific, timely, and actionable. Feedback from all team members should occur in real time, be facilitated, and hold a routine place in meetings. It  will  give you an opportunity to reinforce team priorities, discuss skill development, and recognize people’s efforts and achievements to boost morale and motivation.

At the end of large projects or quarterly, perform a team pulse-check by asking for everyone’s input on the “4Ls”—Like, Lack, Learn, and Long For—which can help you revise and reset the team’s priorities.

In one on one meetings, invite feedback by asking questions like,

• “How are you experiencing me as a leader through this project?”
• “How can I better support your development through this priority?”

▶︎ Strategy 6: 
Create a Supportive Environment

Teams can’t perform at their best without trust and support within the group. Leaders can foster a supportive work environment and team collaboration by facilitating open communication to build trust among team members, and encouraging knowledge sharing for all employees, including those who work remotely. 

Leaders can also create a supportive work environment by leveraging their own leadership style. Be approachable and understanding when team members face challenges. Offer your time and attention through frequent check-in chats or weekly one-on-ones. Also, boost your emotional intelligence by actively listening to your employees and observing their nonverbal cues, which can help you stay in tune with each employee’s needs and harness their collaborative strengths.

Remember that trust can be built through accomplishing work together. 

▶︎ Strategy 7: 
Foster a Learning Culture

Team development should also implement an element of continuous learning and development through a culture that encourages it. Leaders should strive to facilitate a work environment where team members are curious, open-minded, and willing to try new things. Action verbs for deliverables in team agendas can be, pilot, test, research, attempt, etc.  

Since people thrive on autonomy, experiential learning—the process of learning by doing while engaging in real-world scenarios—can also be effective. Experiential learning facilitates mastery through application, not just theory. The four-step process of experiential learning begins with a concrete experience followed by reflection and observation, conceptualization, and finally active experimentation to apply any insights into new contexts.