Why teams fail

If we think why teams fail, it is always because of lack of proper communication. The biggest responsibility lies on the manager even if the team is weak. The manager controls everything, and it is his job to get the best out of each member in his team. No one is weak in everything, so the manager has to know the points of strength of each member of his team and utilize it to get the best results.

What actually happens is managers do not:
1- Have a clear vision.
2- Set a clear direction with priorities.
3- Support their team members.
4- Motivate their team members.
5- Create a healthy and cooperative environment.
6- Reward when deserved
7- Punish when earned
8- Hold effective and to-the-point meetings.
9- Share information when needed.
10-Understand their teams’ differences and their feelings.
11- Develop team members with potential.
12- Manage the interface between their teams and the rest of the organization effectively.
13- Get proper feedback from the team.
14- Deal with negative behaviour from inside the team to avoid its bad effect.
15- Allocate resources effectively.
16- Create and manage balanced work loads.

On the other hand team members do not:
1- Develop themselves on their own to enhance their work quality.
2- Take responsibility for all their actions.
3- Put aside any personal differences with their team members.
4- Avoid wasting the time on self interests and making sure no body else gets promotion before they do.
5- Avoid wasting their time trying to befriend the boss instead of earning any reward or promotion by the quality of their work.

But again a good manager can erect any negative actions from his team members. So it is always up to the manager to make a team fail or succeed.

Think you are a good manager?

If you are not sure how good you are as a manager, read this. I will list some of the things that bad managers do. If you find yourself doing any of those, then you are a bad manager.

1- Do not listen to their employees. These types of managers think that they are always right and hence no need to listen to ideas from their employees. This is the first step to failure.
2- Embarrass their employees in public. By criticizing them and highlighting their mistakes in front of each other or in front of someone else.
3- Withhold praise. Some managers think that if they praise anything good their employees do, they might cause them to think highly of themselves and hence their performance degrades. This is not true; praising good work is an essential tool for motivation.
4- Be vague in what they say and do. Those managers are difficult to understand and they leave their employees always confused what to do and what not to do.
5- Enforce unrealistic rules. Weak managers enforce unrealistic rules that are too harsh to follow and treat their employees as slaves to cover their weakness.
6- Never say they are sorry or wrong. Some managers never admit their mistakes. This is fatal as it causes them to fall into series of mistakes.
7- Never acknowledge individual differences and talents. A good manager should be wise enough to understand the strengths and weaknesses of his employees and work to get the best of everyone understanding their differences.
8- Treating all employees the same way. Yes, a good manager has to be fair and has to set and execute the same rules of reward and punishment. But he has also to be wise enough to understand the way that positively impacts everyone. Some employees do not work hard unless closely monitored and harshly treated, some others do not excel except when they feel they have a room of freedom…. And so on. A good manager should be wise enough to know how to treat each of his employees to bring the best out of him.
9- Never support employee development. Bad managers are always afraid of their employees' improvement and development. This is because they are insecure and afraid if they develop, they could loose their job. A real manager creates leaders; hence he should always work on improving and developing his employees' skills.