Loads of research has been done to answer the question what makes a work team effective. Surprisingly, research is debunking the myth that a team either works or it doesn’t. It turns out effective team working is a skill that can be taught. I’ll qualify that, you can teach what makes a work team effective but you can’t overcome a lack of capability or skills to do the job! Have you recognised that your work team isn’t performing? It’s likely to be because they don’t have the right skills to work together effectively. What can you do? train your team members in how to work effectively in a team, or recruit for those skills Team working is a skill, a capability. It’s not an attitude or a personality trait. Yes, there are some people who are more naturally able to work effectively in a team. But, the skill can be learned, just like the technical skills to do the job. What are the skills that you need to work effectively in a team? Research shows that there are 4 capabilities for people to be effective working in teams. But the good news is you can train people to develop these […]
We are asked at Metis HR for advice on how can we get better line managers? The CIPD and Simply-health’s 2019 Health and Wellbeing at Work report found that one of the major causes of absence due to stress was because of work management style. 43 per cent of employees blamed their line managers lack of empathy and support as the main stress factor. Skills, Knowledge, Behaviour The findings can show how detrimental to people’s health and wellbeing it is if managers aren’t equipped with the right level of skills, confidence and behaviour. There is much more to managing a team than just doing annual appraisals and approving holiday requests. A good manager is like a team leader, coach, trainer and psychiatrist all wrapped up into one. If managers do not possess the delicate balance of empathy, communication and leadership skills required, it’s not necessarily their fault. There appears to be a growing gap between the expectations placed on line-managers and the amount invested in their development. Not only do companies need to train managers in people management skills, the organisation’s policies and processes, we need to look at their own behaviour and competencies too. Investment in Development Management is […]
Moving businesses from inadequate to outstanding is a new CIPD report claiming that UK employers are “sleepwalking into a low-value, low-skills economy”. The report attributes this to two main factors: an inadequate education system low employer spend on training As employers we can do little about the first, but we can do something about the second. We can affect how much we spend on training our workforce. Employer spending on training has been reducing year on year since 2005. The UK spends an average of just £ 202.30 per employee on training compared to an average spend of £457.42 per employee across the rest of Europe. The UK is now fourth from bottom place in an EU league table of job-related adult learning. The CIPD is making a valid point. The effectiveness of training isn’t determined by how much is spent on it. It states that UK employers may have found ways to minimise their training spend, without reducing the quality of the training. Using digital training or negotiating better deals with training providers is one way they are doing this. But the situation is very different in America, where the average spend on training per employee is £787.35. However, there is a potential disincentive for employers to […]
