How I Manage My Team So The Business Can Thrive

Managing Guidance From The Diary of an Amateur (not anymore) CEO Who Runs a Six Million Revenue Business.

Why invent the wheel when someone has already invented a bicycle?

Whether in business or any other category, learning from others’ experiences increases your chances of success along with saving you time, resources, and money. 

Hi, My name is Rahul Vij, CEO of Webspero Solutions. Today I will share my team management tips with you that helped my small firm thrive and transform into a full-scale digital marketing and web development agency.

First, I Worked on My Workplace Culture 

To ensure we have an authentically positive workplace culture, I keep a check on the following things:

Employees Have Freedom To Speak Their Heart Out

I always ask my team members to communicate freely whatever they have in mind - good or bad feedback, criticism, advice, suggestion - just anything. 

It helped me a lot. However, the main advantage it offered is - It improved my bonding with my team and the bonding among team members.

Not Only Appreciate Employees On High Times But Also Offer Them Support In Low Times

Not every day is victory day. There are times when we have to satisfy ourselves with what we get. In those times, I stand with my employees. I let them know it is okay to have variations in productivity.

Offer Employees Anonymous Forms About Their Mental Stress

For employees who do not like to be vocal about their mental stress or illness, I have an anonymous/confidential survey option open 24/7.

Feedback from such surveys helps me measure the level of job satisfaction at our workplace and frame effective strategies to eliminate the existing mental stress. 

Then, I Made Our Meetings More Productive by Using Eagle Eye Strategy

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More often than not, as we discuss something in a meeting, it leads to the presentation of different opinions. This further leads to the creation of sub-topics and discussion on them. This takes the attention away from the central points on the table.  

In simple words, we often start a meeting by discussing one thing and end up discussing something completely different. And when we realize this, the meeting that was supposed to end at 12 PM goes to 2 PM - still without any fruitful results. 

For example, in a meeting, we were discussing a module of a new iPhone app development project. And we ended up discussing why there are delays in deliveries of such projects, completely forgetting about our main point of discussion.

To avoid that, I have come up with this strategy - A team member will keep an eye that we are focusing on only crucial points in the meeting.

Let me explain: whenever we have meetings in our agency, one person becomes Eagle Eye. The responsibility of this person is to keep track of:

1. The Flow of The Meeting: Eagle eye ensures that all the members only share their opinion about what is specific to the discussion at that time.
2. The Time: Time tracking is important to ensure that no objective of the meeting is left undiscussed. If there are two objectives to be discussed, we give thirty minutes to each in an hour-long meeting.

How Is it Helping Us?

No More Extended Meetings

Our meetings now rarely get extended. 

Miss Out on Nothing

The eagle eye person notes down all the suggestions and other important outcomes and conveys them to everyone at the end of the meeting. 

Meetings Have Become More Productive

Now we are able to complete a discussion in less time in a meeting, and therefore we are getting extra time to work on other important things from our backlog list.

Keep Us Focused On What’s Important

Generation of issues and discussions on them is a never-ending process. But if you focus on multiple things at a time, it won’t help. Instead, handling one thing at a time gives a higher probability of success. 

During Meetings, I Involved My Team in Some Sort of Activity To Avoid Boredom

In our meetings, we don’t just discuss. Instead, we participate in practical activities where everyone gets to participate and contribute. This way, all get engaged in the meeting, and it doesn't become monotonous.

Practical Example

In my recent meeting with the content team, when discussing the content titles for a project that is considered to be tough, I asked teammates to come up with at least five different titles in five minutes. 

It was on a first-come, first-serve basis. So, if someone comes up with five titles, others will have to come up with different titles than those five. 

It was fun, and by the end of the meeting, we had thirty-five fresh titles ((five from each of the seven members) for that project. 

I Kept My Employees Motivated When They Were Working From Home in COVID Times

Prioritize Deliverables Over Working Hours

I learned it a little late, but you should not. Do not try to control the time worked. Instead, focus on the control of deliverables. At the end of the day, deliverables matter, not working hours. Trust me, you will get better productivity.

We Offered Them Tips To Maintain Their Routine:

• Physically separate the place of life from the place of work, and if possible, separate the work computer and the personal computer.

• Involve loved ones so that they come to get you out of work if you are immersed in it and have lost track of time.

• Cut emails and notifications outside of working hours.

• Work on certain time slots and block your schedule on others.

My Management Showed Their Trust in Employees

A culture of trust should be an intrinsic value of the company. Behind every success story, there is trust. The same is the case here.  We showed that our trust in the team is of utmost importance and it got us impressive productivity.

Helped Them Work Efficiently

Equipment, internet connection - we offered them whatever they needed. In addition, I scheduled informal virtual meetings - “happy hours” with the employees.  We also had sessions on maintaining a balance between professional and private life. 

I Worked on Streamlining Our On-Boarding Process

My management assigns a mentor to a new team member in advance, who will introduce the new joiner to the company, its culture, and the process. 

We choose the mentor from the new employee’s team. It helps strengthen the bond between the two employees. While assigning a mentor, we ensure that the mentor has been provided with information on the new employee, such as name, designation, experience, and hobbies. 

Then we let the new employees take time to understand the company, its culture, and the work process. Lately, we ensure that we stay connected with the employee after onboarding.

It is essential to stay connected with the employee for weeks or even months. The employee should be frequently asked (politely) about their experience with the organization.

Lastly - I Organized Weekly Wellness Session

I believe that the outbreak of Covid-19 harmed the mental state of working people. Therefore, we organized weekly wellness sessions featuring experts to help our employees stay away from stress, depression, or mental illness.

These sessions mostly cover yoga, meditation, and fun activities that increase self-awareness and reduce negative emotions among employees.

That’s all I did to manage my team members better, and it gave me back enormous productivity and success in business.