2017 trends in team management

Data: 2017.05.30

  Author Agneta Venckute  

 

As Abraham Lincoln once said: “The best way to predict the future is to create it”. What kind of vision do you have for your company? As a company leader, you are the one who is constantly seeking for novelties and ways to improve the business. Among a huge variety of business aspects, personnel management can at times be the most challenging. As the new year 2017 has started, let’s take a look at the trends which are worth implementing for any leader managing a team.

1. Team development is becoming more important. 

A study of personnel management challenges in business conducted by Deloitte, showed that the modern foundation of organizational structure has shifted from the traditional functional hierarchy to a “network of teams.” According to the study, only 38% of companies consider themselves as functionally organized. The current problem is the coordination and alignment of the inner teams, the ability to get them to share information and collaborate. For example, in the famous company Cisco, it was noted that better accomplishments were achieved through teamwork, not solely by individuals working by themselves. One example could be employee awareness of the company’s financial situation, competitive environment, etc. Sharing the knowledge among team members can help achieve common results much faster. How long ago was your last team-building event held?

2. The more geographically dispersed team you manage, the bigger your need to establish the same values and culture among team members. 

There is a saying “when values are clear, decisions are easy”. Think about it this way: if you define your company’s values, it is much easier for you to hire people (obviously you want people who share the same values). And when the values are clear to every employee working on a particular product development or involved in a line of work, it is far easier for them to decide what to do, make decisions much faster, and generally – behave. The Company’s values and mission statement are no longer only a formality to put on your official website, no. They are something everyone in the company needs to think about on a daily basis, no matter what the task.

3. Digital experience to be improved for employees.

Executives believe that by 2020, digital technology will be influencing almost half of their sales. It is believed that regarding IT, enterprises are shifting from a stage of awareness to a stage of adoption to digital disruption. The prognosis states that during 2017, there will be more businesses moving towards a mixture of on-premises and “third-party hybrid IT services for data center, security, cloud and application services”. The shift would help organizations improve their agility, modernize their technology setting, and keep up to date with the competition. The predictive analytics integrated into software can facilitate the scaling process in business. Think of the digital novelties that could facilitate your teamwork and assist teams on a daily basis!

As team development is one of the key tasks in any leader’s daily routine, it may be a good time to have a look at your team’s perception of each other, and find out whether everyone is seeking for the same results at the same time. Having your company values well-defined, ensures that every employee is able to evaluate each decisive situation accordingly, and make decisions without even consulting you as a leader or other team members. Also think about the digital part of your business: as the technology keeps updating, so should you and your team.