Archive for the ‘manage your people’ tag
Getting to know your team
Getting To Know Your Team
Jayne Archbold, MD Sage Accountants' Division
After starting my new role as MD for Sage Accountants’ Division on 5th October, the first month was a challenging one in that I still had a lot to hand over in my previous role with commitments to our people and customers, so October was a tricky time trying to balance everything, be everywhere (multiple locations across the UK) and keeping my desire to throw myself into the new role with gusto.
However I’ve lived to tell the tale. To ensure the future success for Accountants’ Division, people for me are the most important element, if we treat our people right, they’re engaged and passionate then they will provide a great experience for our customers and in turn deliver profit for our shareholders. So getting to know my team was the first priority on my agenda in the new role.
The first thing I did was meet individually with my direct reports, getting to know them as real people and not just the job, and sharing with them who I am as a person not just the MD. Some were a little surprised at this. Once I’d had some insight into my direct reports I then met with their direct reports in functional teams and I asked them some simple questions:
- What do you like about working for Accountants Division?
- What don’t you like or would make it a better place to work?
in addition to sharing with them my work experience and gave them a feel for who I am as a person. I then repeated this with their direct reports and by mid November I’d met with virtually everyone within the business. The information I gained from this was invaluable; it’s helped me review our business plan and reprioritise on the things that are really important to our people.
So what are the top tips for getting to know your team?
1. Be yourself
Share who you are as an individual, not just the job, ensuring people really get a feel for what you stand for, your values and beliefs and the things that are important to you, make sure you’re transparent when doing this
2. Listen
Really listen to your team, make sure you actively listen to everything, the name of their children, the dog, their fears, hopes and dreams, basically start to build a relationship by understanding the things that are important to them. People have a personal life, they may be having a bad time outside of work and this will get transmitted to colleagues and customers.
3. Involve
Involve people, don’t pay lip service. Have rich and invigorating conversations. If they’re involved then you start to build the team.
4. Share your vision
Be clear on your own vision, and the objectives, so that people know what they’re aiming for and what to expect.
5. Set direction
Provide feedback, and give people the space to perform. Be there to offer support.
6. Role model
Make sure you’re a role model, that you demonstrate what you believe in, don’t ever ask people to do things that you’re not willing to do yourself. This sets the foundations of how you operate
7. Visibility
Make sure you’re visible and accessible, have a clear visible agenda, everyone should know the vision and how we’ll get there.
8. Get to know your customers
Treat your customers as you would your people, see them as part of the team.
9. Remove
Review any barriers to achieving your vision, this means stopping doing activities that don’t form part of the plan, this might include people too, give them the opportunity to work on things but be clear about the consequences if they don’t or can’t.
10. Celebrate success
Recognise & acknowledge people. Thank them. Celebrate achievements and have fun. Positive reward generates positive behaviour.
Jayne Archbold, Managing Director Sage Accountants Division
