An agile team can be a very effective unit at any organization. This is particularly true in dynamic industries. It’s becoming more important than ever for teams within companies to respond quickly to changes. While the ability to do so is by no means the only quality that defines an agile team, it is among the more noteworthy.
This is important to keep in mind if you’re a team leader. The ability to build a team of employees who can work with this degree of efficiency and avoid disrupting the workflow will make your job much easier—and more significantly—will increase your odds of achieving key goals.
The following tips can help. As you build your team, you should keep these points in mind.
Don’t Expect Perfection at First
Many people don’t realize that taking a group of employees and transforming them into an agile team can often take longer than expected. People need to learn to work together while maintaining their own individual work styles. Reaching a point where this degree of cooperation feels natural is, of course, entirely possible. However, it can’t happen overnight.
Thus, patience is very important in building an agile team. You’ll become discouraged if you expect your employees to be able to begin coordinating with one another right away. You’ll also become discouraged if you begin to feel that you simply don’t have the skills necessary to effectively guide your team.
This doesn’t need to occur. If you accept that it will take time for your team to embrace an agile methodology, you’ll be more likely to succeed in the long run.
Provide Your Employees with the Appropriate Resources and Tools
Again, one of the most important qualities of an agile team is efficiency. While other teams may not maintain productivity when they encounter roadblocks, agile teams ideally maintain a consistent pace of work.
That said, they can only do so if they have the right tools and resources to complete their daily tasks. You need to be able to coordinate with all team members to learn what those resources and tools are. Additionally, you should conduct research on your own to determine if there are any tools that you haven’t been using, but could be.
It’s worth noting that providing your employees with essential resources doesn’t merely help them to stay efficient. It’s also been shown to boost overall employee engagement. Employees are happier on the job when they are equipped with everything they need to fulfill their responsibilities. This results in greater retention and productivity. Of course, your team will be more likely to be agile if everyone is engaged.
Solicit Feedback Often
Resources and tools aren’t all that your team members need in order to do their best work. They may want more opportunities to discuss their progress with you. Perhaps they’ll benefit from regular team meetings.
The main point to understand is that your team will be far more likely to become a thriving and agile unit if you know exactly what their needs and wants are. That means you need to consistently ask them to provide you with feedback. Just as it’s important to keep your employees updated about their progress, it’s also vital that you give them an opportunity to share their insights with you. After all, you’re the one with the power to make the necessary changes.
This once again highlights the value of being patient when developing an agile team. During the initial stages of growth, your team members might not know exactly what their needs are. As they continue to work together, this will become more clear to them. Once again, it will simply take time to reach this stage.
Prioritize Results
Agile teams differ from others in many key ways. For instance, most teams have traditionally focused a bit too much on processes. When a process is no longer yielding the desired outcomes, the teams’ rigidity may prevent them from adjusting the way that they approach problems.
However, agile teams focus primarily on results. Their purpose is to achieve a clear goal. When the manner in which they are pursuing said goal no longer appears to be effective, they’re willing to make swift changes in order to stay on track. Of course, it’s important to understand that agile teams can only focus on their goals if you take the time to clearly establish what those goals are from the beginning. Remember this when conducting initial meetings with your team members.
As a team leader, your goal should be to ensure that all of your employees contribute in a positive and valuable way. You also want them to work as seamlessly and efficiently as possible. If you keep these points in mind, they will do so.
Bill Malloy 