Andrew Temte

If team performance is waning, here are the most important things to check: 1. Incentives - are they out of alignment? If you've asked a team to work on a project that's not aligned with incentive plans, performance will slip. 2. Team Chemistry - has a recent hire mucked up the team dynamic? If you've got a genius jerk or free rider in the mix, watch out! 3. Roles/responsibilities - clarity around roles and responsibilities requires continual maintenance. Has significant time passed since you've last reviewed these items? Entropy kicks in swiftly and team performance can quickly deteriorate. 4. Skill development - the skill profile of the work can change rapidly in a dynamic work environment. Continually invest in learning and development.

One of the most common killers of team morale is shifting priorities with little/no communication regarding the rationale for such shifts. Your teams and team members want to know that their work adds value to the business and its customers. They want to know that senior leaders have their back and are setting them up for success. They want clarity of roles/responsibilities to avoid duplication of effort, loopbacks, and rework. If organizational purpose, vision, culture, goals, and roles are unclear & priorities seem to shift at the whim of senior leaders, morale will suffer. Another sure-fire way to improve morale is to invest in learning and skill development. Nothing says 'I care' more than helping team members learn and grow.

Our youth need more positive role models to help reinforce and instill the traits and skills future generations need to be successful in life and work. Tenacity, persistence, critical thinking, creativity, time management, delegation, financial literacy, and business acumen are just a few places where successful entrepreneurs typically shine. Most importantly, entrepreneurs understand how to learn from failure and turn setbacks into opportunity. They don't give up, but pivot and adjust. If you're an entrepreneur, what can you do? Make the time to mentor members of the generation(s) that will ultimately take your place. Better yet, put an apprenticeship or job shadowing system in place in your business.

The following assumes the reader of this article reports to the micromanager. Managing up is a fraught endeavor. If you are astute enough to recognize poor management behaviors and possess the skills to identify solutions to micromanagement, instead of trying to influence the micromanager, invest in yourself and your own training and education. Become the modern, empowering leader that the business world needs more of. Ask yourself: what there is to be gained by trying to help the micromanager improve? Provide the necessary feedback to help the micromanager in your exit interview, break free, and lend your talents to an organization that values great leadership skills & is willing to support education & training across the organization.

The number one thing a leader, teacher, or coach can do to build entrepreneurship skills is to make failure okay. Unfortunately, our education system and "pop star, movie star" culture teaches us that perfection is the goal. Perfection is fleeting and exceedingly rare. In my opinion, perfection doesn't exist and is the enemy of excellence. Second, stop playing the role of firefighter, cleaning up the messes and mistakes of your team members. "Oh just let me do it!" No one benefits when the boss doesn't allow team members to recover and learn from their missteps. Play the role of a coach. If a player falls down, teach them how to get back up. Put education and training opportunities in place to allow the player to learn and grow.

In addition to the categories outlined in this community article, the three things I would focus on are (1) the ability to ask good questions, (2) critical thinking and analytical skills (quant and qual) that support good decisions, and (3) the mental agility to quickly pivot as markets and consumer behavior shift and change. Asking good questions relies on the ability to actively listen and not allow unconscious bias to misinterpret the answers team members are providing. The success of any venture depends on making good decisions. Decisions should be based on a full picture - not just what the numbers indicate. Qualitative data is of equal importance. Mental agility can also be viewed as possessing strong change management skills.