Most leaders don’t have the luxury of building their teams from scratch.
Instead they’re put in charge of an existing group, and they need
guidance on the best way to take over and improve performance. Watkins,
an expert on transitions, suggests a three-step approach: Assess. Act
quickly to size up the personnel you’ve inherited, systematically
gathering data from one-on-one chats, team meetings, and other sources.
Reflect, too, on the business challenges you face, the kinds of people
you want in various roles, and the degree to which they need to
collaborate. Reshape. Adjust the makeup of the team by moving people to
new positions, shifting their responsibilities, or replacing them. Make
sure that everyone is aligned on goals and how to achieve them—you may
need to change the team’s stated direction. Consider also making changes
in the way the team operates (reducing the frequency of meetings, for
example, or creating new subteams). Then establish ground rules and
processes to sustain desired behaviors, and revisit those periodically.
Accelerate team development. Set your people up for some early wins.
Initial successes will boost everyone’s confidence and reinforce the
value of your new operating model, thus paving the way for ongoing
growth. [ABSTRACT
FROM AUTHOR]