What Is Team Management?
Team management is a conscious, active and goal-oriented collaborative approach to complete a task or project.
Efficient team management means that, as a manager, you support your team members. Your job is to motivate them with effective communication that guides each team member to achieve a common goal.
Effective team managers help their teammates make the best possible use of their skills so that they can develop into more effective and professional teammates over their careers.
Read 6 tips for effective team management here.
Why are great team management skills so important to success?
Team management plays a central role in the working environment for various reasons. Among other things, it ensures that both managers and team members work to achieve clearly defined common goals.
Good team management skills empower teams to:
Conduct transparent communication between managers and employees.
Solve problems faster and implement solutions.
Define the roles and expectations of all team members to maximize productivity.
Inspire team morale and motivation to achieve the desired results.
Increase productivity in a natural, organic way.
Good team management skills lead to more successful teams and positive working environments. Subsequently, you’ll significantly boost your success as a team manager.
Effective team management leads to better teamwork. Read on to get the benefits of better business collaboration.
What are team management skills?
The purpose of having effective team management skills is to make it easier to effectively lead your team.
As a team leader, you must set the overarching team goals, delegate tasks to team members, and promote effective team communication. You must also adopt an empathetic approach to problem-solving and conflict resolution within the team.
Mastering these skills increases the odds of success. Your teammates will feel more comfortable and more satisfied with their work, which boosts productivity and team morale.
While Kurt Lewin’s recommended four classic leadership styles used to be widespread, modern team leadership has become more transformational. You can test your transformational leadership skills here.
Read on to explore 7 of the most important team management skills:
7 important team management skills and how to optimize for them
So what are the tools managers need to enable teams to develop their full potential? And what skills make you successful as a team manager?
Here are 7 team management skills that will help you move your team forward:
Team management skill #1: communicate transparently
87% of employees surveyed by Slack in the Future of Work 2018 study said they hope their next job is transparent. Communication and employee feedback are essential aspects of transparent workplaces. According to a study by Globoforce, 55% of surveyed employees said they would leave their jobs for another company that openly recognizes employee efforts and contributions.
For transparent communication and a “good atmosphere” in the team, you must communicate goals, expectations and feedback with your teammates. You should also discuss the overarching team goals with your team members.
With transparent communication, you create an atmosphere that helps every team member feel valued and included.
By acting in a comprehensible and understandable way, you also promote a culture of trust in which everyone involved can give constructive feedback and make decisions that are in the best interests of the project.
Use regular meetings and tools such as MeisterTask to make goals and progress visible to the entire team. This ensures that every team member is on the same page. Not only do you promote transparency in communication with your employees, you also encourage accountability within your team.
“Using MeisterTask creates transparency in projects. This effectively saves time, because we need fewer meetings and can often do without minutes altogether. Thanks to MeisterTask, we work more effectively and communicate in a more targeted way.”
— Katja Esch, IT Project Manager at LBBW
Team management skill #2: promote collaboration
Teamwork is about more than just working together on projects. It’s about creating an environment where different opinions are valued and appreciated.
In well-functioning teams, every voice is heard without the person having to fear criticism or rejection.
The good thing is: In an open and transparent working environment, you are more likely to find innovative solutions with your team. Simply encourage all teammates to exchange ideas and solve problems together. This will lead to more effective results.
Celebrate successes as a joint achievement to strengthen the sense of unity. Use tools and methods that promote collaborative work, such as brainstorming sessions or project management software to further empower team productivity.
“We brainstorm together in MindMeister and then export our ideas directly to MeisterTask, where we can work on them immediately. It’s a really great workflow.”
— Axel Fischer, Fischer Accumulator Technology
Read the success story of technology development company FiSCHER, and find out how the company improved its productivity and teamwork with MeisterTask.
Team management skill #3: be a role model
According to a New Work study conducted by Xing in 2021, 59% of respondents believe that the best employers demonstrate good leadership behavior. According to the Gallup Report 2021, up to 70% of the reasons for employee dissatisfaction are directly related to their manager.
As a manager, you are, by definition, a role model. Your behavior, attitude and commitment influence the behavior, attitude and commitment of your team. You set the standard that your teammates emulate with their own attitudes and behaviors.
Show your team members that what you say and what you do are in alignment. Once you set an expectation, demonstrate how important those standards are through constructive actions. This will make your colleagues recognize you are an authentic individual worthy of team leadership.
Many small gestures in particular – such as always keeping promises and regularly showing gratitude – will strengthen team cohesion.
Regularly reflect on your own behavior and ask yourself whether you are exemplifying the values you expect from your team.
Team management skill #4: be open to change
Having the ability to adapt and change is a core team leadership skill. It’s also an essential quality in today’s fast-paced working world.
Promote a team culture in which change is seen as part of growth. Leaders who resist change prevent the team from finding innovative solutions. It is interesting to note that middle managers in particular tend to be poor at dealing with change. Yet it is precisely these managers who lead employees directly and bring change to the organization.
You can use tools such as MeisterTask and MindMeister to help you, which provide insights and information to help you implement change more easily. According to Capgemini’s 2023 Change Management Study, managers who use data-driven approaches to implement change strengthen employees’ trust in the organization. As a result, the likelihood that changes will successfully improve results increases by 23%.
Be open to feedback and new ideas from team members in order to explore innovative paths together.
Use tools such as MeisterTask and MindMeister to brainstorm with your team and incorporate new ideas directly into the project for everyone to see.
Team management skill #5: motivate and support
According to a 2023 study, over one third of employees are willing to change jobs in the next twelve months. One of the reasons: companies that lack people-centric leadership models and the negative effect this has on culture and productivity. Mass resignations and high turnover rates amount to billions in new talent acquisition costs.
As a team leader, it’s your responsibility to prevent these concerns and improve employee satisfaction rates. Simple communication and recognition goes a long way towards helping employees feel heard and motivated, contributing to a net positive effect on productivity.
Recognizing the performance of individual employees has a particularly motivating effect. Praise your employees for good results in a prompt and personal manner so that they feel appreciated.
You can also motivate and encourage your team members by focusing on common goals. Don’t just align the goals with the company goals — link them to personal development and career mapping plans for each employee.
You can also use a mentoring system to promote personal development and strengthen employee loyalty. With mentoring, provide new or inexperienced employees with an experienced team member who supports them with knowledge and experience. Personalized coaching and mentorship helps employees feel safer, which empowers them to feel confident in their decision-making abilities.
Hold regular one-on-one meetings to understand the personal and professional goals of your team members. MeisterTask can support you in this by documenting these discussions in the notes function, for example.
Team management skill #6: resolve conflicts effectively
The ability to manage and resolve conflict effectively is crucial for any team.
Conflict is inevitable in any group from time to time…but how you handle it can make the important difference between strengthened collaboration or long-term tension.
As an empathetic and good team manager, you will recognize conflicts early on, understand the underlying causes and work with the parties involved to find fair and sustainable solutions.
Therefore, promote a culture of open communication where team members are encouraged to raise concerns and problems without fear of retribution.
Use active listening and empathic communication techniques to understand the different perspectives in your team.
Team management skill #7: make proactive decisions
As a top team manager, you are in a position to make clear and timely decisions – especially in situations that require quick action. Otherwise, you could unsettle your team and lose authority.
Evaluate all information and consider the potential impact of a decision on your team and your project goals.
Involve your team in the decision-making process – for example, by collecting the pros and cons in MeisterTask and making a joint decision. This will encourage commitment and acceptance of the decision within the team.
Also, use data and feedback to support and improve your decisions. Be ready to adjust your decisions as new information becomes available.
Find out why you should choose team decision-making as your default solution.
How MeisterTask helps you improve your team management skills
Of course, you can attend business coaching sessions or courses to improve your team management skills. However, there are cheaper – and much easier – ways.
The modern and proactive way to improve your team management skills is to use tools like MeisterTask.
MeisterTask: the tool for effective team management
MeisterTask is an intuitive task management tool that helps you develop your team management skills with many practical features:
Task management: You can assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress, making it easier to organize and prioritize work.
Collaboration: The tool supports team collaboration through shared workspaces where team members can access and discuss files and documents.
Custom workflows: Teams can create their own processes and workflows. You can adapt the workflows to your specific way of working.
Real-time communication: Your team can communicate and share information in real-time, reducing the need for external communication tools.
Mobile access: Team members can access projects from anywhere, promoting flexibility and productivity.
Reporting and analysis: Insight into project progress and team performance supports decision-making and promotes team cohesion.
Best practice: Ritter Sport
Ritter Sport has implemented digital transformation with the help of MeisterTask and specifically improved the team management skills of its managers. Read the Ritter Sport success story to find out exactly how they did it.
Read how MeisterTask improves communication for more effective teamwork.
Set the tone for your team — with better team management skills
Improving your team management skills is a process. It takes time and commitment to be successful.
However, you can also take the shortcut via task management tools like MeisterTask. Stay connected and aligned through transparent communication, and see how this openness increases motivation and accountability.
The right tool will promote your personal development as a manager, but it also has far-reaching positive effects on your team and the entire company.
In combination with a solid strategy, it will strengthen your ability to lead, as well as inspire and motivate team members. As a result, you will increase productivity and team cohesion – and create a better working atmosphere overall.
