Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

15.7. Honing Your Team Management Skills

When you become a team leader, you suddenly make the move from employee to manager, and as manager, you have an entirely new set of clients: your teammates. Although you still might be working directly with customers, your primary clients are the people who work with you. By ensuring their success, you ensure the success of the customers you service, your team as a whole, and yourself as team leader.

The following list introduces various areas that you need to focus on in order to become an accomplished team leader:

• Create and communicate a clear vision. As leader, you need to see where the team is heading and what each member of the team needs to do to get there. Formulate a clear vision for your team and then make sure members know what that vision is and what role they need to play.

• Commit yourself to the success of your teammates. Hire great people and give them everything they need to be successful: training, resources, technology, coaching, and so on. Invest heavily in their success, especially early on, and then give them the freedom and responsibility to take it to the next level. Once your teammates know that you are committed to their success, they will be committed to your success. They will also tell everyone they meet about the great team they are part of. Money cannot buy the type of genuine, positive PR this generates.

• Plan the work and then work the plan. You need to put the systems in place to accomplish every task that needs ...