How to build teams, groom individuals

The two years I spent at IIM-Calcutta were arguably the most important and formative years of my life. From engineering to management is perhaps more than mere education or a simple branching out, as some of us wrongly assume.

It can be, and in my case, certainly was, a transformation that prepared me for the challenges that life in the corporate world throws up. While acknowledging the rigour, discipline, and breadth and width of academic knowledge that one was subjected to at this premier management school, I must also talk of what work teaches us, or more aptly, has taught me.

Starting out in office equipment sales and moving on to IT services, I have a few observations, which are worth considering, about the value of practical experience that no classroom, however well-equipped, can ever hope to offer.

You are only as good as your team: Management education and theory emphasise on execution and attention to detail. Successful managers, we were taught, are those who are able to get things done. But there is a small and yet vital difference when it comes to the practice of this theory.

How do managers achieve results at the work place? Managers and leaders get things done through others or more simply get their team members to deliver. So a leader's most critical job is to build a team comprising individuals who have their strengths and also the capability and competence to combine to work strategically and synergistically as team members to further the organisation's gains. This skill is built through live experiences at the work place.

Building a successful team: We have read about teamwork in successful global companies. The challenge here is to create our own success story. It starts with identifying the right talent. Often, the best of talent may not want to join your company and herein lies the first practical challenge for managers.

How do you motivate the prospective employee to be part of your dream? While the value of money as a motivator is often overemphasised, I think the greatest challenge is to sell the job. Can you get your people to share your dream of success?

It is also important that we don't oversell the job, the environment and the opportunities and ensure that we set the right expectations. So it probably makes sense to under-promise and over-deliver on employee engagement, just as much as we do with customer service.

It is important to remember that successful managers know that the individuals they recruit come with skills that are different from their own. Look for skill sets that are diverse and complementary to yours while recruiting subordinates. If you are a strategist, find someone who is strong on execution and so on.

Having a team in place is the first important step but there are miles to go before we deliver as a team and as an organisation. Teams that are motivated, charged and empowered will deliver even against odds and superior competition. It is the job of the leader to tell the team that each one of the team member has a role to play in the success of the company.

Often, the individual's role in the success of the company as a whole has to be reiterated and reinforced. They also need to realise that their tasks and goals, however mundane, have a larger implication in the context of the company's growth plans.

Creativity matters: Individuals have an innate capability to be creative. Organisations often do not provide an opportunity for individuals to continue to be creative, think out of the box, or offer innovative solutions. It is the duty of the manager to provide an environment where every individual can contribute with ideas.