Open interaction with your team is a vital ingredient in a successful, efficient workplace. If your people can?t speak honestly with you, you miss out on their perspective. Further, you create a divide between leaders and employees that unnecessarily limits everyone. Use the best methods of encouraging open dialogue to create a united and productive team.

Define an Open Door Policy

Even if you?ve got one and your team is well aware, have you made it clear exactly what people can expect when they come through your door? Simply stating you have an open door policy without defining it, may mean no one uses it at all. Worse, they may come to you with things that waste your time. Define whose door is open, when and for what types of conversations.

Consider an anonymous method of contact to include in your policy, so that team members won?t hold back out of fear of retribution or job security. Make sure that your whole team, however small or large, has the details of your policy. Consider putting your open door policy in writing, so it?s both clear cut and easy to disseminate.

Differentiate Between Dialogue and Discussion

When your team needs to make a decision, you should have a discussion. People can weigh options, argue their points, and so on. However, when you want to foster an open dialogue among your team, you can use a few tools to keep it from veering into discussion territory. Acknowledge what each person has to offer. This will help everyone focus on each member of the team and value what is being said.

Connect related or similar input put forth by multiple team members. If you can demonstrate the connection with examples, even better. This helps pull ideas together and give momentum to the dialogue. Ask questions to help clarify ideas, not only for yourself, but the whole team. Encourage others to do the same. While you shouldn?t be the main speaker in these situations, you can help steer dialogue to make it more productive and cooperative.

Be Part of the Team

Similar to keeping your door open, behaving as part of the team, instead of an authority figure will help foster an environment where open communication is the norm. Your team will be less likely to feel unsure of approaching you with pertinent concerns or ideas if you approach projects as a team member. This means being more hands on. It may require you to adjust your management style a bit. Also, be conscious of maintaining some boundaries. Building team cohesion is worth the effort you?ll put into keeping a balance.

Compliment and Critique Effectively

To foster communication, your team needs your input as well. Praising employees who share great ideas or approach issues with a positive attitude will encourage them to continue doing so. Be sincere, prompt, and if it?s appropriate, praise your people in public.

Though it may seem counter-intuitive that critiquing employees would improve communication, it does. You must deliver it in a way that benefits you and the team member, without being condescending or demeaning. Don?t criticize when you?re emotional. Anger negates any benefits. Cool off, then take the team member aside to talk privately. Avoid making it personal by focusing on the action that needs changing. Include solutions or suggestions when you critique someone.

Fostering communication within your team costs you nothing and is rewarding for everyone. Work to provide a respectful, cooperative environment. Your people will see you as an ally and feel confident in giving their best to the team.

One necessary skill among effective team leaders is strong problem solving skills. Not every person is naturally good at finding good solutions. Even those who are, need to practice the skill. How can you improve your problem solving abilities?

Work On Visualization
It?s vitally important to have a clear understanding of the problem before you attempt to work out a solution. Visualization is one of the most powerful tools you can employ to get a solid impression of the problem that needs solving. The method you use to visualize an issue will, of course, depend on what the problem is. A concrete example of this is in mathematics problem solving; students use diagrams to visualize a problem, making it easier to find the solution. For financial hurdles in your business, you may employ graphs or charts to compare data in a visual way.

For less clear cut problems, using your mind to work around the entirety of a problem is still helpful. You must approach a problem from different perspectives, so asking others for their input may be helpful. Considering how others might be affected by the problem can help you get a better understanding of it.

Brainstorm and Anticipate Roadblocks
Once you have a clear idea of the problem, you?ll begin brainstorming solutions. Remember not to discount ideas to early in this phase. You must keep an open mind, entertaining solutions from different perspectives. It?s also helpful to consider the costs and benefits of each idea to the various parties if affects.

Not just coming up with a list of solutions, but a rough idea of all the implications of each, should include the expectation of barriers. Every action involved in solving your problem may come with a barrier or potential roadblock. Expecting these from the get-go, enables you to brainstorm ways to deal with them. This will help you eliminate surprise delays in implementing solutions.

Evaluate Before You Implement
When you approach problem solving as the means to finding just one solution, then putting it into action, you miss the opportunity to evaluate many solutions. Sure, you don?t want to spend too much time on this. However, doing a little mental test-run of a few solutions lets you consider the barriers and potentially unexpected outcomes from your best ideas. The brainstorming time lays the groundwork for solid evaluation.

When you improve your evaluation skills, you can streamline your problem solving. The best solutions are the simplest. The last thing you want in a solution is to create more work or more problems. As you consider potential solutions, be on the lookout for ways to cut down steps, remove barriers, reduce costs, and so on.

Follow Up On Solutions
Implementing a solution isn?t the end of problem solving. Following up will tell you how your solution is doing and help to inform you the next time you?re working through problem solving. Important questions to ask include: Is there an easier way this could have been accomplished? What, if any, were unexpected outcomes from implementing your solution? How have all involved parties been affected by the solution? Finally, has the problem been completely resolved? The answers to these questions, of course, help you understand how your solution is working out, but will also help you see where you need to improve your methods.

Some people think the ability to solve problems quickly is important for leaders. Instead of worrying about speed, practice ways to craft the best possible solution for a given problem. The more your practice, the better you?ll get at solving problems.

Managing a successful team doesn?t mean just being a boss. The most effective leaders know they must identify the needs of their team, and address those needs, to keep their people productive and happy. You should know what you need from your team to succeed, but how can you figure out what your team needs from you?

Trust me.? The time you take to figure it out is worth it.

Get A Little Personal

Some people believe that knowing your employees on a personal level is unimportant or even unethical. We?re not suggesting that you form inappropriate relationships or get entangled in your employees personal lives. But knowing what your team needs from you, means you have to know your team very well. You will better understand where your people are coming from when you know whether they have a family, what their hobbies are, how they choose to spend their free time, and so on.

Corporate team building excursions are one way that managers can get to know employees better, while building stronger team bonds. If you?re a small business owner or leading a small work group, something as simple as a weekly lunch where no one talks shop may help you get to know your people as individuals.

We are lucky in the direct sales industry that we can develop more personal relationships with team members.? However, always have your guard up because you just never know when someone will betray you.

Just Ask

Many managers make use of simple surveys to assess the climate their employees work in. Gallup Q12? is one such survey, which uses 12 elements of engagement that best predict performance. Items such as, ?I know what is expected of me at work,? may be defined by your team and discussed. You may have team members rate their feelings about the team itself, the work project(s), and work environment overall. Any of these will give you a window into how your team is operating as a group and as individuals.

You must also ask your people to help you define an ideal work situation. No matter how big or small the input, it?s all important. ?We need more staples,? and ?We need to streamline communications,? both help to paint the picture of the best environment for your team. Put aside budget concerns while assessing these needs. You can always brainstorm ways to achieve these goals without spending lots of money.

Assess Barriers

Why isn?t your team already operating in the best possible conditions? This is where you can try to find ways to work around budget limitations. Specifically address how you can get from where things are now to that ideal situation. With your team, begin mapping out how you will address their concerns. Of course, you can?t ask for their input, then ignore it because it sounds expensive or difficult. By the same token, it?s in their interest to work out ways to get what they need. Work as a part of the team to create a plan of action.

People are empowered when they know exactly what is required of them. It is imperative for leaders to create clear cut expectations both for individuals, teams, and the scope of work to be completed by both. If confusion about responsibilities contributes to some of your team?s shortcomings, you may find this is the time for redefining or clarifying expectations for specific roles.

Follow Through

When you?ve assessed the needs of your team and figured out a way to get them what they need, act on it. Asking your team for their input goes a long way in building bonds and creating a positive work environment. Delivering what they?ve asked for is the most important part. You?ll show your team that you value and support them, giving them the added confidence and motivation to succeed.