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A successful manager must posses strong leadership skills in order to be a successful team-builder. The key to team-building lies in creating solid interpersonal relationships with the employees in your charge, and one of the most important tools toward that end is communication.

Effective communication in management and team building begins with active listening. Any individual reporting to you should know that his or her concerns will be heard, whether or not you agree with them. This is true in any relationship or situation; most people simply want to be heard, understood and respected.

Respect doesn't necessarily mean acquiescence, it just means creating an atmosphere where subordinates are comfortable in both sharing ideas and airing complaints. It is essential for a project manager to know what is happening in all aspects of the project, but no one individual can be everywhere at once. This is why building a team whose members know that they can openly and freely communicate with management is essential because those individual team members will often have access to information which is useful to the manager, but not necessarily readily available without employee input.

Those under your charge must also be confident that they have the freedom and autonomy to make decisions. Nothing can cripple a project faster than a manager who so rigidly rules his or her team that the members hesitate to make any decision without first obtaining management approval.

During the course of my career, I have managed hundreds of people at various times and on various projects. While each individual is unique and each person has different aspirations, goals and motivations, it has been my experience that the most important step in motivating employees is creating a work atmosphere where the individual employee feels valued, trusted and respected. Likewise, employees must trust that you, as a manager, will always have their best interest at heart and that any decision you make will be weighed against those interests. Where the interest of the project or the company may conflict with the interest of the individual, it is vital that the employee understand the reasoning behind your ultimate decision, and that he or she is confident that your rulings are fair.

If a manager is effective is creating this type of work environment, the project, the company AND the employee all win.

Learn more about this author, C S Slockbower.
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