Creating More Independent Staff. What Techniques You Need To Know.

Is your team too dependent on management? Does your team lack the confidence to complete tasks? These are all things that can affect your team’s performance in one way or another. The transition from dependency to independency can be difficult if you haven’t given your team the proper techniques, communication and instances to be independent.  

Your team should be able to complete tasks independently and provide results that meet expectations. It’s important to note, in case it wasn’t perceived, that collaborative efforts should still be a part of your business process. But learning techniques to better your team and give them the tools they need to be better at working independently is crucial for the long term growth and development of your team individually and your business. So here are 11 techniques to help you create a more independent and self-sufficient team.  

Hire Capable People  

Usually independent workers are independent people, and are often creative thinkers. Hiring those who can and will work independently is always the better option. You don’t want to hire people for your business who can’t work by themselves or expect to always work in groups. Not every task in business is collaborative and having people who can work well by themselves and with others is important.  

Clear Communication    

Your team can’t work independently if they don’t understand what is expected of them. No one will be able to get the task complete if they don’t understand what their task is or what the outcome should be. Your expectations can be met if you clearly discuss them with your team. You will be more pleased with your team’s performance and productivity when you set your business’s standards and goals from the beginning. Giving your team independent tasks from the start of their role will be better long term.  

Offer Growth and Development  

Reskilling is a technique being used by many businesses. This technique allows for your staff to learn more skills to better adapt them to their role. Webinars and  online courses can also be beneficial to learn quick skills to help with their position.    

Don’t Micromanage  

 The role of management is to determine what to work on. The role of the team is to determine how to accomplish that goal. Build self-managing teams. You don’t have to be involved in every aspect of your team. If they don’t feel like you trust them to do the work effectively without your help or input, how will your team ever learn to do what’s expected of them? 

Allow For Mistakes To Be Made  

Being afraid to fail, impedes your progress. Don’t sweat things that don’t make a difference in the first place. Making mistakes is very common and allows your team to be able to fix issues and effectively problem solve. If at first you don’t succeed… try again. Mistakes don’t have to be a big deal if you have time to fix them.  

Allow Questions To Be Asked 

Encourage your team to come to you when they are having issues. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking questions. Your team asking questions allows them to better understand what you want. Don’t forget to not be judgmental.  

Be Available  

Always be available to your staff so that if help is needed or problems arise, you are knowledgeable of what's going on. No matter how great the independent worker, sometimes questions have to be asked in order to better serve the task.  

Encourage Personal Goal Setting  

This is important because you want your team to stay motivated. Personal goals are motivating because they keep a person on track of what they want and need out of life. Encouraging your team to set personal and work goals will keep productivity high and create better relationships with your staff.  

Incentives/ Rewards 

Sometimes materialistic things do help happiness as well as productivity and performance. Whether a bonus, a gift card or a thank you letter, incentives and rewards keep your staff competitive.  

Encourage Professional Business Relationships   

I know we want our team to be independent but establishing work relationships between co-workers can help your team with their performance. This can also decrease communication with management and higher ups if certain things can be handled with other team members. You should be promoting work relationships always. Creates a tighter and more effective team as well.  

Hire a Coach or Establish Mentorship  

Providing your team with expert help will get you expert results. Having an outside person, team or service teach and guide your team can effectively provide your team both as a group and individually, more skills to be better at their job. Doing this will provide your staff with more knowledge on how to be an efficient and effective, task completing, more skillfully developed, part of the team.