How To Manage A Team Efficiently | 10 Team Management Tips
So, you’ve learned how to build a team of freelancers and are ready to start working with them. To save you time and avoid frustration, it’s best to set your expectations and processes. This way, both you and your team understand what is expected of each other.
When working with freelancers — especially those on various timezones, you’ll learn pretty quickly that having a list of guidelines is very important. Additionally, deciding on a communication channel could help your team stay connected even when they’re working different hours of the day.
Do you want to be successful in working with freelancers? You’re in luck! Today, you will learn how to manage a team.
You will discover:
- Why it’s important to have an onboarding process
- How to set your communication standards
- The best way to share your guidelines and processes
- The importance of having a project management tool
- How to handle mistakes
Managing a team doesn’t have to be complicated — even for a solopreneur. Try out the tips I share here with you and let me know how it goes.
Good luck and I hope you find the best freelancers for your business.
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
“Welcome, Freedom Hero!
In the next minutes, I’ll share with you 10 tips on how you can manage your team of freelancers efficiently. This is part 2 of our team building and managing series.
In the previous episode we talked about how to build a team easily. If you haven’t watched or listened to that episode yet, then go check that out first. You can find the link in the description.
My name is Istvan Bujdoso and this is The 47 Marketing Show that reveals smart tips and efficiency hacks for busy entrepreneurs to get more marketing done in less time.
And now, let’s dive into the 10 tips on how to manage your new team efficiently.
Tip #1: Have An Onboarding Process.
Always have an onboarding process for each role because even though the freelancers you hire have their skills and experiences, BUT at the beginning, they don’t know your business yet.
They don’t know what they will need to do exactly. A great onboarding process helps to get them up to speed quicker so they start producing results in your business faster.
Tip #2: Set Your Communication Standards At The Beginning.
I had to learn this the hard way through an unpleasant experience in my early days of managing a team.
One of my former team members was working on the same activities for a while and had done good work previously. So I only checked on him once or twice a month.
One day, I had a shocking realisation that he was only doing about half of his work and even that with delays in the previous weeks.
When I asked him what was happening, he told me he couldn’t do some tasks because some of the login details were not working and he had an ongoing family issue…
…and Facebook changed something on their user interface. The shocking thing was that he did not tell me anything about those issues and delays that were causing damages UNTIL I asked him.
The lesson I’d like you to take away from this is that the fact is that we all communicate differently. So simply don’t assume how your freelancers will do that. Set a communication standard.
Write down in detail and share with your team what they need to tell you, how, why, and when in different situations.
Even if those situations seem fundamental to you, like delays, obstacles, and other basic things. Besides that, be an example and follow your own communication standards towards your team.
This way you can minimize damages and mistakes that the lack of communication could cause.
Tip #3: Have Written And Video Guides Of The Processes. This helps you save time and money in your business in three major ways.
First, when you add new members to your team, they can get up to speed quickly without you needing to teach them on multiple Zoom calls.
And second, your team members can check the guides any time, as many times as they need to without taking up your time.
And the last one, the third one, those guides serve as checklists as well, so they help make sure all the steps and activities are done correctly.
Tip #4: Calculate With Learning Curves. A lot of entrepreneurs seem to make the mistake of thinking once they hire somebody or give their team a new task, they can lay back and all will be OK right away.
The experience shows that there’s always a learning curve. Sometimes shorter, other times longer. Also, it’s important to understand that the learning curve happens on BOTH sides.
You and your freelancers have to learn working together smoothly. With every new task, count on that your team can have some questions you’ll need to answer.
Also, they might make mistakes that need to be fixed. And there might be some misunderstandings that need to be clarified.
Plus, you may need to adjust to the processes so things go more efficiently. Which means activities can go slower at first.
By always calculating with the learning curves, you can avoid quite some frustration and stress.
Tip #5: Plan Ahead. Last-minute tasks usually come with stress and mistakes on both sides.
Give yourself and your team good enough time to prepare and complete tasks. You’ll see that things will go smoother in your marketing and business.
As much as possible, plan things ahead and minimise the number of last-minute activities.
Tip #6: Use A Project Management Tool.
I recommend Trello with their Butler extension. You can find a lot of other good tools as well that you can choose from.
The KEY point is that a project management tool helps to keep things on track, complete tasks on time, and to make sure that all things are done.
Tip #7: Take Care Of Security. So many entrepreneurs overlook security and risk losing money because of that. Make sure you and your team use secure computers, secure internet, and strong passwords.
And also, store and send passwords and sensitive information safely. Security could be a whole separate series. Because we are focusing on managing your team for marketing.
In this episode, we won’t go deeper into security. If you’d be interested in finding out more about security essentials, let me know in the comments and I’ll create a few videos on it.
And share them with you.
Tip #8: Be Flexible And Prepared To Adjust Processes.
Your business, your life, your team’s life, the internet, marketing strategies, and other things are always changing. So be flexible and prepared to adjust your processes when it’s needed.
Tip #9: Be Prepared For Mistakes And Handle Them Quickly. Some mistakes are unavoidable.
Be prepared to handle them and quickly. If any of your team members makes a fixable mistake, do NOT punish them.
Because punishment would only lead your team to HIDE future mistakes instead of fixing and avoiding them. The BEST way to handle mistakes quickly is to tell the person to fix it.
And then, ask them to tell you what they will do in the future to avoid making the same mistake again. Besides your team making some mistakes, there’s a chance you’ll make some too.
If that affects the work of your team, then let them know about it. Show them a great example of taking responsibility.
Tip #10: How To Let A Freelancer Go.
This can happen for TWO main reasons. First ONE is that they don’t do their work properly. They are making the same mistakes constantly, doing delays, not communicating, and so on.
If you follow the tips in this episode and in the previous episode, then this situation should be only on very rare occasions. But if it happens you can do this.
For precautions, change all the passwords you gave them, take their access away from all systems BEFORE you do anything else.
After that close their contract and let them know that you no longer require their services and why. The SECOND main reason you’ll need to let go of a freelancer is that you’re finishing a project.
And won’t be any tasks for that person for a while. Let them know as upfront as possible, so they can prepare for the change in their life. Explain the reason for them.
Tell them you were happy with their work and you’re looking forward to working together with them in the future. Also, give them a nice review.
End the relationship on really good terms because you may need their help again in the future. And it’s much better to bring them back than to hire a brand-new person.
Let me know in the comments below… what your biggest takeaway is from this episode.
If you enjoyed this video smash the like button. It helps the channel a bit.
And make sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the bell so you get notified of the future videos just like this one.
And with that said… now let me ask you a question…
Could this be the easiest way to gain your social media momentum?
Find out “How To Get Your Next 100 Days Of Engaging Social Media Posts Done… In Less Than 30 Minutes… WITHOUT Hiring An Expensive Social Media Team!”
Go to 47smi.com to discover more about it now.
You can find the link in the description as well.
See you at 47smi.com“
END OF VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION