Leading Rwanda: Forming, building and sustaining highly performing teams

“Whoever plows with a team of donkeys must have patience” (Zimbabwean proverb) “In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” (Charles Darwin, English naturalist) “Perhaps if we all subscribed to the African concept of Ubuntu - that we all become people through other people and that we cannot be fully human alone - we could learn a lot. There’d be less hatred and more harmony” (Queen Rania of Jordan). Teams are a fact of life in the modern workplace in Rwanda and around the world. But the cold, hard truth is that many teams underperform at best and fail miserably at worst. The same goes for mergers and acquisitions between organisations. This does not need to happen if leaders form, build and sustain teams in a conscious and deliberate way. Based on this columnist’s direct professional experience of working and leading in six multinational organisations himself and then consulting with hundreds of globalizing entities and emerging leaders in some 40 nations around the world, here are 10 best practices for how to lead a highly effective and successful team: 1. Vision and mission - Do you, as the team leader, know why the team has been set up and what it aims to achieve? If so, are you ready and able to communicate this to the team members and other interested parties? 2. Selection - Once the team’s purpose and goals are clear to all, it is very important to choose very carefully - in consultation with other key stakeholders - who the best people are to be on this particular team. They should represent as many different skills and perspectives as possible. Avoid going to just your “go to” people whom you always go to. Avoid the temptation to play politics and/or engage in tokenism. 3. Resources – Firstly, clarify who should do what, when, where, how and with whom. Then ensure that all team members have the time, energy and resources needed to get the job done properly. Provide additional training, coaching and/or mentoring, if need be. 4. Systems – (Co-)design a clear operational structure, with enough flexibility in the systems and processes to be able to respond in an agile way to changing scopes and conditions. 5. Communication - Draw up detailed protocols – or even a formal Team Charter – to lay out how the team will maintain respectful, clear and consistent communication and common language usage with each other and with external counterparts. All e-mail, text and IM exchanges should be concise, relevant and to the point. Avoid jargon and slang and maintain a team glossary of technical terms for new and existing members. Only meet in person or by phone or video when necessary. 6. Trust - Take the time right from the start to build team rapport, trust and relationships so that everyone is working with and for each other in an open, collaborative way. Avoid, break down or end all silos or turf wars. 7. Delegation – You can’t do everything yourself in a multi-layered, fast-paced world of work. Get to learn each team member’s strengths (and weaknesses) so that you can guide, mentor and hopefully delegate responsibility, where appropriate. 8. Consultation - Frequently consult with, give constructive feedback to and seek input from each of your team members, as well as key stakeholders, advisers and other relevant counterparts outside the team. 9. Accountability – Be as transparent as possible. Set bold but realistic targets. Be a positive role model at all times. Anticipate and forestall problems. Identify them quickly if they do occur and take action. Lead difficult conversations, when necessary. Persevere until all goals have been met while ensuring quality. 10. Reviews - Regularly monitor the team’s progress and each individual’s contributions, leading to concrete lessons learned and best practices that can be documented and disseminated. Take full responsibility for any failures or shortcomings. And always celebrate success and reward excellence. In an increasingly complex and changing working environment, there are no guarantees of success. However, following these 10 best practices will certainly help leaders in Rwanda and elsewhere to run their teams more smoothly and more effectively in the future.

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Leading Rwanda: Forming, building and sustaining highly performing teams