The 5 Attributes New Managers Should Prioritize When Building a High Performance Team

The best managers build the best high performance teams.

They know how to select the top talent that aligns with their corporate culture, set clear goals in conjunction with the business strategy, and inspire the energy and commitment in their followers that it takes to achieve meaningful team goals. They know how to appreciate excellent performance and how to coach the good, the average, and the poor team members toward excellence. Good managers engage their team members so they care about their work contribution and the quality of their work product in a way that makes sense.

New manager training can teach you the skills for interviewing, communicating, influencing and coaching. But here in addition to learning how to manage are what attributes you should seek in your team members in order to excel as a team leader. If you can assemble a high performance team with these five traits in abundance, you will be well on your way to leading your team to success.

1. A willingness to work hard (on the right stuff)
A strong work ethic is vital to a company’s achieving its strategy. It is based upon a belief in the values of hard work and discipline. To maintain an organization at peak performance, employees need to feel responsible for their performance, to care about the quality and prioritization of their work, and to do their part for the team.  This assumes that their efforts are pointed in the right direction.

2. Intelligence
Experience is helpful but intelligence matters even more when hiring. With enough smarts, the skills and techniques needed to get the job done can be learned and challenges overcome.

3. Accountability
Taking ownership of your work is a way to hold yourself accountable. When you “own” your work product, you are going to put in your very best effort. You want team members who are proud of what they accomplish individually and as a group. Pride in a job well done requires a dedication to oneself, the team, and the organization.

4. Integrity
Employees with high integrity foster trusting relationships across the board…with colleagues and supervisors as well as with customers. Supervisors rely upon the employee’s moral standards. Teammates know they will receive honest feedback. Customers value and trust the employee’s advice. Integrity is a difficult trait to evaluate in an interview. But you can try to assess a candidate’s dependability and decision making process by asking for times when they were faced with an ethical dilemma and for how they solved it.

5. Teamwork
Since most work these days is accomplished by teams rather than individuals, people need to trust and rely upon one another to get the work done.  When there is a meaningful and aligned team goal, the workers who collaborate and support each other are worth their weight in gold.

4 Ways to Bridge the Workplace Generation Gap as a New Manager

Are you new to management? Your new manager training taught many skills that will help you be a success but chances are that little time was spent on tips for bridging the generation gap. If you are young, you can anticipate some real challenges as you strive to earn the respect of your older, more experienced team.

And you should know that the gap is not just in your head. According to a survey by Lee Hecht Harrison, 70 percent of older employees are dismissive of younger workers' abilities. Somehow you have to get over the “impostor syndrome” that greets you as you walk in the door of your new office and face the graying team you have been assigned.

Here are 4 tips to help you gain the respect you deserve.

1. Look the part. Make sure that the way you carry yourself shows self-confidence. Good posture makes you appear more relaxed and in control. Establish eye contact. This matters especially to older generations. And the firm handshake speaks, as well, to your confidence in who you are, what you can contribute, and your leadership ability.

2. Sound the part. There is an unfortunate habit in the twenty-somethings of what is called “up speak.” Their statements sound more like questions. It appears as if they are uncertain of what they are saying-just the opposite of the impression you want to make. Listen carefully to your speech patterns and be sure that you make your statements with a strong tone that does not rise at the end.

3. Be vulnerable at times. There is nothing to be gained by trying to dominate the team and pretending you know it all. You have much to learn from your team members who have been at the job longer than you. Be willing to ask questions and listen carefully to the answers. Try to achieve a balance between humility and your position of leadership. Be neither defensive nor overbearing and respect will come.

4. Accept the reality of the gap. Recognize that there will be some awkward moments…for both you and your team. A good sense of humor will help bridge any age gap. Beyond acceptance and humor, the best way to overcome the gap in the workplace is to build relationships based on what you can teach each other. The goal is mutual respect.

When all is said and done, remember that you were promoted to management because of your success at your previous role. Others showed their confidence in you. Now it is up to you to own the role and prove them right.