This article covers how a LASER differs from an ordinary beam of light. And things to observe and learn from a LASER. And how to use the properties of a LASER to transform your ordinary team into a highly productive team.
Pardon me for using few geeky terms in this article. LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Sounds geekish doesn’t it? But its quite simple to understand, read on.
Just three properties can transcend light into a LASER:
- Monochromaticity: vibrate with same frequency.
- Directionality: travel in a specific direction.
- Coherence: synchronized in phase in space and time.
Stop. Before you read on, I would like you to think for a minute and try to correlate the above properties with your team.
Are you done? Continue reading.
Monochromaticity means interest to work. Choose the interested over the experienced. Recruit those people whom you are excited to have on board. While, it may not be always possible to build a team from scratch, take every step needed to bring the team to a common wavelength.
Ignite passion for work among the team by rewarding them regularly for their accomplishments no matter how small they may be. Meet and discuss weekly or monthly about the trends in technologies and tools that you work with. Encourage your team to contribute to relevant online forums. That’s when they’ll start loving what they work.
2. Directionality:
Are your team’s common goals clearly defined or are they expected to be understood tacitly?
Does your leader know the goals of your customer? Are your team goals aligned with your customer goals?
Apparent from the word, directionality means focus or direction of team effort. Give a specific direction to your team. On a piece of paper, articulate your client’s expectations from your team. List down your team’s common goals. Discuss about these goals with your team, re-iterate these goals every time your team meets.
Find out and note your team member’s individual goals, persuade them to include team goals that you listed to their individual goals. Let them know how your project’s success would help them get to their goals in a best case scenario.
Do not dictate but try to persuade. In case they have concern or problems, listen them out and try to solve the problems. Reward those that work for team goals. Directionality improves focus, focused efforts mean smart work over hard work.
3. Coherence:
Are your team members synchronized in time with each other?
Does bureaucratic red tape inhibit smooth communication in your team?
Coherence in a team is all about how efficiently the sub groups in a team use each others time and how well they collaborate at work. It is all about coherence of your vision as a leader.
Encourage your team to respect each others time. Reward the groups / individuals that deliver results within the stipulated time. Make sure your meetings do not run longer than they were planned for. Deprecate “Time Hijackers”.
Bring the team to a common platform. Break the red tape, allow free communication among the team. Break bread with your team, take them out for lunches. Conduct team games and encourage team spirit. Team games loosens up “tough” people and helps them blend with others. Respect people irrespective of their titles. When a team member can freely talk to his/her leader, energy flows through the team.
I hope that this post helped you to reflect as a leader, how to make your team as laser. Comment below if you have a better analogy of these properties with respect to productivity in a team.
About the Author: Sridhar Jammalamadaka is the Editor of Interview Mantra. He's a typically non-typical Software Engineer from Pune, India. He likes entrepreneurship, web technologies and Micro Controller programming. He enjoys playing cricket and piano (but rarely does these activities). Through this website, he wishes to gather a large community of aspiring engineers, entrepreneurs and professionals from all parts of the globe. You can connect with him on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/sridhar.j 
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