5 ways to ensure your team gets the credit it deserves, according to business leaders

The world of work has changed forever, but disparate professionals still need to be inspired to contribute, whether in the office, at home, or on the road.

Five business leaders explain how they ensure their team members get the credit they deserve in the modern working environment.

1. Sing the praises of your staff

Madoc Batters, head of cloud and IT security at Warner Leisure Hotels, said good managers are the most visible presence of a much larger team effort.

"I'm just the spokesperson for the people doing the work," he said. "Successful delivery is a team game. I'm here to help clear the blockers, give people the freedom to innovate, and help support their success."

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Batters told ZDNET he takes every opportunity to ensure the efforts of his staff are recognized, including at senior executive get-togethers.

"We've got a leadership conference in the next couple of days, so I'll be singing the praises of my teams and showing everyone else how we affect change," he said.

Batters said Warner ensures the right people are associated with the right tasks through a democratic process instead of relying on a central change mechanism.

"It's the teams that make the decisions about those changes, and they get involved early in the design process to ensure we can deliver something valuable for the business," he said.

Batters suggested that people who know how their work is part of a bigger picture are more satisfied and eager to drive change.

"There's no way that a small number of people can affect the amount of work we need to complete," he said.

"Transformation is a massive team sport, and we must ensure everyone is fit, enabled, and looking forward to the game. Your success as a manager is all about having a healthy team."

2. Judge people objectively

Chris Kronenthal, president and CTO at FreedomPay, said giving credit to the right people means business leaders must create an environment where they can judge employee contributions qualitatively and quantitatively.

"We'll have high performers and people who aren't doing so well," he said. "It's important to force your managers to review everyone objectively. And if they can't, you're doing the entire team a disservice because people won't understand what constitutes success."

Kronenthal told ZDNET that quantitative measures of performance help ensure managers aren't reliant on qualitative opinions -- and employees should welcome these numerical measures, too.

"Anyone shying away from measurement is not set up for success," he said. "A good performer should want to be measured because they're comfortable with how hard they're working."

He said quantitative measures can be used to prompt qualitative debates about whether, for example, underperformers need more training.

"Then at least that conversation starts objectively," he said. "And from there, you can take corrective action, but at least you do it from a place of integrity, versus thinking, 'I like them' or 'I don't like them.' That's never going to work."

3. Give your staff a playground

Stephen Mason, advanced digital technologies manager for global industrial operations at Jaguar Land Rover, said he relies on his talented IT professionals to support the business strategy he puts in place.

"I understand the vision that the technology can help deliver," he said. "So there isn't any focus on 'I' or 'me.' Every session is focused on getting the team together and giving the right people the platform to talk effectively."

Mason told ZDNET that successful managers lean on experts and allow them to excel.

"What's been apparent recently is the importance of serving back into them to provide the tools they need," he said.

Mason put that theory into practice recently when he led the implementation of Ericsson Private 5G in JLR's manufacturing processes at its Solihull plant in the UK.

"One of the things the team needed was a lab where they could go and understand these new areas," he said.

"So we made sure they had the lab environment, some test kits, and the devices, and then enabled them to go and do their work."

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Mason said his staff used the lab to test 5G before the technology went live in a production environment. This approach meant the team received credit for a successful rollout.

"This technology is new and different. My team needs that platform to learn because we must have a flawless launch," he said.

"We run a 24/6 production line, and there isn't necessarily the space for innovation and play. An environment where people can learn the technology and get hands-on with it is key."

4. Use deliberate tactics

Caroline Carruthers, CEO at Carruthers and Jackson, said leaders with a strong personality must make an extra effort to ensure their team's efforts are recognized.

"I can be quite loud, so I started doing things deliberately to ensure my team is seen," she said.

Carruthers told ZDNET that she uses a few tactics to put staff on a pedestal.

"I make sure I'm not the first person to speak. And when I talk about achievements, I call out the people who have done the work," she said.

"It's easy to be a figurehead. But there is a team behind me of amazing people, and I wouldn't be where I am without them."

5. Build strong bonds

Michael Vuong, head of project management at BrandAlley, said his organization calls out success at each stage of an initiative.

That was the case during a recent project that introduced Superlinked and Redis technology to push personal recommendations to customers across multiple digital platforms.

"We have gone through similar migrations at BrandAlley, and many of the team members have been here for years," he said.

Vuong told ZDNET how digital transformation programs aren't always straightforward. The online fashion retailer's previous product recommendation service had a "cold start problem" and often suggested items with limited sizes or that had sold out.

The successful implementation of the Superlinked and Redis systems meant the team received ample praise.

"Knowing what could happen, our CEO has given the team credit for having such a smooth migration this time," he said.

Vuong said successful delivery means focusing on end goals.

"I've seen migrations almost collapse businesses, and, therefore, based on that, we've all had individual roles that allowed us to get to the point where we needed to, in terms of the technology and the business teams," he said.

"Even though we did this work through a peak period, the team worked extremely well together to deliver the project so that BrandAlley had a smooth migration to the new platforms."

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