Building Positive Team Culture as a Foreman

TradeManagement_August

TradeManagement_AugustYour role as a foreman includes setting the tone for your crew’s interactions. Because you need everyone to work together to stay on target, collaboration is necessary. One of the best ways to encourage teamwork is by creating a positive team culture. Your crew is more likely to perform their best when they feel like part of a united team.

Follow these guidelines to promote a positive team culture as a foreman.

1. Lead by Example

Demonstrate the attitudes and behaviors you would like to see from your crew. Your workers are likely to behave according to what they see you do. This is why you should openly commend your team members for their hard work, kind actions, and meeting or exceeding expectations.

2. Huddle Your Crew

Gather your workers at the start and end of each day. Talk about the day’s work efforts, safety reminders, and other work-related topics. Ask your crew to provide their ideas for completing the day’s tasks. Encourage them to talk about the challenges and shortcomings before they leave for the day. This shows your workers’ contributions are valued and respected.

3. Get To Know Your Team

Find out which work tasks each of your crew members likes and dislikes, how your workers adjust to others, which forms of learning are their favorites, and how they prefer to receive feedback. Use this information to personalize your requests and expectations for each crew member. You should benefit from enhanced relationships, increased motivation among your team, and greater performance.

4. Change up Partnerships

Regularly assigning different crew members to work together enhances teamwork and learning. Your workers get to know each other better and gain new perspectives on how to complete tasks. This encourages everyone to continuously improve their performance.

5. Provide Proper Tools and Equipment

Your crew needs tools and equipment to be in the best working condition to produce the desired results. Purchasing the necessary items and ensuring they are correctly handled and regularly inspected shows you want your workers to succeed and encourages them to respect the tools and equipment.

6. Express Appreciation

Regularly thank your crew members for their hard work. Show how their dedication added to the progress made each week. When a job is completed, point out specific ways each of your workers contributed to the finished product. Reward them with lunch, bonuses, raises, or promotions when appropriate.

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Are You a Foreman? Here’s Why You Need a Self-Improvement Plan for 2021

As a foreman, part of your success plan for 2021 should include prioritization of management self-improvement. After all, your team members’ performance depends on your performance. The more engaged you are, the more engaged your team members will be. And, the more you practice self-development to improve, the more your employees will follow your example.

Discover four reasons why you need professional self-improvement and how it can benefit your team.

Enhance Your One-on-Ones

Maximize results through effective one-on-ones. Predetermine when and where you meet, how long your discussions are, and how often you have conversations. Prepare topics to cover and questions to ask to make the subjects actionable. Provide clear, constructive feedback so your employees can improve their performance. Plus, hold your team accountable for carrying out the activities they are assigned.

Cultivate Your Listening Skills

Learn to ask great questions and focus on the answers. Pay attention to what someone is saying and ask follow-up questions. Questions may include, “How do you feel your work-life balance is right now?”,  “What motivates you to perform your best each day?” or “In which parts of your work would you like me to provide more or less direction?” Reflection is one of the best ways to perceive answers. Reflection involves sharing what you believe the person is saying and seeing if they agree. You can either get clarification or move forward knowing you interpreted their words correctly.

Encourage Buy-In

Present an idea in a way that is exciting to team members. Bring up potential concerns and solutions in advance to overcome them. Then, ask your team members for input and suggestions for improvement. When team members feel they have a say, they are more likely to “buy into” the decision.

Maximize Productivity

Because your team’s productivity is critical, emphasize improving their collective results. For instance, teach your team members to find ways to increase productivity for themselves and their teammates. This may include finding ways to make team meetings more effective. Ask whether anyone feels that someone is not fully contributing to your team’s results. If so, ask whether a team member will provide the individual with constructive criticism or set up a time to privately discuss the matter with the employee.

Enhance Your Team’s Success

Enhance your team’s success by adding experienced construction and skilled trade talent from Trade Management to your workforce. Learn firsthand how we earned the 2020 Best of Staffing award for providing remarkable service to our clients. Get started with us today.