As a team leader sometimes you speak loudly saying: “The team is dedicated, they are staying late and working on weekends yet the target is not met. Is there any solution?”

Let me tell you a story that can help you understand more the situation you are facing.

When I was at school we were divided into 3 groups, the first group hated the sport session, the second one was sportive and the third one was athletic.

Personally, I was from the second group. One day the sport teacher informed us that will have a run competition, I was very excited about it and I told myself I will make today an unbeatable score.

I was keeping an eye on the athletic guys; I wanted to make sure to be on the same line with them during the run. Go!!! , the teacher said. The first 3 tours everything was under control, the athletics were running beside me, and I was so happy and proud, suddenly in the forth tour they accelerated, the thing that obliged me to make a big effort to follow them, in the final tour they accelerated more, I tried my best to catch up with them but failed. When we finished, one of the athletic guys put his hand on my shoulder and said to me “you made remarkable results today”.

What can we learn from this story?

1. Do not put targets you know cannot achieve in your current situation. 
2. If you are an athletic that does not mean that your team is, so set realistic work schedules.
3. Overloading your team with work will not necessary increase the productivity, unless you have a team of athletics they will get tired before achieving the expected results.

All team leaders dream of having a super team, for them to achieve this they need to observe, train, assist, and promote. The most important is to know the current capabilities of your team members and assign the work to them accordingly.