Successful Leaders Rise with their Team
Photo by Carl Jorgensen on Unsplash
No one ever said being a leader is easy. If you want to be a successful leader, you need to listen to your team and work alongside of them to make the team great.
Leaders have many roles - they are managers, coaches and sometimes parents and babysitters. Leaders have to manage up and down and all around the organization. Everything they do is scrutinized and it can be difficult to make everyone happy. The most important people they need to focus on is their team if they want the team to be successful.
I have learned a lot after managing some large teams in my career. I didn’t always do the right things, but I was always willing to listen to feedback on what I could do differently to help the team. Here are my suggestions on the key areas that leaders should focus on -
Empower your team - Micromanaging is the most damaging to individuals on the team. I understand why some leaders feel they need to do this because they think they are helping people by telling them how and what to do. I can tell you this is not helping your team. It is only making them frustrated and feeling they can’t do anything without the boss’ sign off. A good manager empowers their team to take the lead on projects and then gets out of their way. This is how you create new leaders.
Be empathetic - You have to put yourself in your team members shoes to understand what they are dealing with. If you keep hearing the same complaints over and over from various team members, something has to change. When leaders turn a deaf ear to what their team is trying to tell them, it demotivates them. When team members become disenchanted, it causes a chain reaction and the morale of the team can go down.
Build relationships - it is so important to build relationships across the team. Get to know each member and understand what makes them tick. When managers don’t speak to their team members, the perception is that the manager only cares about themselves. Get out of your office or out of your Zoom room and talk to your team. Learn about the challenges they are facing especially in this COVID environment. Listening is one of the most important skills a leader can have.
Be a coach-The most important thing to understand is everyone on the team adds value and you have to look for the strengths in each person instead of focusing on their weaknesses. This doesn’t mean you don’t tell people what their opportunities are for improvements, but you need to be constructive. When you tell them about these opportunities, you also need to guide them in how they can improve.
I have seen many times where leaders work against people on their team. This is a sign of insecurity. They think if someone on their team gets more exposure or more credit than they do, it’s a poor reflection on them. This can’t be further from the truth. It will only help you as the leader to become successful when your team succeeds!
Here’s to your success!
Best,
Rene