"I've never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else." - Abby Wambach
Every successful team includes a great team leader who has mastered the art of team leadership. Their skills create a positive working environment that ultimately leads to team effectiveness.
A great example of team leaders in corporate America is Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. He successfully transformed Microsoft's culture to create a collaborative and growth-mindset-oriented environment, leading to the development of new products – and big increases in shareholder value.
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In a workplace team leadership, refers to how a leader guides a team towards set objectives. Toward this objective, the leader uses a variety of techniques and skills that ultimately rally each member—with specific roles— toward the goal.
Some of the techniques used by the leader may include: setting clear goals & objectives, effective delegation, providing feedback and coaching, building trust and psychological safety, and creating and managing expectations.
For budding leaders, and even experienced leaders, a deeper understanding of team leadership theory helps in adapting the best team leadership model for a given situation. This is particularly important as workplaces increasingly become complex with many intertwined variables such as the shifting work models such as hybrid and remote work.
To navigate these complexities that come with team leadership, a leader needs to master a set of skills discussed below.
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One of the distinguishing features of a good team leader is effective communication skills. As George Bernard Shaw aptly said, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." An effective leader should avoid falling into this trap.
As a team leader, how do you then avoid falling into this trap? Do the following:
Emotional intelligence (EI) ranks as one of the most important leadership behaviors for a team leader. When a team understands that their leader is emotionally attuned to them, it becomes easier to relate on a personal level.
Emotionally intelligent leaders have mastered the following key components: self-awareness, self-regulation, relationship management, and social awareness.
By consistently applying these strategies, you can enhance your emotional intelligence. A heightened emotional sense will improve your mental well-being and help you build better relationships.
"We are stubborn on vision, but flexible on details."
This quote from Jeff Bezos gives us a unique insight into the mind of a strategic thinker. He can adjust day-to-day operational decisions to match the long-term strategic vision of the organization.
Jeff Bezos is just one of many leaders who have developed their strategic thinking and used it to achieve great success in life.
Strategic thinking includes generating insights on a continued basis to achieve an advantage. A great team leader generates new insights by analyzing data from different sources and figuring out how the new data can have an impact on the current team leadership model.
This ability plays a key role in any organization and is one of the most valued skills in leaders today.
With strategic thinking, a team leader can navigate the often extreme challenge of balancing operational matters and strategic matters.
In addition to this, strategic thinking lets team leaders successfully plan for the future. The future is uncertain, but with strategic thinking, team leaders can generate multiple strategies for the future and choose one that will maximize the growth of the organization.
To improve strategic thinking, do the following:
This might interest you: How to Master Strategic Thinking in Leadership.
It is quite normal for human beings to feel demotivated or to lack the drive to do anything. For businesses and organizations that want to achieve anything, this could be a problem.
Great team leaders can maximize team motivation and engagement.
Having highly motivated teams will help your organization be able to attract new employees, including the best on the job market.
Once you've attracted the best employees, it is all about retaining them. If employees are motivated and engaged, they are less likely to leave.
Finally, motivation levels and productivity go hand in hand. If you can get your employees or team members to join your shared vision, you will automatically get increased productivity.
To motivate others as a leader, do the following:
Team leadership by delegation is a tough skill to master as it means handing over key leadership tasks to another person, and typically less senior.
However, when done correctly, it is one of the most effective leadership skills you can have.
Delegation of authority amplifies a team leader's reach and eliminates bottlenecks in the decision-making process.
It also allows team members with leadership potential to show their capabilities by autonomously working on challenges.
Furthermore, delegation frees up time for a leader to focus on more important tasks within the organization.
This might interest you: Delegation of Authority: How to Delegate work as a Manager.
Conflict is inevitable in any team or organization. Consequently, conflict resolution is an expected part of effective team leadership.
By resolving conflicts, a leader achieves the following: enhanced team dynamics, improved productivity, improved psychological safety, and better team morale.
To resolve conflicts amicably, use the following strategies:
As a final point, a great leader must remember that conflict has some advantages. If ideas aren't challenged and different views aired, then how do good ideas become great ideas?
The world today is not the world we are going to be living in a few years from now. Leaders or leadership teams that adapt to changing conditions do well no matter what they are faced with.
An adaptive leadership style is one of the most important leadership skills one can have today. Change is happening rapidly all around us and adaptability could make a big difference between those who make it and those who don't.
Adaptability in team leadership requires the following leadership skills:
Coaching and mentoring are sometimes used interchangeably but in the context of team leadership, there are some key differences.
Mentors, often experts in their fields, help those with less experience achieve success.
While there may be some overlap, coaching focuses on helping leaders optimize their team leadership styles.
Leadership coaches collaborate with you and let you find answers.
A coach is a partner who guides you towards clarity about the leader you want to be and the most appropriate leadership style for you.
Mentoring and coaching play a key role in any team leadership model out there.
There are often numerous obstacles in the way and it can be difficult to make it on your own.
Mentors and coaches can help you recognize the issues standing in your way and help you develop strategies on how to fix them.
One of the most important skills of a good leader is the ability to create other great leaders. Effective leaders have an authentic desire to see others improve.
To do this, a strong leader must empower others and impart key team leadership skills to other team members.
In the business world, empowerment creates an environment where people take action. A good leader in this case knows that leadership happens when you are there for others and support them in finding their magic.
Do the following:
As a leader, you cannot function effectively without feedback.
Feedback can be verbal or nonverbal and it is a direct way to measure your effectiveness as a leader. And remember: it is the responsibility of team managers or appointed leaders to seek out feedback.
Taking feedback into account is a critical part of achieving any leadership objective.
In an organization, feedback serves the following purposes:
Now that we know the importance of feedback for team leadership, it is equally important to have the right skill set to give and receive feedback.
When you understand the role feedback plays in team leadership, you'll be more likely to incorporate it into your plan for great team leadership. Feedback is one of the best ways to improve as a leader or team member.
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When you assume a leadership role, it can be unsettling if you are unprepared. You are likely to be judged on how to handle leadership challenges from day one, creating an impression that can either break or enable you in executing your role.
At Highrise, we ensure that you are adequately prepared to face leadership challenges and become the leader you want to be.
Check out our membership and join a growing community of like-minded professionals, all supporting each other on their paths to leadership.
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