To lead a team, you need to be competent and disciplined enough to do so, but have you ever wondered what it takes to be a successful team leader? Though there many attributes that make a great team leader. Because, you’re going to be in charge of the daily activities of people with diverse backgrounds, training, and human relationship. How you are going to create unison among your team is a very critical part of your skills as a leader, is not about been respected, it’s about serving and influencing others regardless of their job roles to achieve a certain goal. More than anything, it’s about creating harmony in an environment where people work with a common goal.
Anyone can sit in the corner of their office and delegate a task, but they're more to this of kind leadership than it meets the eye. Effective leadership should have an impact not only on the team members they lead but the company as a whole. Team members who work under a great leader tend to be more productive, happier, and more connected to the company, this has its ripple effect that reaches the bottom line of the business:-
Who is a leader?
Many people mistake the position of a boss and a leader or use it interchangeably but, in this context – a leader can be referred to as a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of goals. Leadership is the art of motivating other people to go beyond the ordinary and work towards accomplishing a common goal. Effective leadership is to inspire people and engages the team through effective communication as well.
As a leader, you are also the director of any action taken by the team. Though originality is one trait of a leader, this is not cast in stone. The ideas of the other team members can be implemented by the leader to show how valuable each member of the team is to the company.
A leader inspires people to willingly contribute to the success of an organization, another part of leadership is coaching your employees. This not only helps to build cohesiveness within the team but is a great way to build your employees’ problem-solving skills and further their careers. Every employee needs to bring value to the organization, and that value needs to be greater than the cost of that employee to the company. A good leader can recognize their employees’ unique skill sets and utilize them in ways that maximize their talents for the benefit of the company.
There are some skills you’ll need to have to become a successful team leader and below are just a few of those:
1. Organization
One thing that singles out a successful team leader is, your ability to recognize you have got a limited resource to work with. This includes both monetary and human capital as well as time. Your capability to successfully run on such a budget and manage the affairs of the company is one remarkable trait of a great leader. Simply put, how you prioritize and organize each of the tasks you carry, so that waste is minimized. Causing frivolous expenditures on a tight company budget can be detrimental to both the employee and the company.
The organization is such an essential quality every leader must possess, employ a mechanism to streamline productivity as much as possible. Have a standard system to deal with all tasks, without organization, a lot of important decisions will be abandoned.
2. Prioritization
To successfully lead a team of employees to attain certain goals, you need to be able to prioritize the task that is most essential and time-sensitive to achieve success on a project. The focus on task management is to develop your skill as a leader. The best way to complete all tasks is to prioritize them accordingly with levels of importance and designate the right team for each task.
As a leader you must have special eyes to identify talents and groom them to the benefit of the company; identify the strength of each member that works on a task they enjoy. This will increase the quality of work delivered and encourage the productivity of the team. A great leader tries to optimize his team’s time, effort, and resource – which is very essential.
3. Motivation
The trait of a successful leader is staying motivated despite the circumstance that could have him think of giving up on the job. As a leader your mood is the representation of what going on in the company, you carry the spirit of your team members. The posture of a great leader gives a reason why the team members must believe in you and allow you to lead them.
Being a great leader means knowing how to motivate both the group and the individuals within the company. Using techniques like outside team-building exercises can enhance group cohesiveness and group problem-solving skills. These are the very things necessary when working in a group environment.
Good team building is essential in every activity in the work environment, as a leader you need to understand the individual team members and their needs and how to address them accordingly. Everyone has their motivation for doing things, some members are motivated by the monetary gain they get from their work - so is there is a bonus at the end of it all? Or giving flexible working hours on special days? You need to make sure they understand their performance will be taking into consideration when drawing the motivation package.
4. Encourage Creativity
Have regular meetings with your team members to brainstorm and share ideas, also allow them the space to invent and create. As a leader, you must encourage your team to bring out their ingenuity and observe the talent they possess. But as a team leader, you must set some ground rules for these brainstorming sections.
Your team members need to be assured that, they're nothing like stupid ideas, especially in meeting sessions.
The key to successful leadership is to be different and do the extraordinary stuff to surmount challenges whenever you encountered them. As a leader you’ll be faced with challenges or unfamiliar situations, always have a plan ready to counter such circumstances, and not let your experience dictate your decision. Most individuals prefer to play it safe and stay on course, but creative thinking is a way to make you stand out among the rest of your pack. Encourage your team to think outside the box.
There is beauty in building on other person ideas – This is where encouraging wild ideas pays off. Commonly, one person’s idea will trigger someone else idea or even better idea. In effect, your team is harnessing and building off of each other’s brainpower.
5. Be Confident
One charisma that draws people to a leader is the level of confidence he exudes in whatever situation he finds himself in. It is a natural enigma that attracts people, a great leader must believe in his team's ability to accomplish a goal. Setting clear goals and with a clear sense of direction on achieving these targets is very critical to successful leadership. But, don’t mistake confidence with arrogance.
6. Decisiveness
Most decisions rest with you as the leader of the team but your timely intervention of how to deal with every situation shows how successful you’re as a leader. The timely manner in which you deal with a decision is one trait to look for in a leader, do not let any situation escalate before you proffer a solution for your team; always be ready to offer help and listen to the team members before you make a conclusive decision.
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