“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” – Jim Rohn
In a recent study of leaders(1), a correlation was discovered between the level of passion and engagement demonstrated by a leader and the effectiveness of their team. Whether long-serving CEO or first-time supervisor, this correlation remained consistent.
Sadly, a recent 2019 poll by the Conference Board(2) reports that 54% of employees are dissatisfied with their jobs. This level of dissatisfaction is the highest it’s been in over two decades. The most significant contributor to this level of discontent is all topics connected to the level of leader engagement with the team.
Here are the key elements that team leaders need to deliver to achieve high-performing teams:
Set Distinct Goals
Focus on roles and responsibilities. Provide your team with a clear and robust understanding of the team’s goal and how each member contributes to achieving it. Maintaining an emphasis on this area should be approached as an ongoing effort, not a single event.
Recognize Skill
Spotlight each team member’s strengths. Help them leverage their strengths to gain higher levels of impact. People who feel competent about their contribution will be more committed to maintaining high-performance levels.
Communication
Keeping your team informed may sound simple, but communicating effectively takes some skill. You must understand each team member’s preferred communication style and mode. Effective communication means that you must be able to communicate in different styles and use various communication channels, like face-to-face, text, emails, team meetings, etc.
Room to Grow
Motivation grows when people can pursue learning goals. When team members develop new skills, they benefit personally, and the team benefits as a whole. Skillful delegation can give your people an outstanding opportunity to practice leadership and develop their abilities in new areas.
Build Trust
Trust is the fuel of a team. Without trust, your team will go nowhere. You establish trust by first trusting your team. Keeping your commitments, showing up with authenticity, and treating everyone fairly and ethically will help to cement team trust. The world is filled with leaders who abuse the trust of others. Lack of trust hurts not only the organization but the whole leadership movement.
Responsibility
Most team members want to improve and be of value to their team. Sometimes, team leaders can be obstacles to higher team performance. It’s far too easy for leaders to fall into micromanaging and preventing their people from doing their jobs effectively. You can avoid this by providing clear expectations, consistent training, and regular feedback and coaching.
Respect
Recent studies report that a large part of the American workforce feels that they are not respected at work. Team leaders can (and the duty) to change this concerning statistic. When leaders are transparent, actively listen, engage team members as complete and cable participants, and use their position to support and guide, they create an environment conducive to achievement.
Pride in the Work
People have an innate drive to do meaningful work with high-level skills. As a leader, you can create a positive, upbeat working environment that fuels self-motivation and pride. Investing your time and effort into creating an atmosphere that supports and encourages people to be their best will deliver significant results for your team and you.
Achievement
Leaders who can align people with the proper role can achieve incredible outcomes. A crucial function of a team leader is to eliminate obstacles and advocate for your team. By setting clear goals and coaching your team members to reach those goals, you will avoid some of the most common mistakes leaders make.
(1) Associations between a Leader’s Work Passion and an Employee’s Work Passion: A Moderated Mediation ModelFrontiers of Psychology, 28 August 2017 Jingjing Li, Jian Zhang, and Zhiguo Yang https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01447/full
(2) Poll: Job Satisfaction Climbs to Highest Level in Over Two Decades https://www.conference-board.org/press/pressdetail.cfm?pressid=9160
