Want to be an excellent leader? A truly inspirational, effective agent of your team’s success? There is literally nothing harder – or more important – in the world of work. That’s why effective leaders are rare in real life.
If that discourages you, then maybe you don’t have what it takes to lead after all. If it motivates you instead? Well, then, here are 10 strategies to take it from “in charge guy/gal” to “excellent leader !”
1. Repeat after me (to your team): “My job is to help you be successful by making your job easier.”
No, your job is not to give them the day off to shop while you finish up their work for them. But your job as leader is to remove impediments and provide the tools for your people’s success. Take the obstacles out of their way and give them the resources so they can do the important work of your company: serving their internal and external customers.
If your team keeps losing hours to a clunky approval process, simplify it or assign one decision-maker so they can move faster. If a new hire is drowning in outdated onboarding docs, create a clean starter guide instead of making them play corporate archaeology. If the software crashes every afternoon at 3:00, fix that before morale starts timing itself by the spinning wheel.
2. Foster friendships among your staff.
After work socialization is important – it is! But nothing builds camaraderie and team spirit like shared success as the result of shared struggle. What’s your team’s greater goal? What significant challenges are you confronting that all of you can be proud of overcoming together?
Rally everyone around improving customer response time by 20 percent this quarter. Pair people from different functions to solve a recurring problem together. Why? Because nothing says “team bonding” like wrestling a spreadsheet into submission. Celebrate when the team pulls off a difficult launch together, then make sure everyone knows exactly how their part contributed.
3. Reward for the big things. And the medium things. And even the itty-bitty little things.
We like praise. We want recognition. One winner-takes-all vacation or mega-bonus for the year’s top performer is great and all, but how about a $5 Starbucks, or even a made-up certificate from your printer, because someone did an exceptional job delivering an important report.
Publicly thank the person who stayed calm and solved a customer issue before it escalated. Celebrate the employee who improved a small internal process that saves everyone ten minutes a day—small wins add up, unlike the office birthday cake, which mysteriously disappears in six minutes. Mention someone’s extra effort in the team meeting the same week it happened, while the win is still fresh.
4. Coach them.
People of quality want to be good at their jobs. Kindly help them to improve. …Kindly, but maybe not gently. If someone struggles with presentations, give them practice opportunities and direct feedback after each one.
If a team member writes unclear emails, coach them on structure and tone before those messages become their own genre of mystery fiction. If an employee is great technically but weak at delegation, help them learn to empower others with meaningful responsibilities.
5. Release the “Just Enoughers” to other “opportunities.”
We all know the “Just Enoughers.” Employees that do just enough to avoid getting fired. No one likes to work with slackers – except other slackers. Redeploy them sooner than later. As the old saying goes, “If it’s inevitable, make it immediate.”
If someone repeatedly ignores deadlines despite coaching and support, don’t let the rest of the team carry that load forever. When one person contributes only the bare minimum on every group project, everyone notices and not in a fun, surprise-party kind of way. If an employee consistently avoids responsibility while stronger teammates pick up the pieces, act before resentment becomes the team’s primary shared hobby.
6. Hire slowly and caaaaarefully!
Show your current team members and your new recruits that not just anybody belongs on your team. If you want to build an elite group, hire top performers. You’ll have to kiss a lot of frogs as you vet the talent pond. Include practical exercises in your interview process so candidates can demonstrate how they think and work.
Ask future teammates to meet finalists and share feedback. Because if the whole team gets a weird vibe, that’s usually not just the fluorescent lighting. Check references carefully for patterns, not just polished compliments.
7. Give them something important to get up for in the morning.
Remember number 2, with the part about shared challenges? Pick a lofty goal. Then make pursuit of that the rallying cry of your team. Change lives, change how business is done; don’t just settle to change who wins this year’s sales contest. Frame your work around helping customers solve a meaningful problem, not just hitting a monthly metric.
Challenge your team to become the most trusted service group in the company. People can get excited about a mission, even before coffee fully kicks in. Tie routine tasks back to a larger impact so people can see why the work matters.
8. Talk up your people to others.
Talk your team up to your peers, to their peers, to your boss and her boss and heck, to the security guard, too. Be proud of each of them, and share that pride with anyone who’ll listen. Word will filter back to them, and as it does, it will have a major impact.
Mention a team member’s creative solution in a leadership meeting. Send a quick note to a colleague praising how one of your people handled a tough situation. Good reputations travel fast, especially in offices where gossip moves at Wi-Fi speed. Advocate for your people when stretch assignments or promotions are being discussed.
9. Expect the world of them.
Establish with your team how highly you respect and admire them. Expect big things from them. They will live up to your image of them, no matter what it takes. Tell your team you trust them to handle a major customer presentation and then support them as they prepare.
Assign ownership of an important initiative to someone who is ready to stretch. People often rise to the occasion when they know you believe in them, and occasionally even update the project tracker without being chased. Set a high bar for quality and consistency, then reinforce that standard with coaching and recognition.
10. Be worthy of their effort.
Want to really be the best, most effective leader ever? Work to improve yourself every day, in every way that is important to your team’s success. In order to lead a group of champions to new heights, you as leader must be worthy of the team’s time and energy. And that’s a lot more than we have room for in one blog post.
Ask your team for honest feedback on your communication and then act on what you hear. If you expect accountability, model it—show up prepared, follow through, and admit mistakes without performing interpretive dance around the issue. Keep learning, whether that means better listening, better planning, or better conflict resolution.
When it percolates back to you how respected you are by those you serve as leader… you’ll be infinitely prouder than if they told you themselves!
Here’s to bold leadership, continuous wins, and a team that loves showing up,
Peter Mclees Leadership
Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT
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