Learn how to be a good leader to increase your team's engagement and success.
Learning how to be a good leader can have a huge impact on the success of your team, your organization, and yourself.
To be an effective leader, you need to understand your own motivations, strengths, and weaknesses.
Great leaders bond with their team by enabling open communication, promoting growth and development, and providing and receiving feedback.
Anyone can sit in a corner office and delegate tasks, but effective leadership is more. Effective leaders have a huge impact not only on the team members they lead, but also on their company as a whole. Employees who work under great leaders tend to be happier, more productive, and more connected to their company - and this has a ripple effect that affects the bottom line of your company.
"I think a great leader is one who makes people better," Dana Brownlee, founder of Professionalism Matters, told Business News Daily. "There are many litmus tests for being a great leader, but I really look at those around them: do they grow, do they become better leaders themselves, motivated, etc.?"
If you look around and find that your team members are no longer engaged in their work or are stagnant, it may be time to rethink and reform your strategies. According to Brownlee, the following behaviors are signs that you may have poor leadership strategy:
Nobody on your team criticized any of your ideas in the last month.
You spend more time planning your own career path than that of your team members.
You haven't had at least three completely non-work-related conversations with a team member a week.
Different team members would give different answers if asked about your top three priorities for the year.
Team members fear failure.
A recent study by the Center for Creative Leadership has shown that around 38% to more than half of new leaders fail within the first 18 months. Executives can avoid becoming part of these amazing statistic by incorporating good leadership strategies that motivate their team members to achieve their goals.
We spoke to CEOs, directors, and leadership professionals to learn what these leadership strategies are and how you can incorporate them.
1. Engage in honest, open communication.
One of the most important elements of effective leadership is creating an open line of communication with your team members. Sanjay Patoliya, the founder and director of Teclogiq, said that your own honesty and transparency should be a role model for your team members.
"When you're in charge of a team of people, it's important to be direct," he said. "Your company and its people are a reflection of yourself, and if you make honest and ethical behavior a core value, your team will follow suit."
Brownlee added that great leaders are able to tailor their interactions and communication styles to suit any situation and team member, based on individual preferences. “That means they take the time to figure out which mode of communication is preferred by each team member - e. B. SMS, email, phone or face-to-face? other people."
Showing active communication skills and transparency can build trust in your team and improve overall morale. Ruslan Fazlyev, CEO and founder of e-commerce solution provider Ecwid, said that the most important thing in all of your communications is being authentic.
"There are many leadership styles, there is no right and no wrong," he said. “But there are real and fake ones. [Take a look at these different traits, skills, and styles to determine what type of leader you are.]
Key to take awayKey to take away: Maintaining honest and uncomplicated communication inspires your employees to return service. Each team member can have a different style of communication, so it is important to tailor your communication to the person.
2. Connect with your team members.
Leading a group of people requires mutual trust and understanding between the leader and their team members. To achieve this, leaders should learn to connect.