Mastering Leadership Skills To Motivate Your Team
SQI Security Entrepreneur Series 42
How To Gain Influence & Drive Team Performance
Leadership is a topic that will typically interest businesses, managers, and CEOs. It is certainly very true that these are people who should try to understand what makes a good leader, and who can benefit from following leadership tips and advice. In this book, we will be addressing the concept of leadership primarily from this angle. Most examples will pertain to leaders within organizations – whether those are charitable organizations, or whether they are massive corporations.
What Makes a Good Leader?
Leadership is incredibly valuable then, but unfortunately, it is not simple and easy. In fact, to demonstrate just how challenging leadership can be, keep in mind that a lot of people – including those who are in leadership roles – actually have no idea how to be a leader! We have an image of what leadership means, and we often think of it as being “in charge.” That means we need to micromanage our staff, and it means that if they do something wrong, we need to shout at them. Right? This couldn’t be further from what a good leader is.
Communication Skills
One of the most important skills for any influential leader to cultivate is communication. Your ability to write and speak will greatly impact the way that people treat you, and the way that they respond to your instructions.
Consider these tips for providing clearer instructions:
- Provide all instructions right from the start. “Need to know basis” does not apply here.
- Don’t assume anything. This is related to the above point. But if you have a strict requirement, you cannot assume that your recipient will know that and plan their work around it. Don’t wait until they’ve wasted hours doing something unnecessary to point out the precise specification!
- Be clear and concise. You can write a more detailed instruction if you want, but make sure that the key specifications are written in a bulleted list that is extremely simple to follow. A long paragraph runs the risk of being overlooked or ignored. People just want to get on with their work and “detailed” instructions are actually counterproductive!
- Demonstrate where possible. This is a very useful tip as it will help to show exactly what it is you’re looking for. If you can’t demonstrate, then finding a useful example or analogue of what you’re looking for is also a good option. When asking a team to design a website for instance, it is a good idea to provide an example of the kind of thing you are looking for.
- Ask questions. If you ask questions then you will also be able to see if the person understands what you’re saying. Likewise, give them the opportunity to ask questions if they have any.
- Make sure you have their full attention! If you are in a crisis situation, or a parent, then providing a written checklist for your followers to read through is likely not an option!
How to Command Respect and Speak So Others Will Listen
One of the most common questions in regards to leadership is this: should you be feared or liked? Some leaders are effective because they frighten their team into submission. When you are a strict leader who has been known to reprimand the team, this can gain you a reputation for being no nonsense. People therefore don’t want to upset you, and thus they will do precisely what you instruct.
That’s one approach anyway.
The other approach is to try and be liked. The idea here is that you become someone that people enjoy spending time with, and who can actually enjoy socializing as a part of the team. You are a friend to your team, which means that they will want to please you out of respect and out of kindness. Thus, when you ask them to do something, they do it!
So which is better?
Why It’s Important to Know Your Team
As a leader, your job is to achieve some kind of goal, or reach some kind of target, all by encouraging your team to do their best work. Again, it is not your job to micromanage that team or to do the work for them. Rather, you are simply encouraging them and giving them a safe place to exercise their inherent abilities.
Getting the Most Out of Your Team
Finding ways to get the most out of staff is a constant struggle for business owners and managers who are constantly told different things and given different information. One minute it’s a good idea to incentivise staff with potential bonuses, perks and rewards, the next that same advice is apparently wrong. How do you know what to believe and what do you do for best? And why is there so much disagreement in the first place?
Interested in reading more please click below the ebook front cover below to access the full version of this ebook.
