When a working team reaches its full potential, the workplace quickly becomes a more collaborative and productive place where business goals are easily reached. Successfully leading a team requires a different set of skills than managing. Leading is more about the people—supporting them in their daily tasks, helping them develop and hone their natural skills and talents, and motivating them as they work toward achieving individual and team goals.
Below, we describe six essential habits that you as a leader can regularly practice to boost your team’s performance while creating a positive culture shift:
- Encourage & Celebrate
Two of the best ways to boost engagement and motivation are to share positive feedback and acknowledge important contributions. Encourage your team and celebrate wins (as well as what was learned through challenges). Genuine praise for a job well done can become a cornerstone of your culture and a hallmark of your leadership.
2. Embrace Learning Opportunities
Mistakes and missed goals happen to everyone. Use them as an opportunity to help your team (and yourself) learn and grow. Approach this learning process with constructive feedback, focusing on specific actions your team can take in the future to achieve greater effectiveness. Then, perhaps most importantly, listen to what your employees have to say and give them space to express what would help them move forward. This process helps employees feel heard, validated and empowered to grow in their roles while also deepening their confidence and trust in you as a leader.
3. Be Transparent
Just like in any relationship, open and honest communication is essential to any leader’s long-term success. An office environment with lots of closed-door discussions and rampant rumors zaps energy. Instead, keep team members in the loop. Minimize speculation and surprises and witness the growth of trust and collaboration.
4. Delegate
Continue to build trust and confidence with your team by empowering them with tasks critical to the growth of the organization. Entrust them with important responsibilities, provide the necessary resources and review a list of required deliverables with scheduled checkpoints; then, step back, get out of the way and let them do their thing. They will feel valued and trusted as their confidence grows.
BONUS: This also frees up time for you to focus on high-priority, big-picture tasks.
5. Stay Flexible
Modern leaders need to be flexible. Gone are the days of everyone being in-office from 9 to 5. Today’s employees expect opportunities for remote and hybrid work schedules. In addition, flexibility shows up in how you approach everyday situations with your team. Be willing to reallocate resources and rethink priorities to ensure goals are being met in a way that supports both the organization and your employees.
6. Lean Into a Growth Mindset
Provide your team with the time and resources they need to continue their professional development. This can be accomplished through monthly internal training sessions, time and budget support for webinars and coursework, team book clubs, shared podcasts, showing interest in the career goals of your employees, etc.
And the same goes for you. Your growth is just as important, and when you make your continuous learning a priority, you inspire and encourage your team to do the same.
How Can Innolect Help?
At Innolect, we help build the foundation for you to bring your best self to work, and we thrive on building high-integrity workplaces. The bottom line? We are committed to helping leaders live with purpose as they develop and grow themselves, their teams and their organizations. Learn more about our approaches HERE.
To set up a consultation or training, contact us today. Additionally, our products and assessments help leaders develop the skills and capabilities needed to grow exponentially. Consider ordering our latest book for you and your team: Ignite Your Imagination: 21 Ways to Learn.
Contact us to schedule a consultation:
https://innolectinc.com/contact-us/
(803) 396-8500
innolect@innolectinc.com