ARTICLE SUMMARY
Being an effective leader is not an easy job. Check out this article to learn more about how your leadership influences your team's performance.
Leadership has been interpreted in so many different ways that it has become extremely difficult to establish what effective leadership is. Let’s start from the beginning! The official definition of leadership is:
The position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group; Ability to lead; an act or instance of leading; Guidance; direction.
Business dictionaries, however, take this a bit further:
Leadership involves: establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realize that vision, and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders.
Unlike management, leadership cannot be taught. While there is no such thing as a “leadership school,” however, it’s possible to enhance leadership skills through specialized mentoring/coaching.
We’ve gathered a few comprehensive tips to help you on your path toward becoming an effective leader.
How do you become an effective leader?
Leadership is all about people, and steering a team towards a common goal. As you may have experienced in your professional life, it’s clear that many business people simply do not care about managing people. Rather, they’re interested in creating great products and/or services, finding great opportunities, and meeting customers.
Managing people is necessary, however. Every entrepreneur will face this challenge unless they hire another person to perform this task. But leaders can’t simply be “created.”
While some leadership skills may be innate in certain people, no business can depend on that when they hire a manager. Good leaders first recognize that they have the skill set necessary to lead people towards a common goal. Even natural leaders can be trained to become more effective.
That’s why some entrepreneurs decide to hire a person specifically to take over the responsibilities of managing the company’s employees. Brilliant engineers, designers, and administrators can fail at managing people.
Recognizing this is a big part of establishing effective leadership to managing happy, productive staff. Let’s examine a few steps anyone can take to becoming a better, more effective leader.
5 steps to becoming an effective leader
Know your team
Leadership is, first and foremost, a “people’s” job. No one can become an effective leader – or even successfully communicate with a team – who does not take the time to get to know people.
Each person is unique in both personal and professional aspects. Take your time to learn more about who your team members are, including their interests and strengths.
One factor that separates average leaders from great ones is their ability to care about and for their people. It’s a direct correlation: the more a team feels cared for, the more motivated they’ll become to take care of their team’s products, customers, and ultimately help the business achieve its mission.
Lead by example
We see leaders adopt a “do as I say, not as I do” philosophy. Whether or not it is intentional, that mindset erodes their effectiveness as leaders.
No leader can expect people to follow them if they, themselves, do not follow their own values and instructions. Rather than coaxing team members to do what they want, effective leaders promote a collaborative work environment in which people are free to make suggestions and propose improvements.
The most effective leaders do not attempt to control people to get them to do their jobs; they communicate with team members, giving them choices for how to complete tasks, and thereby keep them engaged.
Ensure that each of your team members has the necessary autonomy and resources to take ownership of tasks so that they can become comfortable working without a high level of dependence upon you.
Be direct
In your personal life, do you prefer for people to tell it like it is, or those who go round in unnecessary circles to make a point?
In her best selling book “Radical Candor,” Kim Scott says:
Radical Candor really just means saying what you think while also giving a damn about the person you’re saying it to. Why is it so rare that such a simple thing feels radical?
In other words, it’s getting straight to the point about any subject, including criticism, while caring for the other person’s feelings. A very fine line separates honesty from rudeness, and effective leaders never cross it.
Directness and sincerity are not the same as rudeness. Leaders must be prepared to give open, honest opinions in their constructive feedback so that others can both feel recognized and understand what to improve.
This management style is a key for implementing a culture that allows people to speak their mind freely and encourages them to share their thoughts without fear. Teach them to provide constructive feedback instead of petty criticism.
Talk to your team
Because people in leadership positions deal directly with people, leadership is, in large part, communication. If you lead a group of people (whether it’s you and a colleague, or a team of over 50) it’s critical to recognize that the only path to respect is a mutual sense of understanding and trust.
Your people must trust and understand you, and you them. In order to do that, however, leaders must learn how to connect.
As we as a culture continue connecting more via digital sources and as we remain constantly “hidden” behind gadgets, our personal connection skills can begin to atrophy. Research shows that a humane, effective leader must be compassionate, positive, humble, and empathetic towards their team members’ feelings. This requires personal connections.
The best leaders build genuine connections with teammates. Only after the bond is created can the necessary trust for strong culture-building exist. Where there’s trust, there’s truth and honesty, and that’s the best path to performance excellence.
Listen to your team
We all know that communication is a two-way street. Now that we’ve discussed building team trust and communication, let’s take a look at one of the most important foundations for both: listening.
As we mentioned earlier, it’s important that any leader understand that everyone can benefit from honest feedback, including themselves.
Remaining open to others’ opinions and assessments of your leadership is a lot harder than it sounds. Assessing your own work without any type of bias is close to impossible, which is why it’s important to value every piece of feedback you get from team members and fellow professionals.
Your own perspective simply may not be enough to see things as they are. Talking to other people (friends, leaders, and employees) often broadens your horizons and gives you the necessary perspective to explore areas that need improvement.
Improve the way you manage your team
It may go without saying, but being an effective leader is not easy. It can gradually become easier, however, with the right set of tools to for managing your activities.
Pipefy is a cloud-based business process management (BPM) platform that empowers managers to build and execute any type of workflow. Businesses employ a simple Kanban-style interface to achieve process excellence without the need for coding knowledge or third-party professional services.
Our fully-customizable platform helps teams attain higher levels of productivity and efficiency by setting clear execution standards for every step of each process.
