If you lead a team, you’ll have one objective – to optimise its performance.
Whether you subscribe to the view that great leaders are born or made, there are three things we believe all leaders must do if they’re to inspire their team to perform at the highest level:
1. Build Strong Relationships
A cornerstone of successful leadership is building, developing and nurturing strong relationships with everyone in the team. Taking time to learn about the individuals you manage will help you understand the dynamics as well as skills in the team.
It’s important also to make opportunities for team members to get to know each other. This way, the team will become far more than the sum of its parts.
To develop this level of mutual connection in your team, you’ll need to dedicate a higher proportion of your time to supporting and listening to your people. Even when there’s a multitude of other priorities and tasks.
2. Be Clear About Your Objectives & Plans
People aren’t manufactured – they grow organically, with their own strengths, weaknesses and preferences – in their own time. They also do it when they have something they want to achieve for themselves and each other.
Teams need to believe, understand the plan and have the skills to put the method in place as standard practice – all three components are needed if they’re to stand a chance of achieving. That’s when training can really reap strong results.
3. Mindset & Preparation
The adage, ‘practice makes perfect’ may be a cliché, but it’s also true. Individually, when your team know what to do and how to do it – that’s a great start, but only through collective practice will you benefit from team collective instinct, high-performance habits and cohesion.
