Who are you at your best? Who would you like to be? If you would like to become a responsible and effective leader and create positive changes when interacting with people, read on.
Leadership begins in the heart of an individual, evolves and develops through relationships and partnerships, and occurs through teamwork. Recognizing one's talents and skills is the first essential step on the way of enabling and empowering yourself to lead a team.
Leading a team requires different knowledge sets, skills and abilities from simply leading an individual or a group of individuals who are not required to work together in a coordinated, integrated fashion. 4 key activities for a team leader are:
1. Setting vision and direction for a team. A team leader has a good idea of what his team can accomplish and what contributions are expected of all members of the team. This takes us to the next activity:
2. Ensuring that team members are equipped with a right set of skills for the task and
3. Coaching and directing the team as a whole, not just as a group of separate individuals. Finally,
4. Being a supportive link for all the members, developing an atmosphere of trust and cooperation.
When you are a team leader, align your team members with the projects they feel passionate about and trust them. Even if they don’t have much experience in that area, their passion can become a strong drive for innovation and growth!
There will always be times when things don’t work out the way you hoped. Learn to handle these situations gracefully, without blaming the individuals. Otherwise, you risk creating an atmosphere in which people are afraid to take risks. Make it a learning experience!
Remember, as Eric Matson said: "Your job as a team leader is to provide the tools, motivation, and direction. The team needs to do the work itself."
References
http://www.fastcompany.com/guides/leadteam.html
http://www.builderau.com.au/strategy/projectmanagement/soa/10-tips-for-leading-your-team-to-peak-performance/0,339028292,339278390,00.htm
http://research.abs.aston.ac.uk/newweb/media-centre/podcasts/transcipts/LeadingaTeam.asp
http://ankanpoikanen.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/renewing-my-faith-in-people-and-penguins/
Viktoryia,
ReplyDeleteYour voice really shines through on this post. Excellen job making it easy for the reader to follow your blog. Great material and really informative for all of us future business leaders of America :) Keep up the great work!
The opener to your post is an excellent start! Leading straight into the bulk, key points of the post. Ending with a quote, brilliant touch :D
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! Everyone thinks they have what it takes to be a leader or manager of some sort. In reality, it is very difficult to be a leader and takes a lot of skill. You did a great job touching upon all of the skills necessary to be an effective leader.
ReplyDeleteThe pic is very entertaining in the beginning, but I have experience of horrible managers and leaders were I work. They were very unorganized and didnt know how to talk to people. As a result many people didnt listen nor respond to many of things they demanded.
ReplyDeleteGood job with the information in the posting. I think the best about this is that I am learning something I can apply by reading what you have to say. Thanks for the input, and thanks for the posting! Looking forward to next week!
ReplyDeleteLoved the graphic and the last quote. Bring in your experiences as a leader of a team and you will have it "made in the shade."
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