The Secret to Being Successful at: Leading a Team

By June 18, 2018For Talent

It doesn’t matter if you work in hospitality, tech, finance or the creative industries, leadership skills matter.

Good leaders motivate teams, nurture talent and get results. They make the people around them feel valued and they lead by example.

While some people seem like they are born to lead, for others it doesn’t come as naturally. The good news is that being a good leader is something you can learn and practice along the way.

Here are the 6 traits and skills that you need to master in order to be successful at leading a team.

Communication

If you want to be a good leader then you need to focus on your communication skills. Unless you can clearly communicate your goals with your team, it will be very hard to get the results that you want. Effective supervisors and managers are not just great speakers, they are also great listeners. You must be disciplined enough to know when it is important to observe what is going on around you instead of jumping straight in with a quick retort.

Empathy

Unfortunately, most leaders follow a dictatorial style and forget about empathy altogether but this is a massive mistake. If you want to make a connection with your team then you will need to put yourself in their shoes every once in a while. You will need to understand their worries and concerns and more importantly, you will need to take steps to find solutions to their problems.

Flexibility

We’ve all heard the old saying, ”If you don’t bend then you will break.” Good leaders are flexible. They alter and adapt their style according to the situation, context and circumstances that they experience. They should not be rigid or stubborn. A successful leader always welcomes new ideas and change if it is for the benefit of the company.

team

Charisma

Think of some of the most famous leaders in history, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Barrack Obama. What did they all have in common? Charisma, and lots of it.

People like to follow people that they like. Even today the best leaders are passionate, well-spoken, friendly and approachable. They have a certain presence and aura that draws people in.

Honesty

You must treat your team the way you would like to be treated. Strong leaders are ethical, fair and above all honest. They do not shy away from hard truths just because telling a lie would be easier. They also share information openly so no one feels like they are being left in the dark.

Stop micro-managing

If you want your department to succeed then you need to stop micro-managing. That means do not helicopter over colleagues when they are trying to work and do no excessively message them throughout the day to see what they are doing.

If you want to be a better leader step back and give people the room they need to excel and produce their best work. Your team will thank you for it.

 


Do you want to lead a team? Find a leadership role today.


 

Author Alice Murray

Alice Murray is a Content Creator at Jobbio with a passion for Employer Branding and Graduate Culture. She's a keen traveller and a self-proclaimed lazy runner.

More posts by Alice Murray

Leave a Reply