How can you demonstrate leadership skills when working with a team?

Leadership is not an entitlement but a responsibility to steer your team in the right direction. How can one showcase leadership: 1. Keep the big picture in mind 2. Always ask questions and speak up 3. Question status quo 4. Don't be afraid to be an outlier 5. Always protect your team by setting right expectations 6. Always seek feedback 7. Every individual will have their own style of functioning - respect that 8. Always be a warm person 9. Be grounded 10. Always maintain boundaries 11. People will have bad days but stick around 12. Outcome over output 13. Team first individual next 14. Customer first everything next 15. Be humble and approachable #ProductManagement #KPKR

What I have learned from my mentors which has been successful for me is to continue to hone my leadership skills and lead by example.

Demonstrating leadership within a team involves practicing active listening with empathy, building trust, and consistently fulfilling commitments. I prioritize leading through actions rather than words, emphasizing the importance of doing what I say. Additionally, I adopt a communication style that involves speaking less and listening more, ensuring a collaborative and responsive leadership approach.

Demonstrating leadership skills in a team is an art for an efficient work environment. In my experience, communication is the key for a successful synchronization in a team. Be open to the thoughts and suggestion even from the junior most member of the team as idea can come from anywhere. Recognize and appreciate the team achievements whether it is big or small as this really boosts the morale of the team. Trust the team members on the completion of the tasks that are assigned to them. Team must be empowered by providing opportunities that enhance their skills and build confidence in themselves. Provide constructive feedback at regular interval to help team members to improve and build a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Lead by Example: Demonstrate the work ethic, professionalism, and behavior you expect from your team. Leading by example establishes credibility and encourages team members to emulate positive traits. Set Clear Goals: Establish clear and achievable goals for the team. Clearly communicate the vision and objectives, and ensure that everyone understands how their contributions contribute to the overall success of the project or organization. Empower and Trust Your Team: Empower team members by giving them autonomy and trusting them to complete their tasks. Delegating responsibilities and trusting your team members' abilities fosters a sense of ownership and accountability.

In my experience, I've found that empowering team members by delegating responsibilities and granting autonomy yields remarkable results. Trusting individuals to manage their tasks not only encourages ownership but also cultivates a sense of accountability within the team. Moreover, providing the necessary resources, constructive feedback, and guidance contributes significantly to their development, fostering an environment where innovation thrives and team members feel empowered to explore new ideas and approaches.

Ask for feedback from your team. Often times your intentions and your impact are not the same. And learn a few coaching skills. This could e.g. be: - practicing powerful questions - listening skills - ability to watch for, name and self-manage emotions - ability to spot common saboteur voices and working with discovering their functions

As a product manager, my role is to guide and support my team, not to control them. From my experience, I've observed that leaders who micromanage their teams often hinder their growth and development. As a product manager, I've learned to step back and trust my team to take ownership of their work. This approach has allowed them to shine and develop their skills to the fullest extent. Teams whose leaders micromanage every decision and task create a stifling environment which breeds a lack of initiative and creativity among team members. Instead of feeling empowered, they feel constantly scrutinized and their ideas are often dismissed.

We are stronger together and leading by power with rather than power over is critical. In empowering others, think about leading with yes and as well as asking questions for understanding.

A good leader listens. They do not think that they know it all because the truth is everyone on your team know at least one thing better than you do and this can range from using work tools to playing chess. As a leader, it is important to listen to ideas from other people’s perspectives because a team where everyone feels seen and heard is what you can call a great team

As a leader, it is very important to partner with the team members and address team members as partners rather than subordinates. Empowering the team to make some decisions and backing the team during the execution is something that goes a long way to inspire and influence the team. Actively listening and empathising with the team is also very important and checking with the team members on a 1-1 basis and opening up on some personal front helps team members also open up with leaders..

"A great leader is not a dominator, but a facilitator," Steve Jobs once said. As a product manager, I've experienced firsthand the power of collaboration and the importance of seeking diverse perspectives. Remember the time when I was leading the development of a new feature for our flagship product. I was initially hesitant to involve my team and stakeholders in the process, fearing that their input would slow down the development timeline. However, I was quickly proven wrong. My team members brought fresh ideas to the table that I had never considered, and their insights helped us to refine the feature and make it even more user-friendly. Stakeholder feedback was also invaluable in ensuring that the feature aligned with business goals.

In the role of a leader, it is crucial to set an example by illustrating how the work should be done. When circumstances require the leader to actively participate, a true leader must be ready to roll up his or her sleeves.

Believe in your team and trust their inputs is the only mantra. Leader shouldnt be expert in every domain but be flexible to make the changes as per the time. Leader should welcome all the inputs, suggestions, recommendations from the team and addresses it to make the process more flexible, and adjustable which suits everyone. it will empower the team to open up and provide more inputs which become a game changer and will amaze the outcome. Remember people on ground can guide and drive the processes easily and quickly and thats the duty of leader to make them contribute in this journey. Processes are made to produce quick and effective results and shouldn't be termed as RIGID Thank You

Thinking of perspectives as hypotheses helps frame them as something you are testing and can adjust. You can also think about business decisions as experiments you learn from.

Know one knows it all. No matter how high on the career ladder you get, someone still knows something you don’t know so it is best to be open to learning. Be a teachable person, a teachable leader, be open minded, that’s the best way to lead a team to success.

Inspiring can often be in sharing the impact of the products with those who make the product and work on the product but may not get to regularly interact with the end user.

Be a leader that participates in the routines, providing assistance and guidance when needed. Establish clear expectations for their roles, consistently follow up, and offer constructive feedback. Maintain an open mindset to both giving and receiving feedback

"Leaders are like candles; they burn themselves to light the way for others." This quote perfectly encapsulates the essence of leadership, which is not about wielding power or dictating orders, but about inspiring others to share your vision and strive towards a common goal. As a product manager, I've witnessed firsthand the power of leadership in the context of product development. When I've taken the time to clearly articulate the benefits and impact of my product, I've seen how it has ignited enthusiasm and motivation among my team members. They've become more engaged in the development process, offering valuable insights and suggestions that have helped shape the product into something truly remarkable.

Effective leadership involves guiding with vision, fostering collaboration, and continuously adapting to new insights. Visionary Leadership: Articulate a clear vision, make data-driven decisions, and embrace feedback for roadmap adaptation. Collaborative Excellence: Delegate based on strengths, foster open communication and learn from both successes and failures. Continuous Learning: Encourage team skill development and stay updated on trends and technologies. Roadmapping Skills: Prioritize features using data, focus on MVP for user feedback, adapt to market changes, and align stakeholders with clear, interactive roadmaps.

Demonstrate leadership skills with these fundamental tips: - Ensure your words and thoughts align with the holistic vision of the team and product goals during conversations. - Be prepared and creative in offering advice to address gaps in team coordination, sprints, product vision, or milestones. - Maintain focus on the primary goal and work towards keeping everyone aligned with the overarching objectives. - Be ready to assist both team members and cross-functional teams, providing clarity whenever needed.

Two additional points: 1. Important to respect the past, while accelerating for the future. By disrespecting past performance of the team, equates humiliating the team. Unfortunately, most leaders are susceptible to the before-me vs. after-me comparison syndrome. 2. Identified larger measurement criterion, like winning market share or higher customer satisfaction score, to know if the team is winning impactfully. By tracking only internal targets set by organization, the leader ends up driving a myopic vision.