Leadership and Influencing Behaviour

Strong and successful teams are guided by leaders with a sound belief in their organization's vision, who have conviction, enable their team, and believe in them. The decisions you make will certainly influence your team's behaviour and have an impact on your organization's success. If you are leading an organization or a team, and you are experiencing challenges, ponder these questions:

1) Vision.  Do you believe in your organization's Vision? Is it aligned with a strong purpose? Do each and every one of your team members understand how they can contribute to achieving the Vision? Do you have means of enabling and empowering your staff to achieve the Vision? 

2) Enablement. You have organizational goals to achieve your organization's Vision. You have a team whom you expect to strive to achieve organizational goals. Do you know who your team is? Do you know if they clearly understand  their role and how they contribute to your organization's success? Do you know individual strengths? Do you know what motivates them? Do you know if they are in the right job or if they have the right skills? If not, do you think with training, they can get there? Do you provide them with the knowledge, the tools, and the skills to develop and grow with the organization to continue to be valued team members?

3) Empowerment. Your team should be well-positioned to reach certain goals. Are they clear? Is your governance model clear? Is the decision-making process well laid out? Have you given your staff the authority to make those decisions? Do you understand what makes your team members tick? Some may want autonomy, some may want more direction… is this possible? Everybody wants to feel important in the role they play, do you appreciate your team and express it? Do you recognize the diversity of your team and what strengths that can bring to your organization? Do you listen to your team and "hear" what they are saying?

4)  Trust. Do you have strong relationships with your team? Do you trust your staff? If not, why? If not, is it you or is it them? Do they trust you? Do they trust their managers and colleagues? Are you honest with your team? Have you grown your organization to a level that you should delegate and hire to delegate, but micro-manage? Do you know how to "let go" and trust your team to do the job? What do you consciously do to build two-way trust? Do you have a safe environment for your staff to openly communicate their ideas and concerns?

5)  Respect. Do you foster a culture of respect in your organization? Do you genuinely listen to your team and respect their ideas and opinions? What is your policy for bullying and disrespectful behaviour? Is it clearly stated? Do you develop the potential of your team? Do you genuinely appreciate your people? Do you let them know? How?

It's always good to take a step back and ask ourselves some tough questions. I hope this has helped you think about how you lead, and how you can improve yourself and your team.

Do you have a clear path forward? If not, do you know how to find it? 

 I would be delighted to hear what you have to say about leading teams.

Thank you for taking the time to have a read. 

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Some good links for further reading:

Leadership (HBR)

Trust (Mindtools)

Respect (Forbes)