How To Lead Better? 11 Strategies To Be An Effective Leader
In order to lead a team well, you need to have a set of capabilities, skills and strategies.
Leadership is not a question of hierarchy, that is, a question of who is the boss and who is the employee; Leadership is a matter of attitude, of who guides and is committed to the activity carried out by everyone.
Next we are going to look in more depth at the figure of the leader and his relationship with the teams he is in charge of in order to better understand how to lead better, both seeing what should be done and what not.
To know how to lead better, the first thing you have to understand is what a leader is. This word should not be confused with the word boss or the person in charge of the group. A leader is, as surprising as it may seem, the one who makes others also become leaders, that they acquire the same capabilities that the leader has and that have allowed him to get to where he is.
In recent years, The idea that you are born a leader is being widely refuted More than a characteristic that one has innately, it is something that can be worked on. Of course, to be an authentic leader, someone who helps guide the team so that everyone can be successful, a lot of effort and daily training is required. It is not something as simple as applying a few small “tips” and trusting that the process will take care of itself: we must change the way we relate to the people in our care.
How to lead better?
Next We will see 11 aspects to take into account when managing a work group or any kind More than advice, they are ways of behaving that the leader must incorporate both in her own behavior and in the dynamics of the group in general.
1. Involve everyone
It is very important to involve all people in the process of creating and defining the project or business.
Of course, this strategy involves dedicating a lot of time and effort, since it involves taking into account all the opinions and proposals of those who make up the work team. Even at first, it can feel like you don’t have complete control.
However, working hard to achieve a common objective, agreed upon in a more or less democratic way, will not only make those involved gain more knowledge about how things should be done, but they will also feel more motivated to achieve them. of his success.
Training people to practice making decisions independently, even if they run the risk of making mistakes, is an aspect that every leader must take into account.
Having a failure should not be seen as being incompetent, but rather as an opportunity to learn. We not only learn by example, but also by making mistakes and knowing what we have done to avoid it.
As workers have more freedom to make their own decisions, the more they will take responsibility for them, acquiring greater autonomy and behaving independently and participatively in the company.
If each worker feels totally responsible for their duties and is aware that their colleagues depend on them, they will take this into account when choosing which days to rest or what time to have coffee. He will sacrifice and strive for the group to succeed.
3. Keep in touch with everyone
It is essential that the boss is not seen as someone cold and distant, who only appears when he wants to hear how a project has gone after the time he has stipulated as the deadline.
It is vitally important that anyone who wants to become a good leader maintains periodic and individual communication with each person on the team. This can be done formally or informally, depending on the type of company and what rules it has.
About 15 minutes a week is enough. In that period of time, you should talk about the objectives, goals, difficulties and achievements that have been achieved or raised since the last meeting.
This is the best way to know if each of the workers is doing their job satisfactorily, if they feel comfortable with what they do and if they have any aspect to comment on.
4. Recognize your work
There are good days and bad days. It is very common for bosses to only focus on the bad things their workers have done, and completely ignore all their achievements, no matter how many they may be.
But the truth is that the success of a company or any other type of organization depends on teamwork. Without the individual successes of each of its workers, the company would go nowhere.
This is why it is essential that the leader recognizes the work of his employees, explicitly, and thanks them for the work they are doing. The comments made towards the worker must be concrete, positive and direct, specifying what he has done well and why he liked it.
In this way, in addition to fostering a good environment, in which workers feel appreciated by their boss, they are motivated to continue making efforts and achieve more success.
5. Good communication
It is common for everyone in the workplace, both the boss and the workers, to put on a mask made of appearances and superficiality.
This mask corresponds to the expected professional role, what we believe is expected of us. Generally, with this facade we are not very authentic, using excessively cordial, distant language and limiting ourselves to doing what we have been told.
A leader must have the ability to establish authentic communication with his team, without appearances. Communication must be human, sincere and genuine and, for this to be achieved, the first person who must set an example is the leader, revealing himself to his employees.
To know if the company is doing well, it is necessary for the leader to foster a good communicative environment.
Aspects as simple as asking how the family is, what they had for dinner yesterday, or what you thought of Sunday’s soccer game are ways to start a conversation that can lead to better communication between team members.
The more conversations of this type, the fewer barriers there will be between workers to expose problems that may have occurred in relation to the company.
6. Good attitude
As a leader, you must always show a good attitude, and not only to achieve personal success, but also to beneficially influence others. If the leader emits good energy, those in charge are impregnated by it.
It is not simply having good words. It is also showing it in non-verbal language, going with a determined smile on your face and walking energetically.
On the contrary, if the leader appears exhausted and negative, those in charge cannot be expected to be excessively energetic.
7. Establish periodic goals and objectives
It is common for people to fall into our comfort zone easily. One of the best ways to avoid this is by setting realistic goals and objectives that can be achieved in a short period of time, and that are renewed periodically.
The good thing about working in high-performance teams is that people motivate each other, inspiring each other to go further and get everything ready as soon as possible, without falling into downtime or breaks that turn into eternities.
The leader must prevent tedious routines from arising, since it is routine that can kill imagination and productivity. It is through new challenges and goals that the mind is activated, increasing curiosity and activity.
8. Clear and achievable expectations
In accordance with the previous point, you must have clear and achievable expectations. To do this, the leader must have established correct communication with his workers, in order to know what they know and do not know how to do, and to what extent they can achieve what is proposed to them.
It also helps to know if they need any special help or if the process needs to be redirected.
It is very important that the stated goals have been duly clarified, without ambiguities. No one feels comfortable facing something that has not been made clear, since this generates frustration and the feeling of not being able to do what is asked of them.
9. Manage conflict
The moments of greatest growth for a team are those in which conflict appears.
This conflict may have its good and bad points, but it will undoubtedly have many more of the latter if it is not managed properly in time. If the conflict is not managed, there is a risk that the dynamics in the team will be so negative that it will not be possible to work on it, leading to its consequent disintegration.
The person who leads this team will have to be able to identify the conflict and expose it to all members of the group, in order to work on and manage it. Thus, a roadmap can be put in place to where the group is going, what has generated this conflict and how it can be solved, involving everyone.
10. Set an example
To achieve high team performance, it is essential that the leader leads by example. You cannot ask for exemplary behavior if the boss or team manager does just the opposite.
It makes no sense for the leader to say that in the company or organization people come first if he himself treats his subordinates like trash. Nor would it make sense for him to ask his workers to be punctual and he himself always arrived late.
11. Climate of fun and trust
A highly productive environment is not at odds with fun. In fact, it is the best addition to ensure that the workplace becomes enjoyable for all workers, making them give their best. As in any relationship, in a work relationship, fun is necessary to keep it alive.
But in addition to this, the company must trust in the skills of its workers. You can’t expect people to trust the company if the company doesn’t trust them.
It is essential that the leader provides the workplace with a climate of fun and trust, where more than seen as a boss, he is seen as a facilitator of the activities carried out there.
What should not be done
In the same way that there are a series of useful and effective tips on how to lead better, there are also mistakes to avoid, which, if they occur, can completely ruin our good leadership.
The main thing that the leader must avoid is allowing employees to be disrespected, both on their part and between them. Disrespect does not only manifest itself in an insult or a rude comment. There may be little respect in the way the boss behaves towards his workers, for example, not respecting the stipulated schedules, laughing at what he has put in a report, scheduling meetings on banal topics at the last minute…
Another aspect to avoid is encouraging situations in which employees are humiliated. It’s okay to tell someone you’re in charge of when they’ve made a mistake, as long as this is done with the goal of doing better in the future and resulting in long-term benefits for the company. What you should not do is tell him what he has done wrong in front of the rest of his classmates, humiliating him for not having done it as expected.
