Month: May 2022

A successful team leader is an asset for an organization or an institution. We all have heard that leaders are born not made. However, there are certainly some skills which when acquired can groom you to towards becoming a successful leader. In simple words, leadership qualities can be acquired which help you to become a successful team leader in your organization.

Who is a successful team leader?

A successful team leader is one who inspires his team members to work passionately towards achieving the goals of the organization.  He is the one who helps find a solution when everything fails to work. A team leader is the person who recognizes the essential skills of his team members and assigns them tasks accordingly. In this way, he creates value for the organization. 

Essential Qualities of a Successful Team Leader

The top 10 qualities of a successful team leader are the following:

1. Communication: The first and foremost quality which sets you apart as successful team leader is your ability to communicate with your team. A successful team leader should be able to communicate his plan of action and the targets to be achieved to his team members in a succinct and simple manner. Your communication should be such that it should leave no doubt in the minds of your team members. Clarity in your communication and the ability to convey your message across to your team is what makes you a successful team leader.

2. Confidence: One of the significant traits of a successful team leader is his confidence. Yes, you have to exhibit confidence in your words and actions so that your team members believe you. If you are not confident enough of your actions then you might put your team in doubt as well. So, remember to exude confidence which help you to garner the support and trust of your team members. This quality will also help you grow in the organization in the long-term.

3. Respectful: As a successful team leader, you need to realize the worth of your team members. You need to be respectful of your juniors as well as the members of your team. You cannot earn respect unless you show respect to others. This will make your team members repose their faith and trust in you. A respectful team leader earns fame and recognition in the organization as well.

4. Empathy: Empathy has emerged to be one of the significant traits of a successful team leader especially in this uncertain scenario of Covid-19. The sudden outbreak of Covid-19 created economic instability and an uncertain environment. Under such circumstances, a true leader is one who enquires about the well-being of his team members. An empathetic leader is one who is concerned about his team members and openly discusses with them about their problems. Empathy is one such quality which will help you in building trust and lasting relationships with your team members.

5. Transparency: This is one of the true leadership qualities essential for you to be successful as a leader. You lead by example only when you are transparent about your values, mission and the work culture. Transparency also helps you to build strong relationship with your team members. You need to clearly state what your goals are and how you will accomplish them along with your team members. In this way, your way of functioning becomes transparent and your goals can easily be visualized as aligned with the goals of your organization.

6. Accountability: You, as a successful team leader need to take full responsibility for your actions and that of your team members as well. When a project gets completed as planned and the team delivers, the credit of success goes to the entire team. But, when the project falls short of expectations or does not meet the set target, then you, as the leader have to take full accountability for the failure. Not only that, you also investigate the reasons for the failure and try to find a solution to it as well. This is where the differentiating factor comes in! A successful team leader, takes the onus, fills the gaps and creates a culture of accountability in the organization.

7. Delegation: You have to learn the art of delegating work if you want to become a successful team leader. Yes, you heard it correct! It is very easy to work on your own but difficult to get work done from others. You should be aware about the behaviour, specific skill sets and the attitude of your team members. This will help you in assigning projects to your team members.  Moreover, the team members also understand the responsibility given to them through the projects assigned to them. In simple words, proper delegation is one of the requisite skills of a leader.

8. Resilient: You must have been resilient to be able to face the unexpected crisis of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Believe me, if you are resilient, then you have the capability of facing even the toughest situations in your life be it personal or professional. The outbreak of the pandemic brought uncertainties with it, which affected every individual. Only a resilient leader would be in a position to maintain his composure and face the uncertain economic scenario with grit and determination. The ability to bounce back is not ingrained but it can be learned gradually and with the passage of time.

9. Passion: An outstanding quality of a successful team leader is his passion to do things. It is your passion which will make you excel in whatever you do. As a leader, you have to stand out in the crowd and it is your passion which inspires you to do tasks at hand in a perfect manner. It is your passion which drives you towards excellence in no matter what you do. So, do not underestimate your passion for your work or any other activity. Your passion is your driving force to excel as a team leader.

10. Trust and Empowerment: As a successful team leader you have to learn to have faith in the ability, potential and capability of your team members. The factor of ‘trust’ goes a long way in developing relationships with your team members. Once you evince trust, in return, your team members will show trust in you.  Moreover, you also need to empower your team members by assigning responsible work to them. You need to have faith that your team will perform well even in trying circumstances.  

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, if you want to be a successful team leader who need to possess some distinct qualities such as empathy and passion in you. Moreover, a true leader is one who takes onus for the failure of his team efforts. You need to gradually inculcate these qualities so that you become competent enough to face even the toughest circumstances in the business scenario.  

Have you come across instances where you have looked forward to attending meetings? Do you generally achieve the targets set for the meeting? If no, then you need to comprehend the reasons behind ineffective meetings. Such meetings not just waste time and effort but also hamper productivity. So, the next time you decide to organise a meeting with your team members, remember to keep the following strategies in mind.

How to make your Meetings Effective?

It is generally believed that meetings are a waste of time. However, when conducted in a proper and planned manner, meetings can turn out to be fruitful and effective. So, let us briefly gothrough the strategies for making meetings effective at the workplace.

1. Have a clear objective: The first and foremost strategy for an effective meeting is that you should have a clear objective in mind. This implies deciding upon the topic of discussion. Are you going to discuss about the launch of a new product or service? Or are you going to talk about the rising number of service issues coming up with your customers? Else, you could discuss about the declining revenue of your team? Now, whatever is the objective, it should be absolutely clear and communicated accordingly to the employees who are going to attend the meeting. So, in other words, when you have a goal to achieve you will certainly end with success.

2. Have an agenda for the meeting: When you have an objective or goal to discuss, it becomes easy to outline the agenda for the meeting. A well-planned meeting with an outlined agenda is the key to a successful meeting. The following is the list of essential points to be included in the agenda:

• The vital topics to be discussed in the meeting
• Time and location of the meeting
• The number of participants who will attend the meeting
• The allocation of topic to every participant to prepare and speak
• The objectives to be achieved from the meeting
  
  

It is necessary that you send these essential details to every participant of the meeting so that the meeting goes accordingly as planned and turns out to be a success.

3. Introduce variety in your meeting: Meetings often happen to be very boring and uninteresting. Another strategy for making your meeting effective is by introducing variety in it. You must be surprised and curious to know the meaning of variety in this context! Let me elaborate this for you. You need to introduce some unique features to your meeting which can be done in the following ways:

• Try and select the meeting venue outside the office premises
• Bring in some interesting food
• Celebrate birthdays or anniversaries at the meeting
  
  

Engage the participants in brainstormingBelieve me, introducing the above mentioned steps will help you break the monotony generally experienced during a meeting and will make your meeting a success.

4. Make space for creativity: Another significant strategy which can result in effecting meetings is that you should give some space to creativity among the participants of the meeting. There could be an instance where a participant comes up with an innovative idea to a service issue resolution. Or else, there could be an instance where participants come up with genuine ideas or notions particular to a product or service. Remember, all this can happen only when the participants are actively attending the meeting instead of just passing the time in a monotonous manner.Hence, you should allow the participants to exhibit their creative zeal and energy in the meeting.

5. Try and avoid multitasking in the meeting: This is one aspect of our daily lives which is difficult to avoid in the meeting room. But believe me, if you can restrain the participants of the team from working on the laptop and attending phone calls simultaneously, you can make the participants much more attentive in the meeting. There are other ways of doing this as well. For instance, you can assign specific role to each participant of the meeting such as who will be the facilitator, who will taken down the minutes of the meeting and so forth. Ensure that your meeting has a time frame to which the participants adhere to. In other words, another effective strategy is to make the participants simply focus on the agenda of the meeting instead of managing their call logs within the meeting.

6. Have an interactive question & answers session: An interactive question & answer session is another vital strategy to make meetings effective. This also helps you to surmise how much the participants have been able to comprehend the objective or goal of the meeting. This further facilitates in understanding whether the meeting has been successful or not. An interactive question & answer session not just clears the doubts but also bears testimony to the fact that the meeting has been effective in achieving its goal/ goals.

7. Always remember to follow-up: A meeting can only be termed as effective when there is a proper follow-up done by the organizer of the meeting. Once the meeting has been concluded, you must ensure that a proper follow-up is done. You must prepare the minutes of the meeting and share them with all the participants of the meeting. Also, do a proper follow-up of the tasks assigned to any of the participants of the team. Effective meetings ensure that the discussions held are converted into action thereby resulting in the productivity of your team efforts.

8. Using online technology to conduct meetings during the pandemic period: In the present scenario, when most of us are remotely working from home conducting a meeting with the team members becomes a challenge. However, you can overcome this challenge by using the latest online applications such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WatsApp and other tools. Technology has indeed helped in overcoming the obstacles brought forth by the pandemic in the business environment.

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, try and overcome the general assumption that meetings are a waste of time and effort. The next time you decide to hold a meeting try and arrange for a planned meeting by deciding the number of participants, time and place of the meeting and most importantly the agenda beforehand. 

Every employee who works hard expects appreciation and recognition at the workplace. You must have also come across instances, where you worked really hard on a project to make it a success. In return, you must have expected a pat on the back or applause from your manager. And when you receive acknowledgement and recognition for your hard work it gives rise to a feeling of satisfaction in you. However, appreciation and recognition efforts should remain consistent throughout the organization.

Why is Gratitude Necessary?

Leading with gratitude is an essential leadership skill and it has acquired all the more importance in this period of pandemic.  This unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19 has brought with it unnecessary work stress; the need to maintain work-life balance, job insecurity accompanied with fear and chaos. The adverse impact of this pandemic is highly evident and the employer should resort to acknowledgement and appreciation to ensure the well-being of his employees.

What are the benefits of Gratitude?

In simple words, gratitude implies saying ‘thank you’ or acknowledging a deed done. So, when you as a manager acknowledge the hard work of your team member, you show gratitude to him. This act of gratitude has far-reaching effects. A crisp list of the benefits of gratitude has been prepared below:

Benefits of Gratitude at the Workplace

• It helps to enhance the morale and motivates the employee to work better.

• It helps to improve the quality of empathy and reduces negativity.

• It aids in employee performance thereby improving productivity.

• It leads to improved relationships among the internal and external stakeholders of the company.

• It leads to employee retention.

Benefits of Gratitude at an Individual Level

• It helps to improve relationships.

• It improves the mental well-being.

• It leads to feeling of joy and satisfaction.

• It helps to develop the feeling of compassion and empathy.

Let us go through some of the simple steps which will help you to embrace gratitude at the workplace especially, during this period of pandemic.

1. Shower praise on your team through personal engagement: During the outbreak of Covid-19, most of the employees have been working remotely from home. As a result, they feel isolated, low on morale and less dedicated to work. All this can be handled well by you, when you as the manager, keep in touch with every member of your team. You can do this via Microsoft Teams or videoconferencing and let them know that the company values them and recognises their work, especially during this period of the pandemic. You can even send an email to your team member and pick up the phone and compliment him when you get to hear about his good work. This will make your team members feel elated and will further enhance their productivity even when working from home. 

2. Encourage your team members to say ‘Thank You’: As a manager, leading with gratitude is a vital leadership skill and it can certainly be inculcated in your team members as well. A manager, who credits his team for the success of the targets achieved, is a true leader with gratitude. You need to encourage your team members to thank those around them (either physically at office or remotely in contact through online technology) such as their seniors, colleagues, peers even for small tasks or endeavours.

3. Recognise those you exhibit gratitude in their daily practice: You must have come across employees at your workplace who generally appreciate or say thank you to others in their daily routine at work. This indeed is a good practice and you can contribute to it further by appreciating those colleagues or seniors.

4. Try and provide practical gifts as tokens of gratitude: In 2020, the unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19 forced most of us to work from home. As a result, you must have been juggling hard between office and home commitments. Your employer also recognises this significant change that has taken place this year. Henceforth, it becomes all the more necessary, to recognise and appreciate your work in these hard times. As a token of thanks giving, your company should try and provide gifts which can be utilised by the employees. For instance, giving coupons or games (which can be enjoyed indoors with the family) as a gesture of recognition and appreciation will go a long way in keeping you happy, especially in this fearful scenario. Remember, it is not the gift (whether big or small) but the gesture which gets appreciated after all!

Significance of Gratitude in the Years to Come

According to Professor Robert A. Emmons, gratitude is defined as the “ultimate performance-enhancing substance.” You must have by now recognised the importance of inculcating the culture of gratitude at your workplace. The vital aspect to be noted is that gratitude needs to be authentic and should be consistent throughout your organization. However, the leaders need to build this culture by setting their own example. This quality of showing gratitude will acquire all the more prominence in the present uncertain scenario where employees are working from home and experiencing negative feelings and chaos.

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, it is certainly essential to develop a culture of gratitude among the employees of your company. However, you might argue that developing the feeling of gratitude might be difficult at present due to the presence of negativity around us. But, gradually, over time, with sincerity, you can develop this feeling of gratitude and spread joy and happiness at your workplace.