Leadership, not that easy..

I have the privilege to meet a lot of people from different walks of life here at Craft Academy. Some of them become our students are taking steps to change careers, improve their current positions or to start a new venture.

Some of them came from different leadership positions and during one talk we started to discuss how good leaders should be and how should he/she manage a team?

The following points were made during our discussion

Good leaders should define their roles

One of our students pointed out that many managers become confused if they are asked to define their roles. Of course, they are hired to get results from the team, manage the budget, the employees working hours and so on.

But how should they actually do it?

“A manager should see themselves as problem solvers that should clear the path for the team so that they can do their job. Rather than pointing what and where they should work. Just like minesweepers clearing a path for the rest of the forces“

This means that a leader should basically stay out of the team’s way and make sure that the problems also stay out of the team’s way as much as possible.

A leader must trust that the team actually do their job.

If the team or a team member is unable to complete their assignment then it’s the leader’s responsibility to find out why and fix the issue rather than assign blame. Micromanagement destroys motivation.

Well, how should leaders motivate their teams if they should stay out of the way of the team?

Ask the employees what they think they should do

Motivation is tricky, very tricky.

Daniel H. Pink that has written an excellent book on the topic states:

“We have three innate psychological needs — competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When those needs are satisfied, we’re motivated, productive, and happy.”

How should a leader fulfill the psychological needs of the team in order to make them more productive? The leader should ask questions about how the team thinks the tasks should be completed and what they should work on for the benefit of the company.

Asking the team questions and letting them decide on what they should work on would have some benefits:

• The team would feel that they were trusted and competent enough to decide the actions that were needed on the company’s behalf.
• The team would feel that their actions actually matter and will directly affect the company’s future and their own.
• Deciding on to work on they would feel that they are in control of their job and thus making them more engaged and productive.

Of course, the discussion continued with: If everyone in the team should do as they pleased wouldn’t that mean that there would be conflicts and some ideas that would not benefit the company?

A good leader needs to have excellent communication skills

It’s not easy to say no to team members, but most of them will understand why the leaders are saying no if they take time to explain it. Explaining decisions is hard and often requires people to not only to formulate themselves in the best way but also to convey their decisions in a way that is well received and understood. This requires practice and a high level of emotional intelligence.

A good leader needs to have a lot of courage

Good leaders have a lot of courage. They need to say no, they need to say yes and they need to make decisions that are emotionally draining. Not procrastinating on important decisions also requires a lot of mental toughness and self-discipline.

No matter how one thinks a good leader should be there is always room for improvement. And with anything, this requires effort and practice and most of all a heavy dose of emotional intelligence.