One leadership skill to rule them all…
The essential skill that will help leaders of all levels be more successful in their role
On a recent trip to the Philippines to visit some of our customer service teams, I was introduced to Donna…
Donna is the top performing team leader in the site and she has been for quite some time. Donna is also regularly nominated for awards by her team and peers!
When I asked Donna what her secret to success was, she smiled and gave me a single word answer that made me so happy!
You see, Donna gets it! Donna has navigated all of the complexities of leadership and has been able to drill down to what she (and I) consider to be the single most important skill that a leader can develop, especially if they are just starting out…
This skill is the leadership equivalent to the ‘one ring to rule them all’ from the LOTR trilogy - and thankfully we don’t need to undertake the treacherous journey to ‘Mordor’ and the ‘Fires of Mount Doom’ to learn and leverage it…
So what is it?
What is this ‘one skill to rule them all’ that both Donna and I believe so much in?
The answer; motivation!
Motivation - or more specifically, the ability to motivate others, is the single best skill that you can develop as a new leader and is one that will ensure you are successful throughout your leadership journey.
Why do I believe that this is the single most important skill?
To become a well rounded leader there are lots of skills and competencies that you need to develop over time, but the overarching goal of people leaders in almost any setting is to drive performance…
To be successful in driving performance there are lots of things that a leader needs to become proficient at, including (but not limited to); coaching, mentoring, performance management, data analysis, communication skills, developing people, sharing a vision, conflict management and many more…
Of these I would argue that coaching, mentoring and performance management have the biggest impact on KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), particularly in the short to medium term.
This is where motivation comes in…
If you have motivated employees then you don’t necessarily need to be the highest skilled coach, mentor or performance manager in your organization. In fact, I would suggest that you really only need to be remotely competent in these areas and you can still be successful.
You see, a motivated employee will naturally be tinkering with how they go about their role to find the way that works the best for them. A motivated employee will be helpful and inspiring to others in the team and in team meetings. A motivated employee will be bought into the company and what you are trying to achieve in your team/organization. A motivated employee will be striving to be better every single day.
And all of this directly impacts their performance, the teams performance and ultimately yours and your departments performance.
**Note - I am not suggesting that you don’t need to work on developing your coaching or any other skills, and that you can get by solely on an ability to motivate others. What I am saying is that the ability to motivate others will give you a buffer and a little bit of space that enables you to be successful whilst you are still developing these other skills**
Ultimately, motivated employees will proactively do a lot of the hard work themselves and you simply need to point them in the right direction!
Getting to know the individual
To have a motivated team, you first need to get to know each person on your team individually. And I mean really get to know them, not just a few passing conversations. To do this you need to show a genuine and sincere interest in them…
Everyone is different and every member of your team will have different life experiences, different fears and aspirations and will be in different places in their personal and professional lives. And they will all be motivated by different things…
It is also really important to recognise that people are complicated. Very rarely (if ever) are you going to come across someone who is motivated by one thing and one thing only.
Sure, people have primary motivators such as money or career and this is definitely useful information that you can leverage, however there are plenty of other things that you need to learn about your team members in order to really motivate them and keep them motivated.
Here are some questions that you can ask your team members to really start understanding them better:
- What gives you energy?
- What motivates you?
- What are your key strengths?
- How do you like to receive praise?
- If I need to give you feedback on something you did wrong or could improve on, what would be the best way for me to do that?
- What do you want to achieve within the next 3 months?
- How are you going to achieve your goals?
- What support do you need from me?
- How much autonomy do you want and need to be successful?
- Are there any things that we do as a team that you would like to take ownership/responsibility of?
- What is the number one thing that you can contribute to the team better than anyone else?
This list is not exhaustive and there are plenty of other great questions you can ask.
Take a moment and have a think about what questions have you asked (or have been asked to you by a previous manager) previously to really get to know someone better? Let me know any that spring to mind in the comments section!
Once you really know each of your team members on an individual level it is easy to start using this information to motivate them. You simply need to help and support each team member in line with their individual goals, aspirations and personal circumstances.
It is your responsibility to flex and adapt to the individuals on your team, not the other way round..
An individual approach is not enough
Whilst getting to know someone and using this information to motivate them is the first step, you also need to consistently display a number of key behaviors and traits to ensure that you do not destroy all of your hard work. These are:
- Authenticity - being genuine and authentic is absolutely critical to maintaining your teams and team members motivation. It is easy to spot someone if they are not being authentic and it quickly undermines any trust and credibility they may have established aka. motivation killer
- Active Listening - you need to actively listen to the team as a whole as well as the individuals on a team. Too much motivation (read ‘competition’) can actually be detrimental to the overall team morale. So keep a pulse on the collective team spirit by actively listening in team and individual meeting. Ring the changes where necessary
- Composure - being cool, calm and collected is a really important component in ensuring that motivation at the individual and team level is maintained. If your team are not sure what mood you will be in or whether you may shout or get angry at a given situation, then they will be more preoccupied on you rather than in a safe space that they can really excel in
Summary
If you are a relatively new leader and don’t know where to start with your skills development, then I would suggest considering motivating others as being one of the first ones on your list. This however, is not just for new leaders, every leader benefits from having motivated employees under and around them!
By following this advice, maybe you will be the Donna of your site in the not too distant future!
Ian
Recommended Reading
Check out some other articles from the Emerging Leaders publication:
- Revolutionize Your End-of-Year Conversations with AI: Discover the Power of ChatGPT for Leaders
- Navigating Pressure: A Leader’s Guide to Managing Pressure and Protecting Team Success
- Leading through ambiguity: How to Address Concern and Distraction in Times of Layoffs
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