As a leader your job is to build and maintain a strong, sustainable team which requires resilience. Here’s how….
Leadership is a constant process of reinvention, or, at the very least, fine tuning. As a leader you have a responsibility to make sure your style is fit for purpose, that you are meeting your mark. Good leadership leads to strong teams, which results in professional resilience. Strong leaders are the supporting pillars of strong organisations.
As we work toward estabishing a post-pandemic even keel, it is even more important to assess your leadersip style and regularly refresh to make sure you are meeting the needs of your people, your industry, and yourself. As the market place continues to evolve and reinvent itself, so must industry leaders. Here are three key questions to help you assess and move forward.
What should you keep doing as a leader?
Leading a team is like reading a map. You can’t figure out where you are going until you know where you are. So the most important thing a leader should keep doing is evaluating. You can do this in small ways daily by asking yourself questions like, ‘How did I impact others during a meeting or conversation?’ ‘Which projects are working well and why?’ or, ‘when did I feel I was my best self, and what actions did I take at that time?’ A continuous imporvement culture underpins effective teams. So if you are constantly self evaluating, then you are also modelling this good behaviour to others.
What should you stop doing as a leader?
It is easy when you elevate to a leadership role to believe you should be a certain person, or act a certain way. For example, perhaps you believe a leader is never wrong or doesn’t make mistakes? Perhaps you think that a leader should offer coaching but no longer needs it themselves? There are many mistakes a leader can make, so perhaps the best advice here is to stop making assumptions and base your leadership style on facts. Do you have a loyal team? Have you sought feedback from your reports and acted on it? What does your mentor say? Stop forging ahead blindly, and start reflecting – only then can you make positive change.
What should you start doing as a leader?
There are key actions effective leaders take automatically, and it is important to identify which ones are important to your team and learn how to intregrate them into your leadership style. You can only really do this once you’ve engaged in that essential practice of self-reflection and fact finding described above. The actions of effective leaders fit into general categories:
- Start listening to your team.
- Start prioritising your wellbeing and encourage others to do the same.
- Start developing relationships.
- Start a programme of ongoing learning.
Whether that is a regular meeting time with your mentor, or signing up for a course like IMNZ’s Elevate Programme, to develop a specific area, accepting your need for personal growth is ongoing is a key way to ensure your leadership style will be succesul.
