How to Achieve Great Results
Have you noticed?
Everyone seems to be under pressure these days to deliver more.
Often this coincides with the need to be more efficient.
To achieve results in this environment, leaders need to build high performing teams. Teams where people can thrive.
We spend so much time at work. So, one of my fundamental beliefs is that work should be a place people enjoy. Both for ourselves and our teams.
Here are three strategies to help you create happy, productive teams:
One way to inspire your team is to have a strong purpose and vision. It is one of the most significant traits of an effective leader (1).
The vision and purpose need to be compelling.
Your vision for yourself and your team must align with the vision of the organisation.
You have to share it and live it.
We achieve more when we draw on the strengths of all members of the team.
When people who are enables to do what they are best at, they are more likely to be working in teams with:
- higher productivity
- better customer satisfaction and
- lower staff turnover (2).
But it’s not simply a case of distributing tasks based on skill and expecting results. Empowering delegation requires a process that is tailored to the individual. It also needs clear, two-way feedback on progress.
Investing in team members reaps rewards. “Mentoring and developing” ranks as the third highest trait of effective leaders (1).
It is easy to build up people who are doing well, who are engaged, and learning.
The harder step is to help someone who is underperforming. But it is essential to have those difficult conversations. If you don’t address poor performance, everyone else feels it. This itself can be demotivating for the rest of the team.
The trick is to take people through the process in the most positive way.
References:
- Research summary: Correlations to Leadership Effectiveness, The Leadership Circle
- Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, The Gallup Organisation 2001
