Leadership Skills - Winning over your Team Members

EffectiveLeadership is essential at any level of Management in Business. From the newly appointedSupervisor to the Senior Company Director, the core role of a Leader is surprisinglyvery similar. The Leader is responsible for Leading the Followers, their Team,and taking them to a predetermined destination. HOW the Leader gets the Teamthere, how they achieve their own and their Team’s objectives, is the complexbit – involving the effective use of lots of Leadership skills, processes,motivators and tools. The beginning is very simple – win over your TeamMembers.

Where manyLeaders become very ineffective, and fail, is in not understanding this veryfirst step. If I have not won over my Team Members individually, and my Team asa group, then all the later steps will not work effectively. The first set of  Leadership Skills involve winning over yourTeam Members, persuading people to work with you and later persuading them togo in the direction the you need them to go. 

Whodo People Follow?

At a verybasic level, people follow people they know. If I don’t know you, I can’t trustyou or respect you. Take time to BOND with each of your Team members, and builda habit of doing this with each of your Team members on an ongoing basis – notjust new recruits.

Bonding iswhere we get to know each other. We spend a short time socialising, talkingabout non-work topics. It might only be 10-15minutes each week, but this is ourone-to-one ‘personal time’ and it is time well spent. Here the Leader givesthis Team Member their undivided attention, listening, showing interest andgaining a good understanding of how this person ticks. We are not ‘buddies’,the relationship is still Leader / Team Member. Also be careful to bond withall Team members equally – to avoid favouritism or isolating someone.  

PeopleFollow Someone they Respect

People alsofollow people who they can respect, and who respects them. The next step forthe Leader is to spend time with each Team Member discussing their work andtheir performance. This is one-to-one time, but now we are talking about workrather than non-work. The Leader listens to the Team Member as he or she talksabout their goals, performance, strengths, and achievements.

The Leaderis showing an interest and demonstrating respect for the Team Member, praisingachievements and suggesting possible next steps. The Leader is also positioningthemselves in these one-to-one performance discussions as the Leader, worthy ofrespect. These sessions will later become coaching and mentoring sessions. Butat first they are establishing the Leader – Team Member relationship.

Whydo People Follow?

Peoplefollow the Leader firstly, if she is worth respecting – and secondly, if she isgoing somewhere I would want to go. The Follower will want to know whereexactly you want me to go – what is the goal? They will also want to know why -what is in it for me if I go there? I will follow if I think this is worthdoing and it is feasible – the goal and strategy to get there is doable.

This iswhat the Leader must satisfy in order to persuade the Team and each Team memberto work with them. The best Leaders are skilled at painting that forward visionof where we are going – painting it as an attractive picture that is worthworking for. To do this they must pitch the goal appropriately for this personor the Team at this point in time, using terms that would be attractive forthis person.

They alsopersuade the Team Members WHY they should work towards this goal. What are the benefitsof this goal – why it is good for the Company, good for the Customer, the Teamand me, the Team member?

An importantLeadership skill is the ability to deliver a motivational, goal setting talk toa Team Member or the whole Team. Both the goal and the talk is always plannedand prepared carefully. The Leader’s time spent bonding with Team Members andbuilding mutual trust and respect will be really useful here. The Leader’s personalknowledge of individuals will help ensure that the goal is appropriate, and thetalk can be pitched perfectly. Equally, the personal knowledge will help theLeader AVOID saying something that would alienate or disrespect any Team Members.The benefits of the goal can be expressed using examples and language stylethat will appeal to this individual or the Team.

Winningover the Team and persuading them that the goal is worth following are thestarting points in effective Leadership.