The capacity to bring out the best in yourself and your team is critical for a leader capable of developing high-performing teams. A leader’s function in an organization is akin to that of a ship’s captain. To get to your destination, you must sail the ship through a storm. Similarly, workplace leadership plays various roles in a business, with one of the most important aims being to execute strategies that improve team performance.
According to a Deloitte report, organizations are progressively transitioning away from hierarchical organizational structures and toward team-based structures to be more agile and efficient. 53 percent of organizations experiencing such transformations report a significant gain in performance. Successful managers have the ability to influence the actions of others and increase the performance of their teams. Individual team members may respond better to certain techniques than others. Thus, you can effectively engage your teams and improve their performance by employing a variety of strategies:
Say no to mircomanagement
One of the biggest errors made by both new and experienced managers is that they focus too much on small details and micromanage their employees throughout their working hours. Multiple research proves that micromanagement is one of the primary reasons why employees pen down their papers and switch jobs. Micromanagement can lead to a lower amount of productivity, a high rate of turnover, and low morale of your employees. In order to prevent micromanaging your employees, you have to empower your workforce and leave perfectionism.
Your employees will then be able to experiment and bring out their creative side to complete their tasks. At the same time, it provides you with the time you need to work on the organization’s larger objectives and develop a sense of trust in your team.
Encourage bi-directional feedback
Knowing how to offer feedback successfully is an important management proficiency. Make it a point to provide informal feedback to your team on a frequent basis, rather than waiting for annual review periods, to foster a stronger working relationship with your team. Consider these informal appraisals to be discussions rather than sweeping remarks like “great work.” Your feedback should be specific and actionable.
Don’t forget to solicit feedback. The observations of your team members can assist you in identifying areas for development that can help you up your leadership game!
Be a visionary
An aspirational leader must have a clear vision for the future of their team, department, or company. Looking ahead to your team’s long-term success not only motivates you to perform well as a manager, but it can also inspire team members to work towards this future goal. Ideal goals are realistic, measurable, attainable, and well-stated, allowing you to express your vision to others and align the actions of your department with a long-term vision.
By doing this, you will communicate a specific ambition towards which your team will work and make everyone future-oriented as they will become habitual of long-term thinking.
Recognize the contribution of your employees
Employees seek appreciation as they desire to be valued by their organization. It works to increase their engagement and commitment towards the organization. When individuals and teams go above and beyond to achieve outstanding outcomes, celebration and acknowledgment are the best ways to keep people committed to the organization’s vision, mission, and goals. It is how quality is fostered over time and maintained even during high production volume and stress.
What gets rewarded certainly gets repeated. Despite this statement becoming one of the most used business maxims, leaders still end up underestimating the huge influence of this highly effective leadership strategy.
Be the example
Leaders, by definition, model how their followers should behave, contribute and work. If a manager lacks practical experience or a great understanding of strategies, they may appear weak or inexperienced, which may instill unfavorable feelings in their workforce.
Some leaders may use a knowledge-forward strategy to assist their team with their experience and knowledge. Others may prefer a man-management approach of leading by example, which employs interpersonal skills to motivate individuals to perform to their full potential. It works to indicate to the team how they are expected to work and allows your teams to draw inspiration from you.
Support development and growth
Encouraging your employees to enhance their education and abilities can benefit your team and your firm. According to a recent LinkedIn research, 69 percent of talent development specialists work with managers and leaders to support learning initiatives, and 75 percent of employees would take a course recommended by their boss.
The online course provides an alternative to traditional classroom programs for employees to enhance their knowledge while juggling full-time employment needs. Make sure to concentrate on your own growth as well. A management training course can provide you with the knowledge and expertise you need to advance your career.
Need more guidance on how easily you can improve the performance of your teams and make them more productive? Get on a consultation call with the experts today!
Gaurav Sabharwal
CEO of JOP
Gaurav is the CEO of JOP (Joy of Performing), an OKR and high-performance enabling platform. With almost two decades of experience in building businesses, he knows what it takes to enable high performance within a team and engage them in the business. He supports organizations globally by becoming their growth partner and helping them build high-performing teams by tackling issues like lack of focus, unclear goals, unaligned teams, lack of funding, no continuous improvement framework, etc. He is a Certified OKR Coach and loves to share helpful resources and address common organizational challenges to help drive team performance. Read More