Empower your team and lead with excellence

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Here you'll find my infrequent musings and reflections on all things that impact our beliefs and potential.

13 July 2022

Leadership is evident in most roles in life. Whether an employer, employee, parent, teacher, prefect, school parliament member – most people experience leadership at some point.

But there’s a common misconception that leadership is about getting people to do as they’re told. People are unsure how to deal with people. The thought of actually having to step up and take charge can be scary. Leadership doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people – you only have to look around you to see people being micro-managed, or toxic environments in the workplace. And as a new leader, looking around you and seeing this is actually a pretty good place to start. Because you get to see how not to do leadership and choose to do things differently before getting sucked down the same path.

So, let’s take a closer look.

One of the mistakes I see people making is thinking they need to make their team an exact replica of themselves. That their team needs to do exactly what they say.

This not only causes resistance, but also unhealthy conflict, lack of trust, disengagement, no innovation and zero rapport.

Another mindset that is frequently seen is the belief that people are motivated in the same way. Or motivation through reward and punishment. Err… please, no.

Rewards aren’t bad by any stretch. And actually, it IS important to make sure people are recognised for the work they do and rewarded appropriately.

But when people are working only for a reward and to avoid being punished, work simply becomes a means to an end, it may be done fast but what’s the quality like? It probably won’t be very creative, and people won’t be feeling empowered to do their best work autonomously.

Thankfully there’s another way. And that’s to help everyone on your team see exactly how they contribute to the vision, to ensure the team enjoy working towards the same goals and wanting the same outcomes.

What we’re talking about here is tapping into people’s intrinsic motivators. When people are bought into the vision and do the work because they enjoy it rather than because it’s a means to an end, they are self-motivated and feel empowered.

This means you can focus on leading the bigger picture and taking your team towards the vision, while your team can get on without you in their ear the whole time and do the work they love.

How on earth do we empower people though?

Here are a couple of ideas:

1. Give them ownership. Let your team take control of their projects and get creative with their delivery. Recognise their awesome work and give credit where it’s due. This creates trust and a sense of pride.
2. Tell them what outcome is needed. So rather than telling them they need to do X and Y to get to Z, tell them the outcome needs to look like Z to help us achieve the vision or goal. They can decide how best to achieve it and adapt, and flex as required.

When you empower your team, your job becomes to lead the bigger picture. This means you nurture the skills and potential of the people in your team, encouraging their passions and keeping the vision in sight. Leadership is not about controlling their every move.

When your team feel empowered, delivery becomes exceptional. This means fired-up energy and outstanding results. When you’ve experienced an empowered team, you’ll never want to micro-manage again.

Contact me if you'd like to discuss coaching for your leaders to help them empower their teams.

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