This week a friend was putting together a meeting for her team to talk about effective team leadership. She asked me for some tips to share and spark conversation.
To me, leading isn’t about directing so much as it is about creating the opportunity for others to succeed. Here are three of the ideas I shared.
Tip 1. Praise in public, ask questions and critique in private. Sharing praise in public not only recognizes success but shows others what success looks like. On the other hand, if you trust people, and you should start there, then there may be a totally reasonable explanation for what you might think is wrong. So ask questions. In private so as not to embarrass anyone.
Tip 2. Success is shared, failure is yours. Success is a team effort. But why would I suggest that failure belongs to the leader? I guess because on some level it does. The leader is responsible for the team. When the team makes a mistake, the leader is responsible.
Tip 3. Find opportunities for team members to reach their goals. That not only helps them, it helps your team develop, too.
What works for you?
Best,
Julie