If you look at the top management of any business you will notice that they are all playing managerial roles. Even in situations such as the Chief Financial Officer or the Chief Technical Officer, that sounds like a technical role, that person is playing a managerial role and looking after the management of the entire finance or technical department. Managers get paid the most because the work they do has an impact on the output of all their reports. In some cases, such as in the work of the CEO, this influences the output of every member of the company. Naturally, when you are managing hundreds of thousands of employees, having a very good manager can make all the difference.
Head of Your Workforce
However, this is not to say that you cannot reach the top of the ladder if you aren’t already a manager or in a leadership role. The great thing about management and leadership is that it is a skill, just like any other technical skill. It’s something you can learn, and with enough practice, you can get extremely good at it. The challenge is figuring out how this will apply in your particular situation. On that note, here’s what you need to do to become the head of your workforce.
Develop Leadership Traits
If we narrow down some of the most important traits that we see in the most effective leaders, we can learn to develop them ourselves. In any situation, the traits that leaders have are relatively common. The better you can manifest these traits in your personality and your work, the more efficiently you can start working towards becoming a leader in your organization.
Empathy
As a leader of a business, clan, family, or any other group, you need to be extremely sensitive to the needs of your members. Whether these are emotional needs, financial needs, or any other kind. If you can’t identify what your members need and gauge what they are feeling, it will be close to impossible to help them out in that situation. Empathy doesn’t need to be so strong that you feel disabled in that situation, but it needs to be strong enough to drive you to understand and motivate your team.
At the same time, you need to have the emotional intelligence to understand people at an emotional level and then address them accordingly. Simply telling them what to do and when to do it will only get you so far. When you can inspire and influence the way they think and feel, you will have a much deeper and longer-lasting impact on the group.
Vision
It is extremely rare for employees of a company to have internalized the vision, goals, and aspirations of the company. Even people who have been with you for several years, or even decades, are simply playing out their role and aren’t necessarily exerting themselves to create the company that the founders had in mind. Keeping the company vision alive is the job of the leader. This requires the person to be completely entrenched in the ideas and philosophy of the business so that everything they do is directly or indirectly linked to making that company’s vision a reality. Moreover, the leader has a personal vision for their team, and they develop strategies, processes, and systems that help to achieve that end goal.
Discipline
As a leader, you need to practice what you preach, and you need to practice it regularly. If you aren’t doing things the way they should be done and you aren’t setting an example, it is going to be very difficult to get the rest of the team to follow suit. As a leader, you’re also playing the role of a teacher for the entire team. Everything you do and the way you do it will be setting the tone for the rest of the team. This is why leaders need to be extremely consistent in their work and need to make sure they are only exposing the team to things that they want the team to follow.
How to Develop These Skills
For some people, leadership comes naturally. The traits required and the kind of character that is needed have fortunately developed over time, or they are naturally predisposed to this type of behaviour. For others, it is a completely alien subject, and it will take some time to develop these things. However, by focusing on the following specific things, this can be made possible.
Emotional Well-Being
To bring about a significant change in others, especially one that stems from a change in mindset, you first need to work on yourself. The only thing you have full control over is yourself. So, if you can set an example of mastering yourself, then all that follows will be a result of the change you brought about in yourself. Before you can help improve others’ well-being, you need to work on yourself and improve your own to have any meaningful impact. In the role of a leader, you are going to be interacting with all kinds of people at a very deep level. It can be a very emotionally taxing job, and if you don’t have a good grip on your emotional health, the stress alone can negatively affect your mental state, which affects the entire team under you.
Having The Right Skills
If you wish to be a great leader, you must know how to apply these skills. In addition to the soft skills mentioned above, you must develop the technical skills necessary for this role. Furthermore, you must know how to convey it effectively and emphasize the benefits of the activity being performed in such a way that it sinks positively into the user’s mind. Thus, you should also consider taking a public speaking coaching course if you want to gain more confidence when it comes to communication and public speaking. Thought-Leader offers customized training to improve your communication skills.
If you are heading the finance department, for instance, you need to know and understand finance and how the different company procedures work to be able to manage this department. According to the leadership keynote speaker Kurt Uhlir, you don’t need to be an expert at every little thing in the department, but you need to have a good idea of what is going on. The second thing is to have an understanding of the different job roles performed by your team and not just the overall work itself. If you have a new accounting intern, you need to understand their responsibilities and challenges at this stage of their career to be able to address their needs. This knowledge will also help you develop a deeper sense of empathy and come up with solutions that meet the needs of the team more effectively.
Self Development
You’ve climbed the career ladder, honed your skills, built solid connections within the company, and met all the criteria of a top-notch leader. Now, to take charge of a specific department or lead the entire company, you’ll need the organization to choose you officially. Your employers will look for clear proof that you’re the ideal person for the role. In most cases, this will be through education and certifications relevant to your field. In some cases, case studies will also be important, but this isn’t set in stone. It is extremely rare for someone to get promoted just based on their experience. So you need to be working on your skillset continuously and trying to get the best certifications possible.
Teamwork
The team is nothing without the leader, and a leader is nothing without the team. To achieve excellent results, both need to work in synergy. One of the most important characteristics of a leader is to be an excellent team player. A leader’s job is not just to give directions and see results, but they can also play a pivotal role in the operations of the team other than being an administrator. To get the most output from the team, they need to have a solid relationship with all the team members and understand all their unique personalities. It needs to be a relationship based on trust and respect rather than power and authority.
Growth Mindset
As a business leader, you will continuously face challenges and changes. This includes changes that happen in the external environment as well as changes that take place within the organization. For instance, changing consumer needs, changing market trends, adding new products and services, and changing the way certain processes are carried out within the organization are a few examples. A leader with a growth mindset will have the capacity to meet these changing conditions because they have the flexibility to adapt and evolve. In business, rigidity often fails. There are countless examples of businesses that were doing great up until sudden changes. They weren’t able to adapt, resulting in them going out of business soon after. As a leader, not only should you adopt a growth mindset, but you should be motivating your team to develop one, too.
Self-Awareness
All individuals in a team, including the team leader, have their strengths and weaknesses. For some, it is their technical skills that are strongest, for others, it is their work ethic, while others have excellent social skills. As a leader, you need to identify exactly what you are good at and what skills you lack. The kinds of skills that come naturally to you and the natural tendencies you have will play a huge role in your job as a leader. The better you can identify these minor differences within yourself, the easier it will be for you to work on improving yourself as a leader.
You may notice certain things aren’t your forte, and you would be much better off delegating those tasks to someone more qualified and who prides themselves on this specialty. This will not only make your life a lot easier but it will make you a much better leader. It will also help raise your position in the eyes of your team because they will appreciate how you can identify individual skills, and you won’t be afraid to admit that some tasks aren’t your strength.
Responsibility
When your team does a great job, the team leader gets the credit, and similarly, when the team underperforms, the team leader is the first one questioned. If you want to transition to the role of a leader in your company, you will have to get comfortable with taking on more responsibility. Not only are you responsible for your actions but you’re also representing your team and holding yourself accountable for their actions too. While it can be a very rewarding position to be in when things are going well, it is a tough situation to handle during setbacks and mishaps.
Out-of-the-Box Thinking
Your team members rely on you to take direction. Just like the captain of a ship, you will determine where the ship will go and how all the crew will perform their duties to make sure the ship moves in that direction. The final result, which includes the success or the failure of the crew, depends on the decisions you make. This puts a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. To make the best decisions, you need to keep your eyes open to new possibilities; you need to be aware of common problems and be familiar with the challenges that others have faced. You need to be willing to take the risk of going in a direction that no one has explored before.
Leadership is a skill in itself. Some people are born with a natural ability to lead but for the vast majority of people that are playing key managerial roles in business, it is a skill that they have acquired over time. Moreover, there is a big difference between being a team leader, a manager, a regional team leader, a director, a vice president, and a CEO. While the key principles remain the same, the scope of the job changes and makes a lot of difference.
If you want to be a great leader in the future, you will have to go through all these different stages and understand what it means to lead a team of 500 people before you can lead 5000 people. It is not a quick process, and it takes time to teach these skills within yourself and then put them into practice in real life. However, with consistent effort and focus, there is no reason why you can’t be the next leader in your organization.
How do you engage your workforce?
Fostering a motivated and engaged workforce is crucial for a thriving workplace. Here are some effective strategies to actively engage your team:
- Open Communication: Encourage transparent and open communication. Actively listen to your employees’ ideas, concerns, and feedback. A two-way dialogue creates a sense of inclusion.
- Recognition and Appreciation: Acknowledge and appreciate your team’s efforts. Whether through public recognition, shout-outs in meetings, or small tokens of appreciation, recognizing hard work boosts morale.
- Professional Development: Invest in your employees’ growth. Offer opportunities for training and development, empowering them to enhance their skills and advance in their careers.
- Clear Goals and Expectations: Set clear expectations and goals. When employees understand their roles and how their work contributes to broader objectives, they feel a sense of purpose.
- Flexibility and Work-Life Balance: Support a healthy work-life balance. Offering flexibility, where possible, and recognizing the importance of personal time promotes overall well-being.
- Team Building Activities: Foster a sense of camaraderie through team-building activities. This could range from casual Friday lunches to organized team events, creating bonds beyond daily tasks.
- Empowerment and Autonomy: Empower your employees to make decisions. Providing autonomy fosters a sense of responsibility and ownership in their roles.
- Wellness Initiatives: Prioritize employee well-being by implementing wellness programs. This could include mental health resources, fitness challenges, or wellness workshops.
By actively incorporating these strategies, you not only engage your workforce but also contribute to a positive and productive work environment. Remember, an engaged team is a motivated and loyal one, driving success for both employees and the organization.
