A team can quickly fail without an authoritative leader. There are different approaches to leadership and styles of leadership, but all of them must include the fundamentals to be effective. Leadership is also a journey – there will be many challenges and it doesn’t matter how good you are at leading, you can always get better. That is why development programmes and leadership courses are recommended for continuing professional development.
You may have a number of leaders in your organisation, or you might just have one. As a company grows, it will need to establish new leaders in the form of managers and supervisors to lead separate teams. Management and leadership development is really important to make sure your managers are equipped with the right tools to create and lead a productive and engaged team of staff. Failing to engage leaders through career development will make it unlikely that they will engage their staff.
We understand the fundamentals of leadership, and through our training programmes provide leaders with an arsenal of techniques to become excellent managers. Here’s a roundup of what makes a great leader, but it is far from definitive.
Know what you want to achieve
A manager or anybody else in a leadership position needs to understand who and what they are responsible for. They are clear on the purpose of the team they are leading, and put action plans in place to get them there. This includes goal setting and marking objectives for yourself, and for the team as a whole.
Feedback and constructive criticism
A leader is liable to make improvements, and to make this happen they need to give individual and team feedback. As well as positive feedback and praise, leaders should focus on constructive criticism and guiding staff members to improve. It’s all about delivering clear messages which explain what you expect and how it can be achieved.
Flexibility
As a leader, you need to embrace change. Businesses are a changeable environment, as markets move and clients’ expectations shift. In a management position you may have to shift your own roles and responsibilities, and start working with new teams of people. You have to be able to adapt, as well as encouraging your team to adapt with you. Delivering change can be difficult when faced with resistance from employees – a good leader deals with these problems early to ensure a smooth transition.
Poor people management can create problems in all aspects of the business, especially when it comes to performance and profit. Talk to us today about our bespoke leadership programmes for all types of businesses. Email team.admin@hunteradams.co.uk.
