This is the second in a series of blogs on the most important efficiencies of a team.
A team’s power to achieve results rests on how strong the leader is especially in today’s environment of accelerated change and unpredictability. The current chaos can be either a deal-breaker or a game-maker for an individual, team or entire organization. History shows us that it is in tumultuous times some of society’s greatest advancements have been made and which way the team and organization goes depends on the strength of the leader and the leader’s ability to communicate a clear vision.
One of the best examples of leading a team in a highly volatile and unstable conditions is Abraham Lincoln. Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals, tells the story of how Lincoln brilliantly brought his political rivals together to create the most unusual and dynamic team that resulted in the healing of a nation. His understanding of human behavior and what motivated them was the key to his success. Lincoln’s willingness to forgo and forgive these men’s slights and their disdain and ultimately gaining their respect and admiration was one of the clearest pictures of what powerful leadership looks like.
What kind of leader can take a negative and turn into a positive? A person who is courageous, a problem-solver, has a positive expectation of the future, and is resilient. Today’s leadership is first about being a leader (as opposed to doing), and then about creating a pathway through vision, innovative problem-solving and aligning the right people.
Here are six leadership practices that will move today’s team in the right direction:
1. Practices agility by seeing adversity and problems as opportunities. Takes time to self-reflect: am I causing the problem or am I solving the problem?
2. Practices alignment by making sure that the vision, goals and priorities are clear and consistently communicates to stakeholders.
3. Practices innovation by watching for trends, looking for new ways to do things, models and coaches innovation to others .
4. Practices courage by challenging mindsets and questioning everything to uncover biases.
5. Practices composure by not over-reacting, is self-aware and has good judgment in difficult situations.
6. Practices healthy competition by pushing creative tension in the team with an underpinning of unconditional support.
Join us on June 21 at Power of the Huddle workshop for dynamic learning on how to lead your team: http://bit.ly/1UBiCCf
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