Leading teams with confidence: Essential tips for effective leadership

Effective leadership is about much more than simply managing tasks and deadlines. 

Understanding people’s motivations, your own leadership style and how you can support your team to reach a shared goal is an important part of being a successful leader.

Understand your team’s behaviours

Every team consists of individuals with diverse attitudes and energy levels. 

Effective leaders will be able to identify behavioural patterns and begin to understand what is at the root cause of behaviours and how to support their shift to a more positive, engaged frame of mind.

The Energy Investment Model describes four types of team members, based on the energy and attitude they bring to work.  Some team members are "players", engaged, positive, and solution-focused.

Others might temporarily fall into "spectator," "cynic" or "victim" mindsets.

It’s important for leaders to remember that:
●    Everyone has the capacity to move between these different states
●    There's usually a good reason why someone is exhibiting particular behaviours
●    The right leadership approach can help guide team members toward the more productive "player" quadrant

Recognise your leadership style

Self-awareness is the foundation of successful leadership. It is important to take time to understand your own leadership style and how you can adapt your behaviour to support individual team member needs.

The Management Effectiveness Model is a great way of understanding what management styles can be used to support each of the team member behaviours listed above, against the axis of support and challenge:
●    Counsellor: provides strong support but lacks challenge
●    Manager: Gives a good balance of support and challenge
●    Abdicator: gives neither support or challenge
●    Task Master: gives no support but a great deal of challenge.

Take time for your wellbeing

Confident leaders model healthy work habits. This includes working reasonable hours, establishing clear boundaries between personal and work life and identifying stress management techniques that work for you. Remember, your whole team succeeds when you create the right working environment.

The CALM reflection method is a helpful way of reflecting on your thoughts and moving forward to make beneficial changes:
Collect your thoughts and notice shifts in your thinking
Ask meaningful questions of yourself, your team, and your organisation
Learn from experiences and identify your leadership strengths
Make concrete changes based on your insights

Next steps

Remember that leadership is a journey of continuous growth. By implementing these strategies, you'll develop the confidence to lead your team through challenges while creating a positive working environment.

If you have an ambition to grow your business, speak to us today; our Business Advisers will give you free, tailored advice and signposting so you can make the most of all the funded support available to businesses.

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