Teams reflect the culture created by leadership and the behaviour standards set for what is acceptable and what is not. Effective leaders create a vision that captures the interest of the team. This is not a statement on the wall, rather a focus of attention on what matters most. We have gathered our thoughts on why leaders fail, and what we can do differently.
1. Not Having or Sharing the Vision
We know that casting a vision your team believes in is important – it gives everyone focus and direction. Yet too often we focus on achievement, improvement, and growth before we have defined the vision of who we are and what we represent as a team or organization. We must establish and communicate the vision and values with the team to ensure the teams goals and outputs align with the vision. Once the vision and values are clearly defined and understood, we can use these as a touch stone for decision making in the completion of goals.
2. Under Communicating
With every organization we work with, around the world, communication is consistently a concern brought forward. In these stressful times, overcommunication in a respectful and appreciative tone, goes a long way to ease tension. When information is missing, individuals will fill the gaps with their own perceptions – which can be a long way from what is truth. Now that we are communicating virtually, take the time, pause, look people in the eye and really listen to what they have to say. As a leader, set the precedent and fill in the missing pieces so that teams can feel they too are valued partners in the business.
3. Ignoring Change
It can seem as if the organization is hardwired to resist change, creating the thought “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. However, to remain competitive, leaders need to realize that change is a constant. Creating a culture that embraces change through process improvement, benchmarking competitors, and new ways to delight customers will develop a curiosity in what’s possible.
4. Lack of Trust
With our current physically distanced work teams, it is easy for misunderstandings to occur. Until recently we overlooked the importance of hallway conversations, office drop ins, or impromptu meetings, even if it was a social conversation. These gaps in connections, can have us building all sorts of misinterpretations in our minds – “he didn’t respond, he must be unhappy with what I said”. We race up that ladder of inference and imply new meaning. Instead, let’s walk back down the ladder, gather more information and understanding. Believe in your team and they will blossom.
5. Avoiding Difficult Conversations
At the best of times, statistics tell us that leaders often avoid difficult conversations in the workplace as it can be awkward, uncomfortable, or challenging. This lack of action resets the standard of acceptable behavior, sending a message to the team, without a word spoken, of what is ok. This in turn, leads other levels of the organization to also avoid difficult conversations. Instead reframe your thoughts – consider conflict as an opportunity to move forward, make change and create consistency amongst the team.
The leaders of an organization set the tone for others to follow. We are all guilty of getting caught up in our day and forgetting a few basic principles that can make a world of difference with our team. Remember we judge ourselves on our intentions, we judge others on their actions, however, intentions are only known if they are shared and too often, this does not happen. Take the time to pause, reflect and consider how you can implement these five suggestions.
