I remember being told that leadership was “lead your ship”. I feel that many organizations are in trouble because of the lack of leadership acumen. Many believe that leadership is a position, role, or a title. This couldn’t be more wrong. This is positional leadership and people follow because they are required to.
I moved around a lot in my career, not because I wanted to. It was because something required fixing. Team morale was low, and productivity was not where it was needed to be. I would joke and say I was the cleanup lady on aisle 7. I mastered the art of transforming teams with a few consistent steps.
1. Meet with the team and introduce myself. Very high level during the first meeting. Usually, people are curious and anxious as to who their new boss is going to be. I’m curious how they feel as a team.
Are they happy? If so, in many cases we can move quickly.
Are there concerns that require deeper digging before we can make progress.
2. Meet with each person individually.
I’d ask how are you? They would immediately want to jump in and tell me something about work. I’d stop them and say, “We can talk about work later, but I really want to know how are you?” I want to get to know you. They were shocked that I cared to know about them. This is about establishing trust. You cannot require your people to trust you. As the leader, you have the responsibility to earn their trust.
3. Look for nuggets of goodness in each person I lead. Not my job to fix people. It’s my job to identify and maximize their strengths.
4. While getting to know my people, I observe what they do.
How are things done?
Are there opportunities to make things better? This is where I create my vision for the team and what we are going to look like in a year, then 3 years.
5. After creating my vision, I share it with the team and get their thoughts.
This part is tricky. You must be a great storyteller. Your story must be compelling. People must see themselves in your vision and should be moved by it. You want your team to embrace being a part of the vision.
6. Work with your team to create an action plan on how to achieve the first year’s vision/ targets.
7. I create opportunities for my teams to have small victories individually and as a group, especially if they are used to losing. Constant loss creates fatigue, but one win can create a world-wind of momentum. Morale will improve and the team will want more examples of success.
8. In 1:1’s, I reinforce their significance and value to the team. I thank them for their contributions and give them the next assignment for their growth.
I’ve used this formula for individual contributor teams as well as my management teams and it works for both.
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