It is not uncommon to hear colleagues griping about their managers at water cooler chats or at lunches. The conversations may cover a good boss versus a bad boss and the common complaints range from micromanaging, lack of clear directions, ever-changing requirements, lack of support, lack of recognition, gaslighted for doing what was told, etc.
Sound familiar? We would have experienced some form of poor leadership practices or even guilty of some of them. It led me to research and reflect upon my experiences with various leaders and my experiences in leading different teams throughout my career, exactly what characteristics and practices would make a good leader, so as to refine my curriculum development on the leadership development piece.
What stood out for me is that nothing in my schooling life nor my early career journey had really prepared me to hold a leadership position. I did not go through any structured course to learn about being a manager or a leader before taking on the role, and yet the expectations of the role were unclear for no one had ever clearly communicated to me what I needed to do for my team as a leader. I could only imagine that that was the same for all my bosses.
The transition from an individual contributor to a team lead is definitely not an easy one as one has to make several shifts in work scope, skill sets and mindset. Yet, miraculously, one has to make it without a clear understanding of the job scope or risks being labelled as a “bad boss”.
The role of a team leader goes beyond managing and meeting the goals and tasks for the team, and covers many aspects. Out of the many, I personally think developing the team (as a team and individual team member) is the most critical and demanding one. To do well in this aspect, the leader should do well in the below three areas:
- Growth mindset. I put this as the first one as this determine the approach a leader will take towards making decisions, handling failures and mistakes as well as the quality of conversations that follow through each learning moment. It also means that the leader would put development as a key priority and would set aside time for personal and team development.
Learning through experiences forms the bulk of our development journey in our work and personal life. Whether we get a job well done the first time or not, there are lots of learning to draw out from that one experience. It is key for a leader to leverage these learning moments to support the growth of his team. - Giving and receiving feedback. We have probably heard several times about giving timely feedback to our team. To most, this means negative feedback so as to help the team or team member learn and improve. Feedback, however, means both positive and negative feedback. A leader needs to give timely recognition in the form of positive feedback to encourage the team to continue to do well. A negative feedback has to be provided in the right manner to support growth.
As much as a leader needs to give timely feedback to the team, he also needs to receive feedback in a positive manner to promote a safe environment for the team to operate, learn and grow. At the same time, he would provide a role model for the team on how feedback could be positively received. - Coaching. This is a critical skillset that a leader should have to support the growth of each team member. A leader is unlikely to have all the answers to all issues and challenges. However, the ability to support development with a good coaching approach and questions would lead to growth opportunities. A good coaching approach provides sufficient safety and frame to facilitate the conversations while the questions would enable the team or team member build capability to seek resources, solutions and action plans towards the desired goals.
Connect with me to find out how coaching and leadership workshops could support your leadership development.