TU Strategy: 5 Keys to Building Powerful Teams
Everyone wants to be a leader in some way. There are continuous debates on whether leaders are made or born. The world of literature is full of behaviours, confusing at best, of successful people. Unfortunately, being a powerful leader who consistently inspires people is very challenging and what many people don’t know is that all the behaviours practiced by another person work for that person, in that situation, with the people involved. It may not, however, work for you and your situation.
We’d like to share some wisdoms on some key qualities to becoming a leader who can build powerful teams in any industry.
- Knowing the difference between management and leadership:
Management theories are built on a set of fundamental beliefs that demand desired behaviours. As a result, they rarely consider the thought process that drive the desired behaviours. Therefore, the minute someone is not watching, people easily can go back to their comfort zone. When looking at leadership, behaviour starts with understanding one’s thought process of their beliefs and values. This is what drives decisions, which drives behaviours. As a leader, you need to learn how people think and shift their thought process. Once you are able to do that, the rest of the desired behaviours are sustained without monitoring.
- Existence in scarcity or abundance:
Management practices exist in a world of scarcity, where by design, there is not enough. The principle of scarcity creates a very competitive environment, where people compete for promotions with fewer and fewer upper level positions. This scarcity environment also creates an environment of scarce money, especially when it comes to rewarding employees. Leaders choose a different environment of abundance. Leaders give people endless amounts of support and development. They show people how much care and consideration are given to the individual each day and provide ample emotional pay, in addition to standard renumeration. Subsequently, team members feel valued in an abundance environment.
- Choice of fear or inspiration:
Standing on the edge of a cliff, what do you feel? When we ask managers this question in various courses around the world, 97% of them respond with a negative emotion such as fear or anxiety; very few speak of the positive emotions in such a situation. Why are we more prone to negative emotions? This thought process has to do with how most environments are drive by fear, rather than by inspiration. Most managers use fear of job loss, more work, no promotion/bonus to manipulate peoples’ behaviours. In the best situations, fear as a motivator obtains conformity. If you’re looking for innovative teams, inspiration is the focus. This requires the leader to understand each team member’s passions and values. Do you have a passion and values inventory of your team? Perhaps, you can build one, and start inspiring your team more often
- Balance of short-term and long-term outcomes:
Managers tend to focus on the current project/task. This narrow focus is a one-dimensional thought process that may get the results for the current project but diminishes the possibility of success long term. Leaders focus on two areas; the first is development of skills and beliefs; helping people grow in a way they wish to grow is a powerful tool. The second is the relationship focus; leaders always focus on developing relationships of trust and respect.
- Development of Systems Thinking:
All of the above-mentioned qualities reside on the fundamental skill of Systems Thinking. Systems Thinking is the fundamental ability for leaders to see the interconnectedness of tasks to skills, individuals to teams, work life to personal needs and many more areas of interconnections.
Most educational systems, unfortunately, focus on contents of leadership, such as a leadership module. One might study the contents of leadership behaviours, but not the skills necessary to lead. At Transcontinental Institution, we provide the necessary tools for our students/graduates not only to learn the knowledge of leadership, but also to master the skills of effective thinking processes and multiple intelligences that are required for sustainable success.
If you’d like others to see you as a powerful leader, come and explore our programs. At Transcontinental Institution, we guarantee that your educational experience will be a most profound and transformational journey.