Leading A Team
Skills You Need To Know

Leading A Team Skills, You Need To Know

Leading a team there are some skills that you need to know to be successful.

Motivation Is A Trap

Often those who lead a team get caught in the trap of thinking that they need to be motivating their team. Doing this leads to a never-ending cycle in which you are constantly having to motivate. Much like the constant winding required by the old clocks which ran on springs. These clocks needed the spring to be wound up continuously to keep the spring tense to keep operating.

Motivation works much the same way and constantly needs to be applied. Motivation is only required when the team is not inspired by what they are doing in their role. Motivation is the constant process of getting people to do something that they aren’t driven internally to want to do. If you need to motivate your team constantly, you’ll likely find its time-consuming, frustrating, and draining.

Inspiration Unlocks Potential

A different approach that doesn’t require you constantly motivating the team is to have an inspired team. According to Human Behaviour Expert Dr John F Demartini, every person has their own unique list of values. Those values which are highest on their list are those they feel called to do, doing it inspires them. When someone feels inspired to do something, it does not require external motivation to get them to do it. Inspiration is an inner fire, it’s a self-perpetuating drive that doesn’t require any outside input.

When leading a team if you help each person in your team connect their highest values with their role. You’re empowering them to connect to their inspiration and to tap into their inner genius and creativity and be fulfilled in what they do. When this occurs, motivation is not required as the drive is coming from an endless internal source of energy.

Ask Don’t Tell

Your team was hired because of their skills, creativity and experience. So, wouldn’t it make sense that you utilise the traits they were hired for?

No one really likes being told what to do. By providing an outline of the problem to be solved and also providing parameters in which the solution needs to fit. You are engaging the talents of your team. They feel empowered, valued and trusted which are ingredients that help your team to do their best work.

Patton Principle

Following on from this is a principle that US General George Patton made famous when training and empowering his troops. General Patton aimed to have his troops so well trained that they knew exactly what to do in any situation. His goal was that if in the event that anything were to happen to him his troops would be able to continue on without him and he would not be missed.

Having a team that is able to keep the business running without needing your constant input is vital for the health and growth of the business. It gives you the ability to work on scaling the business, with a combination of processes and technology to leverage your time and that of your team. Michael E. Gerber author of the book The E-myth puts this bluntly. If you are not working on developing your business to leverage your time, you don’t have a business you have created a job for yourself.

If you are looking to get things running smoothly in your business and are not sure where to start.