Top three team leadership skills

Developing effective team leadership skills is critical for any leader to grow your business. Success at any level is rarely the product of one person's efforts. While every team member is valuable, it's the collective effort that produces results.

So, having the ability to lead your team effectively is very important. The right team leadership skills will drive team productivity and efficiency while fostering collaboration and synergy.

A cohesive, well-organised team will help navigate any change or uncertainty affecting your organisation, reinforcing employee engagement and improving staff retention.

Good team leadership skills enable effective decision-making, inspiring conflict resolution and empowering team members to take ownership. This freedom and trust inspires a culture of innovation and creativity that can and will establish a competitive edge for your business.

So, we will explore the different approaches to leadership, identify what good team leadership is all about, and outline some strategies for successfully acquiring the right skills.

Why is team leadership essential today?

In an increasingly competitive global market, productivity and innovation have become critical components for any successful business. However, delivering greater productivity and innovation is not easy.

The workplace is very different from five years ago, and leading or managing a team in today's dynamic environment can be challenging.

While improved technology, more inclusive teams, and flexible working have certainly improved the work-life balance, they have also added new dimensions to team leadership. Developing a coaching and delegative approach to team leadership has become critical.

But what do those skills look like?

Core Team Leadership Skills Every Leader Needs

Here are some core skills good leaders need to inspire their team in today's competitive environment.

1. Communication

Communication is critical for effective team leadership, but it is often dismissed. Many people take communication for granted as they perceive it as a primary function and find it hard to quantify.

33% of employees said a lack of open and honest communication impacted employee morale, and 52% said it led to higher stress levels. It is also estimated that disengaged employees are 2.3 times more likely to take a sick day, costing the UK economy up to £70 billion a year.

Conversely, good communication fuels an excellent company culture, inspiring people to buy into your vision and values. It drives staff engagement and develops great collaboration across your team. But most importantly, it builds trust in you as a leader.

However, there is so much more to communication than just talking to people. As with any approach, there is no one-size-fits-all, but here are some core elements that can help any leader improve their communication.

Listening is essential for any good communicator. Take time to listen to the challenges and potential solutions that might be coming from your team. Your team will be more likely to use you as a sounding board if they know you will listen to understand without judgement or interruption. This will help you establish a stronger personal relationship with them and build more trust, which is the foundation of any successful team.

Honesty and transparency should be a minimum requirement. Make sure your team and other stakeholders know that you will always give them an honest appraisal of the situation, no matter how tough that is, as this builds trust.

Make sure you are clear about the messaging and the vision. Any communication you deliver should have a purpose and be communicated appropriately for your audience in a way that they understand what actions is needed and what’s expected. A lack of clarity causes waste duplication and confusion.

2. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is essential to good team leadership. Having the capacity to be aware of, control and express your emotions will help you succeed as a leader.

While there are various aspects to good emotional intelligence, there are a few that you should start with.

Self-management is vital for you and your team. Having the capacity to understand what makes you tick and doubling down on that will make you more effective and ensure you lessen any well-meaning but negative impact on your team. Managing how you show up consistently is important for your team to trust you and not waste energy worrying about how you’ll show up on any given day.

Self-awareness is at the heart of emotional intelligence. It can take time to get a handle on this, as finding out about yourself, often from colleagues and friends, can be challenging, but what form of growth and development doesn’t produce some discomfort or challenge and it is a path to truly understanding your value and where your strengths lie.

Empathy is essential for good team leadership. Understanding the different elements of people's lives, as well as the stresses and strains both within and outside work, helps you to see things from their perspective and to support them.

 

3. Delegation and empowerment

As we mentioned at the start, leadership is about recognising the skills and abilities you have in the team and maximising them to achieve your goals. That is where delegation becomes so essential.

Empowering your team to deliver critical outcomes builds trust and develops leaders throughout your organisation. Your team becomes accountable to themselves and others, taking greater care in their work and knowing their contributions are valued.

If you don't already know, spend some time assessing your team's skills through and getting to know them better. Learn and understand their strengths and weaknesses and, importantly, where their interests lie so you can align the tasks with their abilities.

In delegating, you must outline the desired outcome and objectives clearly. You may find yourself drawn in or disappointed if you don’t, as your team can only deliver the result you are looking for if they fully understand.

When you delegate, it is also important to give them the backing they need to take on the ownership of the outcome and the authority to make the decisions they need to, to deliver this. Make sure they have the resources and backing from you and the rest of the organisation.

With support and accountability comes ownership, which is vital for strong teams and successful organisations. That ownership will drive higher standards and better outputs and allow innovation to flourish.

But you mustn't undermine the progress with micromanagement. Checking in regularly is important, but following up with constructive feedback, and coaching where required, and celebrating success.

Developing your team leadership skills

It takes time to develop these leadership skills, both for yourself and your team. Experience provides an excellent grounding for leadership; however, there is a lot more to it, and the right coaching can help.

Leadership Coaching will help people find the answers they need, creating a more sustainable approach to leadership. It helps you and your team find your own strengths and weaknesses and encourages growth in the right areas.

Coaching champions listening and empathy as you encourage your team to build trust with each other and with you. It helps those working for your company to understand the direction of travel and to buy into your vision and values.

If you would like to learn more about coaching to help your team develop and to help support you on your own leadership journey, get in touch with our team today.