Guest Post – 5 Leadership Skills My Team Expects
This is a guest post from Michael Dooley.
About Michael – I have been a huge advocate for HTL; health, travel and leadership for over ten years now. I believe that the World is better when we develop through those three categories and collaborate with everyone on our journey. As always, develop daily.
Michael Dooley
5 Leadership Skills My Team Expects
My team strives for excellence, they fight through harsh times, and they do it with a smile on their face. We all demand so much from our teams, so understanding what they expect will help keep them engaged and committed to our conquest.
- Trust: one of the most impactful competencies a leader has is trust. Without trust your team will only agree with your initiatives until you turn your back. Questioning your intentions, your loyalty, and even your decision making, employees will lose faith in your abilities to lead.
- Development: the only person that comes before me is everyone else. My job is to lead, to inspire, and to ensure my team’s careers are taken care of to the best of my abilities. Taking time to learn my employee’s dreams and aspirations will help drive a loyal group of appreciative enthusiasts. Years from now, the credit my employees give for their accomplishments far exceeds any target I hit today.
- Communication: tomorrow is too late these days, and your employees will let you know. Timely communication is something social media has trained our generation to expect promptly, and they are justified in their thoughts. I make sure that what I communicate is not subjective to my own views, but those of everyone. Remembering that even small bits of communication can be important to someone else, I make sure to touch base daily with my team.
- Inclusion: an easy fail for some leaders, inclusion takes effort and constant awareness. Inclusion is our ability to involve others, to find the skills and talents within our teams to drive unity. The isolation of others due to their ability will cause others to feel left out, and disengaged. Each team member is a branch of your influence, and each of them expects to be treated equally.
- Inspiration: the pillar that separates good leaders from great ones is our ability to inspire others. I bring a quirky and electric flow to the room and I do so consistently. My job is not to build fear; it is to build fear of disappointment. Inspiration is one of the most powerful emotions one can feel, it is why we all yearn for it daily. Be the fulfillment of your team’s inspiration, and they will follow you into the hardest of times.
There are many values and behaviors that teams expect from us. Remembering the bigger picture that this moment in time is microscopic compared to our team’s future, will help motivate our effort. Each leader has a responsibility to the family they raise, and to the leaders they grow. Find inspiration and redistribute it, communicate impacts to your teams, trust each other along the way, include everyone, and always develop daily!
If you’d like to read more from Michael Check out his blog at
Leadership Development
thanks
Gordon Tredgold
Leadership Principles
