How to Lead Effortlessly
Leadership is undoubtedly one of the most significant contributors to the success of any organization or team.
It’s a difficult task, especially if it’s your first time and you don’t have the right guidance. Fortunately, there are tried-and-tested ways to help leaders be more effective.
To lead well, you must understand why you exist. Why doesn’t the team just work without a leader? Only when you understand your function in the team can you fulfill that function well.
This article will explore the “why” of leadership, which naturally makes the “how” easier.
Let’s dive in.
Leadership Starts With Vision
Assume you’ve been appointed as a shift leader in a factory. You could just dive right into your job and start planning the work schedules.
But imagine what would happen if you sat your team down and had a candid conversation with them to gauge where they are at. You get vulnerable about your experiences in the company so far, as well as your hopes and dreams — maybe even your fears. You find common ground and assure them that you are on their side.
And, most important of all, you listen to them; their hopes, challenges, fears, and so on.
Then imagine that, based on the interaction, you come up with a vision of a future that captures the collective hopes and dreams of your team. And you articulate that vision and ask them to help you fulfill it.
For example, the vision could be two-fold, something along the lines of:
- We want to build a team that makes it easy for our members to have a healthy work-life balance. If you need to take two consecutive shifts to enable you to take time off work to go to your daughter’s graduation, you should easily be able to.
- We want to have the lowest rates of disruption to production so that everyone in our shift can enjoy healthy bonuses.
In the second scenario, where you’ve developed a shared vision for your team:
- Your mandate as a leader is strengthened. You’ll have more goodwill and you’ll be able to get more done.
- Your team is united by a shared vision, which makes team dynamics easier to handle. It’ll be easier to set aside personal differences or petty issues. Why? The team is working towards a worthy goal.
- Your team members are motivated and invested in the team’s success. They’re more likely to bring their A-game, and it will significantly improve the team’s chances of success.
The most important function of any leader is to give their team a convincing why – a worthy vision.
Leaders Take Care of Their People
The first question you should ask yourself after landing in a leadership position is: Who are my people?
If you’re leading a volunteer organization in your community, there are at least two answers to the above question:
- Your team members. The people that volunteer alongside you are critical to your mission and you should always factor that in every decision you make.
- Your community. Your organization only exists to serve that community, so you must always act in their best interests.
As a leader, most of your work will involve making decisions. Often, there’ll be competing interests and it will be impossible to keep everyone happy.
But once you know your people and remember to always uphold their interests, impossible decisions become easy.
Furthermore, once your people know you’ll always have their back, they will always have yours, and it will give you the power you need to lead your team to success, especially in tough times.
What Matters to You and Your People?
As a leader, in addition to knowing who matters, it’s important to know what matters, and to always keep it at the top of your mind.
If you’re the captain of a football team, the most important thing to your teammates, fans, and management is to win the league.
If you find yourself feeling outshined by another player on the team, it’s easy to get tempted into a competition to remind everyone why you’re the team captain.
But if you remember that the key thing is to win the league, regardless of who shines best, it becomes easier for you to act rationally, and in the best interests of your team. And guess what, you’ll be more likely to win the league.
A goal-oriented mindset is one of the most important determinants of success. But you can’t be goal-oriented if you don’t first clarify your goals.
The Takeaway
At GVL, we often compare leaders to magnifying glasses. In primary school science, students perform an experiment that involves setting a piece of paper on fire by concentrating the rays of the sun.
Without the magnifying glass, the normal rays of the sun can’t light a fire.
As a leader, your work is to gather the energy and abilities of your team members and focus them to give the team the power to achieve its goal.
Your most important role is to unify and inspire. Remember that and the how of leadership becomes easy.
GVL offers basic leadership and management training to both individuals and organizations. Contact us to equip yourself or your team with the skills necessary to lead successfully across situations
