Do these 5 things to lead your team
Be humble. Just because you have the title doesn’t mean you have the best ideas. In fact, those closest to the work, or in the field, often have the best ideas.
Listen. To improve team performance, you need to learn about the challenges and opportunities they are facing. Carve out intentional time to meet with team members and ask probing questions to hear about their perspectives.
Communicate your ideas. As a leader, you do need to have a clear sense of where you’re taking the organization (vision) and how you’re going to get there (strategy). Every team wants to know that their leader is capable of leading! That’s why it’s important to share your ideas often.
Empower. The number one job of leaders is to develop future leaders. Empowering others also allows you to lift up and focus on more strategic areas. Senior leaders are always looking for this trait. This requires comfort with delegation, which takes time and comes with risk.
Fail. That’s right, fail. Show them that you’re also imperfect; we all are. Be vulnerable. Model the behaviours that you want to see, which include testing and experimentation—all necessary for innovation. This tip is inspired by Francis Lalonde, who intentionally creates a culture of failure with this as his team’s guiding mantra: “Fail fast, fail frequently, and fail forward.”