The Executive Suite: managing teams

Saturday, October 10, 2015

How To Lead Your B-Level Players to A-Level Success

Can a team of B players achieve A+ success? Research says yes — but only with an A-level leader. Effective leaders can have a variety of styles, but they share certain characteristics: superior judgment, which helps them make good decisions and learn from mistakes; high emotional intelligence, which helps them stay calm under pressure and build relationships with their teams; and high ambition, which pushes them to high performance. In addition, there are four tactics any leader can use to make their teams more effective: Have a strong vision that motivates your team with tactics, a plan of attack, and milestones. Use analytics to help your team make smarter, better decisions with data. Give feedback to be honest about team members’ limits and help them improve. And foster morale by encouraging team bonding. When people care about each other, they raise their performance for each other too.

15% Off All Business Cards

VIEW ALL

White Business Card (Matte Finish)

$44.25

Semi Gloss Business Card

$58.55

Thick Business Card Template #2

$68.95

Thick Business Card Template

$65.40

Pearl Finish Business Card Template

$60.05

Thursday, October 8, 2015

3 Mistakes to Avoid When Taking Over a Team

Taking over as the leader of a team is daunting. Your team members are used to how their previous leader liked to do things, and adjusting their habits can be a challenge. But it’s important to avoid three common mistakes that new leaders make when trying to ease the transition:

Being a friend rather than a leader. Investing too much energy in befriending the team can confuse the power relationship. Most teams want clear, confident leadership.
Expressing frustration with the quality of the team. What team members are good at is a reflection of what the previous leader expected of them. If your expectations are different, you need to help the team make that shift.
Attempting to force trust too quickly. Until team members have had time to see how you handle uncomfortable topics, too much candor will do more harm than good. Let trust build over time.