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If you’re looking for a job in the corporate world or looking to manage a team, you’re definitely going to need good leadership skills as a prerequisite.
Not everybody can learn how to become a great leader and team manager overnight, but you can speed things up by determining exactly how you plan to become a stronger leader. Down below are some tips and advice to take into consideration.
1. Be a good example. People are far more likely to listen to you if you act like a role model to your team. Practice what you preach, as the saying goes. If your team has a great amount of respect for you and your work habits and ethics, they are far more likely to cooperate and are more open to your thoughts, advice, and ideas.
2. Be humble. Even though you are seen by others as a figure of authority, it is best to not let anything like a higher salary, a higher position, or power get to your head. Despite being a leader, you are still in essence equal to the individuals in your team. A leader who allows himself or herself to get too arrogant will have a team that reluctantly follows his orders.
3. Treat everyone equally. As a leader, this might be different given everybody in the team has a myriad of different personalities. Some of them might be easier to converse with others and you might find yourself developing favoritism for a certain individual. This is normal and unavoidable, but you mustn’t allow your fondness of a person to affect your leadership. When someone makes a mistake or does something great, treat them as you would with the other members of your team.
4. Hold your temper. At times being a leader can get incredibly stressful, especially when your team is not listening to what you are saying. If this ever happens, be sure to restrict your negative emotions in the meantime- this shows your team that you are mature and capable of handling difficult situations in a mature fashion. But still, make sure the message that you are upset is sent across, but do so in a professional manner.
5. Let your team function on its own, most of the time. It may be tempting to always intervene, to make sure everything at the workplace is going right. However, it is best to allow your team to do their tasks on their own. A leader must learn to put their full and utmost trust in the people they lead. This develops a good camaraderie between the leader and your team after all. If you always helicopter around, your team might think you don’t trust their ability to do their job. Only interfere when you have to.
The above tips serve as a great guide for any leader, so make sure to keep them in mind but at the same time do not allow it to restrict you. Develop your own style of leadership and see what suits you, and your team the best.
