Leadership, in the calmest of times is challenging, but leading a team through tough times can demand everything from you and then so much more again, and haven’t we been through some.
It’s in the tough times, that it’s critical our leadership skills are at their best so we can effectively navigate our team through the difficult and rocky terrain.
What has been the toughest time you’ve had to lead your team through?
Or, as a team member, how has your leader led you through difficult times?
Welcome to the second and final blog in this series. Following are 5 more leadership strategies which are highly effective at keeping you and your people on track when things get difficult.
- INCREASE YOUR PASSION.
I’ve always found that our best performance comes from our passion, not from the pressure to perform.
When times are challenging, highly effective leaders increase their passion to build belief – not only in themselves, but the team they lead. Like never before, your team will look to you for guidance so your passion can’t wane – it must grow and ignite your team!
You as the leader are responsible for leading your team – if you‘re not passionate, why should they be?
How can they be?
You must lead by example and duplicate the right thinking.
How passionate are you about your team/business right now?
2. SIMPLIFY PROCESSES
Don’t over complicate things. When times are challenging your team needs simplicity and clarity from you.
List your top priorities that will drive success and laser focus on those only. By keeping it simple you increase clarity and reduce stress on you and your team.
Set up a team meeting and one on ones to discuss with your team what you all need to be focussing on so everyone is crystal clear and feel part of the plan.
Are you keeping things simple?
What do you need to have better clarity about so that the current challenge you are dealing with can be resolved?
3. HONESTY AND TRANSPARENCY
The Dalai Lama once wisely said, “A Lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.”
When leadership challenges exist, there must be complete honesty and transparency amongst the team members so that the challenges can be addressed as a unified team.
If you’re not honest, you’ll eventually be found out, which will decrease your influence with your team. If secrets and doubts swirl around your team, this leads to distraction, mistrust, increased stress, anxiety, disunity and disharmony within the team you lead.
Not good for moving forward.
What do you need to be more transparent about?
Are you being honest with your team?
Are your team being honest with you?
4. YOU AS THE LEADER NEED TO CONTINUALLY IMPROVE
Without change there can be no progress, period. If you want to resolve a leadership challenge, as the leader you have to be prepared to change something. What your team needs from you as a leader, particularly in the tough times, is to be a better leader, to continually improve yourself, to never be satisfied with your current skill set. You want your team members to then model your behaviour, but you need to lead by example first.
Leaders face the truth head on.
Where do you need to grow as the leader so that you can lead your team through the challenges you’re facing?
5. GET A MENTOR, AND MENTOR YOUR KEY PEOPLE.
A 2022 study by BetterUp and published by Oxford Brookes University found that those who were mentored at the start of the pandemic were FOUR TIMES more resilient than those who weren’t.
They also found that it not only kept them more grounded and mentally strong, it also made them a tonne more productive (+129%) than those who weren’t mentored – in fact their productivity dropped dramatically.
If you haven’t already started, can I encourage you to take a serious look into this for your business? Even if you start with finding a mentor for yourself, and then you mentor your top two people.
It will pay dividends if you do.
That brings this short series to a close. You can read Part 1 here if you missed it or would like to go back and refresh.
Don’t be afraid of the challenging times, but embrace them. It’s in these times your leadership skills are honed and refined to make you a better leader if you let it. I trust you’ve been challenged and stimulated a little about what you might need to do now in your business or team.
I truly hope it helps you strengthen your leadership so you and your people can live better lives.
Peter.
If you’d like to talk about how we can mentor you and your people to grow and sustain a thriving business through the good times and the tough ones, contact me ([email protected]). I know we can help you like we’ve done for so many others. Check out our website for more information too.
