I’m a Leadership Coach and my heart is to see Leaders lead in such a way that they feel energized and empowered so that those sentiments trickle down to all those who are influenced by them. Leadership is a skill that is valuable in every workplace, school and home. It’s a skill that everyone can and should develop.

Are you already an amazing leader and think that this kind of post won’t apply to you?  I dare say, if you think that you’ve got it all figured out… you need to read more on the subject of effective leadership.  One of the key characteristics that differentiates good leaders from great leaders is that great leaders are life-long learners. If you are one of these great leaders, please share some of your secrets to success in the comments below so that we can learn and grow together. Knowledge is power.

Here are my 5 steps to produce a high-functioning team of people who have strong skillsets, are motivated and want to work with you.

  1. Include: Invite your staff to be a part of important discussions and encourage them to share their insight, especially in areas that affect their work.

    They want to know that they’ve had their say, even if they don’t have their way.

  2. Empower: What are their strengths? Matching tasks with strengths will do wonders for productivity and confidence. Once you see that they have mastered an area, empower them to make decisions in that area.
  3. Develop: Stretch yourself and your staff. As a leader, you set the tone. If you take time to develop yourself and push yourself to new heights, your employees will do the same. If the budget permits, provide learning and coaching opportunities for them.
  4. Value: People need to know that they are more than just the work that they produce. Connect with them regularly and schedule occasional off-site team meetings to review upcoming priorities and encourage team building. This doesn’t have to be expensive; be creative.
  5. Emotional Intelligence: Self-awareness is so important.  You can’t expect anyone to work on a weakness that they aren’t aware exists… and let’s face it, annual or bi-annual Performance Reviews aren’t quite doing the job we had hoped.  Instead, make EQ a part of your regular meetings and equip people to handle the various situations that might arise. Have some team members role-play a scenario and then talk about what other options might work for that scenario after it’s played out. This allows a learning point to be made without anyone feeling that it is directed at them and it’s amazing how people can really get into the role and feel the emotions as though they were actual situations.

What is one step that you can implement this week? this month? this quarter?