Empower Your Teams to Lead
It’s no secret that high-performing teams positively impact organizational success. They require less oversight, they tend to be more motivated and they work productively toward shared goals. Senior business executives also believe that high-performing teams enhance culture, employee retention, profitability and risk mitigation.
The role teams play in supporting the success of their organizations has only increased as employees have shifted to less time in the office or working remotely full time. We’ve seen through the COVID-19 pandemic that many companies are striving to reduce hierarchy and shift greater decision making authority to the frontlines. In doing so, businesses have become more adaptable to changing realities.
Even after the pandemic, organizations are still likely to embrace a fast pace, as they seek to meet the ever-evolving needs of their stakeholders. With expectations for increased speed and greater flexibility , we can no longer rely on just one person or one executive team to lead change within our organizations. Teams need to be empowered to collectively make decisions and help move businesses forward.
Six Tips to Inspire Your Teams to Act as Leaders
To put your organization in the best position for future success, consider how you can:
- Deliver team-based professional development.
- Promote shared values.
- Establish clear goals and metrics.
- Encourage a free flow of information.
- Establish a common framework for coaching.
- Provide team-based incentives and recognition.
1. Deliver Team-Based Professional Development
In the past, many organizations have focused their learning and development programming on executives, managers or emerging leaders. As more authority is placed in the hands of frontline teams, it’s important for all members to access professional development opportunities to help them:
- Work productively with others
- Communicate, listen and persuade effectively
- Embrace innovation and lead change initiatives
- Increase emotional intelligence
- Act with authenticity and accountability
- Enhance inclusion, team building and culture
If you’d like to discover how Emergenetics® can help your teams build essential leadership qualities, click here to learn more about our virtual trainings.
2. Promote Shared Values
Keeping your company’s principles front and center can help staff stay aligned and work toward a common purpose even when decision-making is decentralized. Tie organizational values to behaviors and actions your employees can take. Help your company’s ethos stay top of mind even when staff work remotely through shoutouts to celebrate employees for exhibiting the values as well as promoting the values on your company’s Intranet so they are in front of your employees on a regular basis.
3. Establish Clear Goals and Metrics
To lead effectively, teams need to know what objectives they are working to achieve and how their success will be measured. Connect with employees regularly to share the top priorities for your organization. When it comes to team-based goals, some projects may have a clear directive. When possible, however, involve your team members in setting their objectives and metrics. Doing so can help promote a greater sense of ownership and help staff expand their leadership skills.
4. Encourage a Free Flow of Information
Teams will be better equipped to move initiatives forward when they understand the full picture. That means the more transparent your company can be with information across the organization, the more likely your staff will be able to make effective decisions, identify opportunities for improvement or push forward in areas of success. When you are open with teams, you’ll also find that they may be more motivated to support your company because they will see how much you trust them.
5. Establish a Common Framework for Coaching
To help team members take on new challenges, it’s important that they receive frequent feedback, so they know where they can improve and where their strengths are shining through. Learning to effectively coach others in a motivating way can be a challenge, however, so I recommend that Learning & Development and Human Resources teams provide coaching frameworks to help staff support each other and grow their leadership skills.
For Emergenetics Profile holders, visit our Attributes in Action guides in Emergenetics+ to get specific coaching tips using our Profile as a framework.
6. Provide Team-Based Incentives and Recognition
While intrinsic motivation is important in leadership, acknowledgement can go a long way! As teams make progress toward their goals, take time to celebrate their contributions with emails, thank you notes, public chat channels or all-staff meetings. Also, consider how you can incentivize teams to work together toward common goals with group-oriented key performance indicators, financial rewards and perks.
As we strive to enhance the success of our companies, the way our teams work together and their ability to serve as leaders in the organization will be essential. By providing your staff with the training, programs and tools to increase alignment and empower their autonomy, you can begin to create high-performing teams to spur your organization forward.
Want to learn more about how Emergenetics can enhance team performance and support leadership development in your organization? Fill out the form below to connect with a member of our staff today!
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