1.
Believe In Your Team.
Your team must know that you believe in them; in their abilities. Furthermore, find ways to develop and nourish those abilities; help create a superstar instead of waiting for one to arrive.
2.
Delegate To Elevate.
When delegating, do so to help your team develop and grow. Spot the strengths and delegate to highlight the capabilities and elevate the capacities within them. Proper delegation calls for you to empower and encourage; Proper resources must also be provided when delegating to facilitate their success. All the while providing ample space to fulfill their responsibilities on their terms; This could be allowing creativity on how they accomplish the goal or even allowing them to dictate a self-imposed deadline, etc.
3.
Praise Your People
When we praise the people around us, we are sharing the sugar. If you are willing to share the sugar, they will be more likely to stick around in those bitter moments. We praise effort because it is far more important than talent. Many people have talent, but they do not put any effort whatsoever. And yet, you may get a person who may not be the most talented but will burn the midnight oil with you. Praising your people, your team, your tribe, will promote their passion.
4.
Forgive Mistakes.
In the process of greatness, mistakes will be made, but remember, we are reaching for greatness and not perfection. As a leader, you only have to be a few steps ahead, because of this, you will be able to see a mistake before it happens, allowing you to empower, encourage, and educate your team to avoid said pitfalls. Sometimes, however, mistakes will be made. Forgive. Forgiveness helps people move forward. Once you have conversed and addressed the issue, you can forgive and strategize to avoid those pitfalls moving forward.
5.
Give Constructive Feedback
Everyone wants to feel as though they are building something. People want to feel a part of something great as opposed to just another cog in the wheel. As a leader, we often are the ones picking the people that will be a part of the journey of reaching the defined level of success. Therefore, we are the ones curating the culture that will soon be a part of what we are doing. We are building something here! Every one of us, together. Therefore, when criticizing, remember that the goal is to construct, so ensure you are providing constructive feedback. When you delegate, if mistakes are made, forgive, and learn from it. The goal here is to construct, develop, and grow.
Remember that a cheerleader reads the energy in a room but does not allow that to affect them. They just bring it! They look past the noise, and they bring energy and lots of it. Energy does not necessarily have to be you jumping around and building a pyramid. It just has to be you, the leader, empowering your people.
Most of the time, it the people in your team, whom you share most of the day with. You will get to know. You should get to know them! Have that one on one conversation, and be present and transparent. This will allow for an environment, a culture of growth, and empowerment. Like a proud parent, soon you will see your team empowering each other. That's not the time for you to stop empowering but rather its only confirmation, that it's working.
Often I will look at Jesus and his leadership. He had twelve students and from the twelve, eleven became leaders within the movement, not a bad ratio.
Jesus empowered John the Baptist in their encounter. In
Matthew 3:13-15, we see Jesus comes to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. It is an interesting thing to think that John initially refused, saying: "I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me?" John knew that Jesus was the begotten son of God, and in a world of titles and ranks, you cant outrank the only begotten son of God, sorry bruh.
Jesus was not egotistical, nor self-centered. His only focus was the mission, and accomplishing that mission was his motive operandum. Therefore, he replied to John: “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, "by you baptizing me, we are one step closer to the goal." Jesus empowered John and made him see that it had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with the mission, a mission John knew would change everyone and everything.
What is your team's defined level of success? What is the vision? What is the mission? Communicate that with your team most effectively and transparently possible. In doing so, they will buy-in. Often people buy into the leader before they fully understand the mission, so it is your job as a leader to continue to put the team mantra at the forefront.
My mantra is simple "life is about growing". This is why I have developed a YouTube channel geared towards leadership and leadership qualities; to help you develop and grow in leadership. I would encourage you to subscribe to my channel as I post videos every Tuesday and Friday.
Let me know in the comment section below, what is your mantra?
