Interconnections Between Leadership and Team Dynamics
Santosh Subedi
Team brings the synergy effect and blended approach to accomplish the expected outcomes. You can mobilize your team as your major weapon of success because solely you can achieve nothing. We need individuals having all personality traits because ways and approaches are different to be in the summit of doings. Team consists of individuals having unique characteristics of each one of them and this is the beauty of a thrive team.
As we need salt, vegetable, turmeric, ginger, water, oil, chili and other ingredients to cook a flavored curry similarly we need team members having different traits. If we miss salt in curry then it would be worthless to have and same applies in team building. Similarly, there are different kinds of animals in jungle in order to protect the ecosystem properly. What happens if all the animals are elephant, all the animals are tiger nothing would happen likewise we need team with diverse skills, characteristics to accomplish the targeted outcome. Your team is the major source of inspiration and getting things to be accomplished. A well furnished team won’t entertain the saying of everybody’s job is nobody’s job rather take an initiatives and forward it to the team and get the job done.
Team synergy refers to the combined efforts and interactions of the team members working together, where the outcome is greater than the sum of individual contributions. It’s the sense of harmony and cooperation that leads to higher productivity, creativity, and success within a team. In a synergetic team, the skills, knowledge, and strengths of each member complement one another, enabling them to achieve goals that might be impossible for individuals working alone.
As a leader you have to have the quality to mobilize the team to get the intended accomplishments. Following are some of the prospects that we could apply to strengthen the strength of our team and help them to minimize the weaknesses to be the better version of them.
– Listen your team carefully as a means of brainstorm having no judgmental perception. If you listen them, they will do the same for your approach and perception leading towards accomplishment. As a leader you have to cultivate the culture of trust among the members in the team. Trust is the most prominent fundaments which brings the synergy. It is the belief that each team member will act in the best interest of the group, fulfill their responsibilities, and support others to achieve shared goals. Trust forms the foundation for collaboration, open communication, and positive team dynamics, and without it, teams often struggle to reach their full potential.
– Appreciate in public and comment in private. The principle of “appreciate in public and correct in private” is a valuable approach to leadership and communication, particularly in mentor-mentee relationships, team settings, or organizational environments. This guideline helps maintain a positive, motivating atmosphere while addressing issues constructively. Everyone loves to be recognized and appreciated in front of all however wish to get feedback in private. This approach will definitely put up the confidence & personal motivation on the higher side of every team members.
– Recognize the work accomplished and provide the constructive feedback if any. Feedback is the breakfast for champions and if you love to empower your team do provide constructive and calculative feedback. It will approach in many forms, including verbal, written, formal, informal, positive, or constructive. In a team or organizational context, feedback is essential for development, fostering collaboration, and enhancing individual and collective performance.
– Always use if conditional remarks along with empathetic mindset. If you have to address even in a pathetic condition, it is better to go through if clause. This will figure out the importance of value & empathetic approach to deal with the situation. For example, if I were in place of you, I would have been approach in this way.
– Be the leader that you are looking for. Your team members are also looking for a kind of leadership that you are holding. They might not be happy with you as you are not with you leader hence better would be the leader that you are looking for. If you expect a supportive, collaborative & flexible leader, be that for your teams which will support on walk the talk.
– You are the role model and brand ambassador of your doings to your team. Let your team members be challenging and empowered to discuss in every logical matter. Do empower them to be the successors rather develop them as mere followers. You will be more than happy when you proudly pronounce your team member is leading a unit/ department or organization. Hence lead by example should be flourished. Team is looking forward your approach, temperament, guidance, tools you are using to resolve the issues hence you have to be the role model to them.
– Develop the culture of mentorship, couching & counseling. You can’t present harshly in front of your team members and wish to get the job done. It would be better to reveal the problem from them along with solution and for that you should support him/her as a mentor. Your subordinates are there to walk your talk hence do coach and mentor in every needs. There must be mentor & mentee relationship between you as a leader and your team members. This relationship is designed to help the mentee grow personally and professionally, and it can involve a wide range of areas, including career development, skill-building, decision-making, and emotional support.
– Entertain the culture of acceptance and corporate citizenship. Culture of acceptance will welcome every innovative ideas and discussion in open floor. Culture is the rooted acceptance of any organization hence let your team members be self aware and motivated towards their assignment. You should not be a micro management leader rather allow them to resolve the issue themselves and be helping hand upon request. It requires lots of exposure and empowerment programs to be delivered to your team. This will ensure the belief of corporate citizenship & open door policy to discuss on every single idea.
– Be the backup of your team members. You have to lead in every negative situation since he/she will be leading himself/herself in positive environment. Everyone will clap the hands and showcase happy smiling faces in good situation. As a leader you have to be the skeletal of your team at the end. Yes, we have to empower every team members as an independent individual however sometimes there is a need of hope and path to explore and you as a leader should comprehend the situations.
– Work on plan and do follow up the status. Getting job done with a proper plan will definitely leads for the achievement of expected outcomes. You have you develop a culture of calculative framework in every doings. When you call the meeting, call with agendas and proper plan for achievements. This will develop a sense of ownership and accountability among all the team members and you will work on strategy rather guiding them for every operational job. In every next meeting, do begin with the progress of previous agendas and look forward the supportive & corrective actions if any deviation arises.
– Don’t be in charge of your team members but taking care of those who are in your charge. If you take care of your team members then reverse will be bouncing to your growth and development. Do not only care about the professional ethics and doings but also personal and social complements. You, as a leader have to seriously work on emotional intelligence and behavioral pattern analysis of your team.
In a nutshell, Leadership and team dynamics are closely interconnected. Effective leadership is critical to the success of a team, and the performance of the team also impacts the quality of leadership. A leader guides, motivates, and supports the team, helping it to achieve its goals. At the same time, team members contribute their skills and ideas, which shape how leadership is expressed and carried out.