Managing people can be burdensome but you may never know how complex it is until you take the mantle of leadership. It takes an extra level of resourcefulness and expertise to constantly guide and motivate a set of individuals.
Even when an organization brims with talented and highly motivated employees, the entire workforce could be jeopardized if poor leadership and management practices come into play. In fact, 24% of employees become enthusiastically disengaged as a result of poor leadership.
While there may not be a single right approach to leading a team successfully, leadership is a skill that can be learned and improved on. Most people who have succeeded as team leaders are a product of hard work and consistency.
Whether you’re a business leader aspiring to be more effective in your role or a manager looking to enhance your employee’s leadership skills, here are 5 habits you should learn to be a highly effective manager in 2023.
Why you need an employee management system
The most productive organizations are those that stay updated with the latest technological initiatives. With more hi-tech software coming into the limelight, organizations are moving past the antiquated ways of manually carrying out activities to fully automated processes.
One of these intriguing pieces of technology is the employee training management software which allows team leaders and HR professionals to finesse their employee management activities. What does it do?
This software allows you to seamlessly keep track of employee records, work history, and other valuable employee data which can be used to gain insights that allow you to understand and improve the nature of your workforce.
To become successful in your leadership role, you might want to do away with spreadsheets and adopt employee management software. It’s your first step to becoming a highly effective team leader.
5 Habits of highly effective leaders in 2023
Task delegation If you’ve ever had to work under the supervision of an unskilled team lead, you’ll realize how annoying it can be when duties are spelled out in an unclear manner and you have to make further clarifications.
One of the most important traits of a highly effective team leader is the ability to delegate tasks with clear descriptions. Every assignment you assign should be;
- Rich in context
- Purpose oriented and
- Showcase the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) elements.
- Avoid any form of ambiguities and inconsistencies that can create even a teeny-weeny bit of confusion.
Decision-making
Leaders are always at the forefront of organizational decision-making processes and oftentimes, you’ll be faced with scenarios that warrant you to make critical decisions that will affect the success of your organization.
As such, your decision-making prowess must be top-grade!
One unique quality that sets an effective leader apart from an ineffective one is your ability to make tenable decisions no matter the weight of its result while having the conviction to stand by your decisions.
While your path will always be laced with setbacks due to decisions that aren’t favourable, a highly effective team leader is one that takes responsibility for his actions while leveraging unfavourable outcomes to ameliorate the decision-making expertise.
Transparency
Maintaining a transparent work culture can help you gain employee trust and loyalty. When employees are kept abreast of organizational goals, wins, and challenges, they become motivated to contribute their all to ensure your company’s overall success.
Additionally, transparency allows your employees to have a deeper understanding of their roles and that eventually translates to higher levels of employee engagement.
But on a broader note, transparency in the workplace is a double-edged sword which can make or mar the productivity of your workforce. Too much transparency can leave employees feeling exposed and vulnerable, according to Bernstein in Harvard Business Review.
As such, employees begin to keep their activities secret even when they have no skeletons in the closet. A highly effective team leader is one that strikes a balance between transparency and privacy while creating boundaries that enhance experimentation and collaboration.
Conflict management
A gathering consisting of people with varying personalities and backgrounds is prone to constant strife. As a matter of fact, the American Management Association has it that managers spend 24% of their day managing conflicts.
When conflicts ensue, oftentimes as a result of difference of opinions, a highly effective team leader should be able to adroitly make resolutions or calm the tense atmosphere to avoid disrupting other business proceedings.
To be successful at this point, you must have the ability to analyse conflict and understanding of how to best manage the situation. A good conflict management offers you more than just peaceful coexistence, but employees tend to bond on a whole new level.
Lead by example
Actions speak louder than voices! A great way to showcase your effectiveness as a leader is to take the lead when carrying out organizational assignments. That singular act motivates your employees to take a giant stride towards organizational success.
Being a leader transcends task delegation and supervising activities, an effective leader gives the employees reasons to do more.
You must make them see how vital their individual contributions are to ensure the overall success of your organization and how far you’ll go to ensure that they succeed in their respective roles.
Embrace the burden
The path to becoming a successful and effective leader isn’t always a smooth one and it doesn’t happen overnight. Every successful leader who has left their marks in the hearts of their followers has an untold story of hardwork, disappointment, resilience and consistency.
With that said, it’s about time you get rid of negativities that will cripple your determination, feed your focus and take your business to that great feat you’ve always yearned for. The world is your oyster!
