Are you curious about why your team behaves and does the things they do? All you have to do is look in the mirror. Your team is a reflection of you. Your team will observe you closely and pick up on your behavior and performance.
If you aren’t convinced, I encourage you to look at other leaders with whom you interact on a daily basis. Look for a leader you trust to be organized and have everything in order. Look at those who report to you. In general, I expect the team members to be organized and seem “put together.”
Let’s now look at the other side. Identify someone who is always busy, always scrambling and fighting fires. Are they calm and collected? It’s hard for me to believe this after all the years of coaching leaders. Most likely, the team is just as chaotic and scrambling as their leader.
The traits and habits of leaders are often passed on to their teams. A critical step to building a great team is to take a look at yourself. You can learn a lot from your own behavior, knowledge, abilities, and capabilities about how your team should grow.
Below are three areas that you might want to see in your mirror.
** Communication
** Organization
** Professionalism
Communication
Each of the statements below is true or false.
– I make time to communicate informally and formally with my team on an ongoing basis.
Individuals who regularly report to me will stop by on a regular basis to discuss various issues.
– I usually communicate with my direct report face-to-face or by phone. Email is only used when absolutely necessary.
– I share the information I receive from other departments, upper management, the parent company, or the board of directors when I can.
– I give constructive and positive feedback frequently.
Your communication might be vital if you answered each question “true.” You might want to think about what message you’re sending to your team if you answered “false.” to any of these statements. What steps can you take to make the false information true?
Organization
Your team will be as organized as you are. You can give your team tips on how to stay organized if you are organized.
Here are some suggestions if you need some help in this area.
– Make sure you take time each day to prepare for your day (or the next day, depending on how early you prepare). The whole week is reviewed and the day’s place in it.
– Be realistic about your goals. This is a two-page checklist of things to do.
You don’t have to be afraid of failure if you know that one-quarter will pass.
It will be hard to complete a one-page document.
Proclaim a “clean-up day” and make use of the time to organize your desk, hang files, emails, etc.
Electronic files
Professionalism
Your attitude, mannerisms, and presence in the office will reflect on your team. It’s the small things like saying hello, good morning, please, thank you that will make a difference in showing respect and common courtesy to your employees. You can stop exchanging pleasantries with your employees and change the tone in the team.
The following statements can be rated on a scale from 1-10. One = “I maintain an excellent level of professionalism”; 10 = “My staff knows how to stay out my way, I’m about blowing,”
– Just found out that there will be layoffs across the company, and my department is sure to be affected.
– I was just given a poor review by my boss and a decrease in my salary.
– A different department has messed up something again, and it’s going to make us miss our deliverable.
What did you score? This may be the right area to focus on if you answered more than ten questions. It is essential to translate awareness into action. The first step is to be aware of your actions and how your team behaves. What is the next step to get your answers closer to “1?”
Let me encourage you to act after going through these three attributes. We are all capable of learning and improving. What can you take away from this article that will enhance your ability to see clearly?
