Leading Effective Teams-Maintain Your Character

If your team doesn't trust you, you can be rest assured that you would not have a team for long. One of the most important reasons for why teams stick together with their leaders would be because they feel that their leaders exhibit a high moral behaviour.
These are four ways to maintain your character so that you would be able to lead effective teams.
1. Know Your Ground. Knowing your ground is to know your principles. Knowing your principles means that you know where you stand morally. If you have some form of principles in which you set your lifestyle by, your character would be reflected.
For example, if I had to choose a project leader from two persons, and one was a tri-athlete, and the other was just a normal man in the street, I would immediately pick the sportsman because in order to reach his level of fitness, he would have exhibited discipline. And discipline is a principle.
Do you have some ground rules for yourself so that you know where to draw the line? If you know where the out-of-bound markers are for yourself, you are clearer in setting rules for your team members.
2. Be Trustworthy. Being trustworthy means that people can trust how you behave in the open is how you would behave in the dark.
Jack Neo, a famous Singaporean actor, television host and director was the first filmmaker in Singapore to be honoured with the Public Service Award in 2004. He was also a Cultural Medallion recipient. He managed to assemble a great team of comedians, actors and actresses to touch the lives of many Singaporeans and perhaps even many Asians. However in 2010, his illicit affair with a young girl opened a can of worms and it sent his world crashing down.
His artiste management company of around ten years is now is danger of collapsing because his senior partners want nothing to do with him.
As a leader, if you aren't trustworthy, you really have nothing worthwhile for your team members to follow. If your own family members can't trust you, why should they?
3. Be Reliable. If reliable means that if you agree to do a task, you would do so and not give any reasons not to do it. To lead an effective team, you need to be reliable to delegate the jobs to your team members, and to expect yourself to do more in a shorter time.
I used to have a superior who would always report sick just before a major presentation. We would work together all the way until the day itself, and lo and behold, he would not be present. And there I was, one of the most junior officers trying to get a grip of myself explaining concepts to the general. I must thank that superior though because if not for his absence, I would not have gained the experience in writing this article!
Are you reliable enough for your team members? If they ask you for help, would you agree immediately? What would be the consequence if you were not there for them?
4. Be Transparent. Being transparent really means that you have nothing to hide. Of course there would be certain information that is not privy to your team members. For such circumstances, just tell them that it's a need to know basis. Once your team members know that there is certain information that you are not in a right position to divulge, they will learn appropriately. People are smart. They learn and adapt fast, so don't worry too much.
If you are a transparent leader, you would not hesitate to share your success and failures as you would understand them to be lessons. Similarly, you would enforce the same for your team so that all would learn from each other.
Are you able to treat all failures as feedback and share these with your team members?
In summary, these four ways are just the tip of the ice berg in the never-ending quest of leadership learning. Use them appropriately and you would first see changes in yourself, and then in others.

Leading Effective Teams - Caring for Them

As you sign on that dotted line of the latest business contract with your Mont Blanc pen, on yet another successful deal, you smile to yourself and try to enjoy the sweet taste of success. Tastes good, doesn't it?
And you would have accomplished it with the great team that you have assembled. Now, leading effective teams take time and the reward is really sweet, especially when you had spent time to nurture your team. Watching them grow from strength to strength and achieving extraordinary results is one of the most satisfying feelings that you can ever have.

These are three ways to show care to your team members, so that you would be able to lead effective teams.
1. Respect Them. Respect is earned. It cannot be commanded and demanded. If anyone salutes you because you demand it, you are not a true leader. You must first learn to respect your team members, and then they would in turn respect you. In addition, respect builds commitment and trust towards each other.
I know of a CEO who would often engage his staff on a personal level. He would get the Human Resource department to organise birthday celebrations for his staff on a monthly basis. He would even text them personally on the short-messaging service (SMS) once in a while to enquire their well being!
So do you talk to your team members openly and frequently? Do you genuinely care for their well being? How do you show your care?

2. Fight for Their Rights and They Would Fight For You. If you fight for their benefits and rights, chances are many of your team members would remember this. There are many times that you as a leader could defend the interests of your members. Do note that this is not defending them blindly, but rather to defend them because they are your team members. If they had done something wrong, then admonish or chide them separately, and not in front of a senior leader. They would learn to appreciate your flexibility and be loyal to you.
A friend who was offered a higher pay job and regional head appointment turned it down as he felt that he was indebted to his current superior who had fought tooth and nail for him to be promoted to where he was right now. While I wouldn't comment on the difference in salary scale, I felt that it was very admirable of him. His superior had obviously influenced him positively.
And how much are you willing to sacrifice your time for your team? Are you able to fight for the interests of your team?

3. Shared and Meaningful Purpose. Many team members would always ask, "What's in it for me?" They want to know why it's so worthwhile for them to work for you. Hence the very reason for the existence of the team becomes the bedrock of the team and organisation. It also becomes the cementing agent that binds everyone together, as they would have common shared values.
Japanese workers in the past used to believe that their employer is for life. However, the younger generation now believe in working for their benefit. They do not want to be tied down to anyone. Hence they take on multiple jobs to learn more and to interact with more people. Their beliefs are therefore very different from their parents. If you are a leader belonging to a previous generation, you would thus need to gain insights into their thinking. And if you are a leader belonging to the current generation of yuppies, you would need to gain their trust by having shared values common to them. These actions would then reflect a deeper commitment by your team members because you show that you care about them.
Do you have common shared values for your team? Is it aligned to their beliefs? Can you reach out to those younger than you?

In summary, these three ways are some ways for you to learn in the never-ending quest of leadership management. Use them appropriately and you would first see changes in yourself, and then in others.