High performance teams require effective team leaders. A title is not enough to develop leadership. A leader must execute certain tasks well in order to inspire high performance. An effective leader will provide adequate training and constructive feedback. He or she will also create an environment of problem-solving and see mistakes as opportunities.
Provides Adequate Training
An effective leader will always ensure that team members have adequate training. The needs of the team will determine what type of training should be given.
Timely, Constructive Feedback
Feedback is necessary for any team setting. Effective Leaders are able to provide feedback that is both timely and constructive. For feedback to be timely, it needs to address issues as they arise. Do not wait for meetings and reviews to address issues. Be careful not to act out of emotion, however. Wait until anger or other emotions have subsided before giving feedback. When providing feedback, it is necessary to be constructive.
Views Mistakes as Opportunities
An effective team leader is able to embrace mistakes and see them as opportunities. Mistakes are inevitable. The key to handling mistakes is learning from them. When team member understand that they will not be punished for every mistake they make, they will act boldly and take risks that can benefit the team.
Environment of Problem-solving
A high performance environment is one that encourages problem-solving, but this environment requires effective leadership. Demonstrating this approach to problem-solving will encourage other team members to do the same.
Augmenting Team Performance
No matter how well your team performs, there is always room for improvement. Leaders need to understand when and how to augment team performance. The key to augmenting team performance is offering authority, encouraging questions, resolving differences, and practicing unanimity.
This post is from March’s topic on High Performance Teams Inside the Company, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.