As a leader, you know that you have a lot of responsibility, especially when it comes to the success of your team. The question is, how do you help support them, while also empowering your employees, allowing them to work independently?
It can be challenging to walk the fine line between helpful and overbearing. You therefore need to carefully consider your actions, and create an action plan. Being prepared is often half the battle! It can also be sensible to individualise your strategies, offering more or less support depending on the person. Not everyone appreciates guidance the same way.
To help you get started on creating a strategy for success, we’ve looked at ten techniques you can use to support your team below!
1. Provide Training and Resources
One of the best ways to make your business more successful is to provide your employees with the resources and training they need to progress. Don’t just help your team perform well in their current role, but assist them in reaching the next level. Work with each individual to identify areas of improvement, and provide the tools necessary to overcome such weaknesses.
2. Give Clear Goals and Priorities
As the name implies, a leader needs to provide direction. So in terms of helping your colleagues excel, you have to be very clear about the goals of the business. Let everyone know the direction you’re heading in, and what strategies are going to be used in order to get there. It’s also essential to prioritise your goals, and let everyone know which things are more important. If you leave people to determine priorities themselves, workflows can get muddled, and things can veer off course.
3. Present Opportunities
Nobody likes to be stuck in a rut, whether it’s literally or figuratively! It’s therefore important to present your team with plenty of opportunities for progression. Provide them with challenges that they can sink their teeth into, and demonstrate their skills. It can be useful to get to know the strengths and weaknesses of each team member, and then use that knowledge to challenge and bring out the best in them.
4. Develop Strengths
Once you understand the strengths of your employees, you can work on developing these skills. A good leader should be able to quickly identify expertise and particular skill sets, and then encourage these to flourish further. Not only this, but recognising people’s talents in this way acknowledges the value of that individual. They are bound to feel motivated as a result of this.
5. Back Your Team
Don’t be half hearted when it comes to showing confidence in your employees’ skills. Always make an effort to support your team, and reward their conviction. You can empower your team when you put your trust in them, as you’re sending the message that they are fully capable and don’t need you constantly looking over their shoulder!
6. Encourage Collaboration
Try to forge strong relationships between colleagues, as a team that works well together is a strong and effective one. Collaboration can also lead to innovation - when people bounce ideas off each other, this can lead to avenues nobody saw coming. You should furthermore make an effort to work closely with your team yourself, in order to improve trust and increase transparency.
7. Transparency is Key
It’s hard to feel motivated if you don’t know what you’re working towards, or why the company’s goals are important. Employees also work harder if they feel trusted, which can include company information. Essentially, if you want your business to be successful, you need to be as transparent as possible with your colleagues. Keep everyone in the loop, and make sure they have the knowledge they need to remain focussed on their job.
8. Empower Your Team
While some leaders are scared of a team that is too autonomous, empowering your employees has been shown to be a positive thing! If people feel trusted to get things done, they will invariably push themselves harder to succeed. So allow your team to use the skills you hired them for, taking ownership of their roles. It’s also good to provide a platform for employees to voice their opinions, so that they feel they can incite real change within the business.
9. Acknowledge Success
When we talk about success, this doesn’t have to mean a significant achievement, such as winning an award or landing a big client. Celebrate the small wins too, acknowledging everyday efforts. Make sure that you do this both privately and publicly too, at every possible opportunity. And if you’re able to give tangible rewards, your employees will undoubtedly appreciate it!
10. Develop Mutual Respect
When you engage with your team, you should start to develop mutual respect for each other. Respect can be contagious, especially when it comes from the top down. A leader who clearly respects their team, openly showing their trust, will encourage others to respect one another.