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Friday Business Tip
October 31, 2014
Key Leadership Traits to Building a Winning Team
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Leadership is a very demanding role. It requires at times the skill of a brain surgeon; the tenacity of a jungle cat; the courage of an explorer; and, the determination of an investigative reporter. Its presence must promote hope and its teachings must bear influence for it to energize the potential that lies within those so impacted. As leadership greats and authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner said, “Perhaps more than anything else. leadership is about the creation of a new way of life.”
There are however, some key traits that are important to building a winning team. Possess them, use them and position yourself to successfully score in your role as a leader. Key Leaders:
1) Enable people to stop “fence sitting” and move more effectively toward their goals. Noted leadership expert John Maxwell terms this as “influence” in his definition of leadership. The successful leader will help others better realize that action is what brings results and influences the “fence sitter” to engage and get things done.
2) Maintain a positive mental attitude in their endeavors. While a positive attitude will not necessarily assure success, a positive attitude will enable a leader to get more accomplished than a negative attitude. Being focused on the solutions versus praising the problems enables positive energy to be utilized. As the leader sees what is possible, that positive approach can become contagious to those on his or her team and also promote a like mental approach. This can bring about greater potential for lasting growth results.
3) Are “people” people. They understand that people are different and it takes varied incentives and approaches to get results. They understand when to push and when to pull their people so that they can produce a “win-win” result. They always strive to leverage the strengths of the team for the betterment of the organization. Thus their team always thinks together, not alike, and better reaches goals as a result.
4) Expect excellence. Growing an expectation of achieving excellence enables the successful leader to build a culture that promotes high standards of performance. It also promotes a reality that each work day demands the very best effort from each team member. The environment becomes a simple refection of “…this is the way we do things around here.” When excellence becomes the norm, high achievement becomes the product.
5) Are forward thinking. They continuously look for new ways to get things done. They strive to build upon but not rely solely upon previous best practices that enabled them to get results. They keep a keen sense of attention toward the most up-to-date technology and often experiment with new innovations to discover how results may be better impacted. Thus any personal restrictions that might have prevented “out-of-the-norm thinking” are set aside so that creativity might be experienced and higher performance results enhanced.
6) Reward smart work. Hard work is not always “smart” work. Successful leaders know the difference and focus their recognition on “smart” work that is measurable and builds lasting results. Their efforts encourage their team to “stretch” beyond their apparent abilities, to seek continuous personal development; and, to develop a sense of pride in their results. When work falls short, they quickly coach their team on how to better perform so that goals might be reached; and, they foster a relationship mindset that works to build a stronger bond within the team.
7) Are highly ethical. They have sound value systems that foster doing work the right way for the right reasons regardless of the consequences. Their mindset is much aligned with the Rotary 4-Way Test: Of the things that are thought, said or done, “is it the truth?” “Is it fair to all concerned?” “Will it build goodwill and better friendships?” “Will it be beneficial to all concerned?” They understand that it is better in the long run to be ethical and their team copies their behavior.
8) Have an end in mind. Successful leaders most often know where the future should be. As former hockey great Wayne Gretzky once said about his keen ability to score goals, “…I skate to where the puck is going to be…” Key leaders understand this and then set about to plan, communicate, implement and motivate their team to accompany them to this future reality.
To build a positive-minded successful team that gets needed results demands sound leadership. Business will grow or fall short based upon what the leader does or fails to do. Build your leadership skills. Utilize these key traits to better help you become the leader your team should expect.
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 Think BIG! Coaching & Training, Inc.
Herman Dixon
Author, Speaker, Executive Advisor
P. (304) 839-5101
https://thinkbig-coaching-training.coachesconsole.com
Author of the forthcoming book, Principles of Life and Leadership My Cat Taught Me
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