Once the leader is fit to lead they need to focus attention on the people in their team. They need to find ways to engage them individually and collectively in a shared vision. Then they have to encourage and guide others to work out the most effective way of delivering on the vision.
As a leader, investing in the people has a positive effect throughout the workplace. Being personally effective also has a ripple effect flowing through teams resulting in lower turnover and absenteeism, happier customers and high profits. Fulfilled and effective people lead to a successful, profitable and sustainable business.
Teams are however often dysfunctional. There can be many ineffective people trying to do the job that should ordinarily only require a few to achieve. In dysfunctional teams, it can be like trying to get 10 people to do the job that one could do in an effective team. If they have only one or two team members really contributing, it is difficult to get things done. And with a shortage of resource allocation we all know that sort of productivity is very damaging to a business.
Teams can move from being dysfunctional to engaged. The rungs from the top of this ladder are:
- engaged
- effective
- functional
- mechanical
- dysfunctional.
What’s probably worse than a dysfunctional team is when we have teams that are mechanical — they are just going through the motions. They are not really turned on; they’re not really fired up and are not making a difference in the business. It still takes many more people in a mechanical team to do a job that a well-performing team could get done.
Many would settle for an effective team, but that’s not the top of the ladder of what is possible for teams. When we start to see engagement in teams, that’s when we have truly successful, top performing teams who work together realising their own vision. The culture in these teams ensures that everyone works together towards a greater vision.
We have to see the importance of teams and how they play a role in creating our success masterpiece. The answer is to focus on the people.
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