Leadership Skills for Team Development

One plus one equals three – that's according to synergy.

Synergy is defined as a mutually advantageous combination where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Given this, how can we develop teams where the combination of the individuals creates a dynamic that would not have been achievable when working separately?

Areas that enhance team development are:

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Being Solution Focused
Managing for personality differences
Coaching for excellence

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand how our emotions impact on the way we think, communicate and influence. Emotionally intelligent people create effective relationships, solve problems and have an increased capacity to perform. It’s a learned skill and we can get better at it over time. It helps us to:

Recognize and manage our own emotions
Recognize and manage emotions in others
Build solid relationships

EQ is an essential attribute in being a good manager of people – being aware of, interested in and able to work with our own and other people’s emotions to reach our goals.

Being solution focused recognises:

There is always a better way
There is no such thing as failure - only learning
Our perceptions and the truth are often different
People are resourceful
Keep doing what works for you
Build on your successes
Take it a step at a time - start small if necessary
Remain flexible

It means that we:

Work on solutions not problems
May have to try different solutions until we find the best option for us
Look for resources that can help us build solutions
Use past successes to create ideas to solve today’s issues

Managing for Personality Differences

There are many tests that define differing personality traits, all having some merit. They can also be a lot of fun to do in a team environment. The biggest ‘take away’ from understanding personality differences is in recognizing that the way we each operate is okay. It also helps us to recognize why some people annoy us and why we get along so well with others. We each have most if not all facets of various personality traits however one or several traits will be dominant. When we recognize and acknowledge different personality styles we develop the power to direct our team member in the way that suits them best. This gives us the ability (and satisfaction) of allocating tasks where we know in advance that the job will be done well.

People like to deal with people who reflect their own personality. Emphasizing a particular part of our own personality is a key to success so whilst adapting to other personalities, remain true and don’t fake it. This is about being subtle and flexible to accommodate the other person’s style so that they feel comfortable with us.

This information allows us more effective responses to:

Improve communications
Establish rapport
Exchange ideas

Coaching for Excellence

Listening is a key communication skill. In conversation, people do not generally listen to each other very well. It is very common for us to interrupt one another, give advice, tell each other where we went wrong or turn the conversation around to what we want to talk about. Body language reveals when we are bored, impatient or irritable.

Empathetic listening of the type we need when coaching staff involves listening carefully to tone of voice and emotional content. It is also about being able to reflect back what has been said and tuning in to what is really being said. Restating and feeding back own words to team members in a shortened and clarified form assists with creating rapport. Rapport is the quality of a relationship of mutual influence and respect between people. It's not the same as friendship and it is not agreement.

Rapport occurs when we:

Take a genuine interest in another person
Be curious about who they are and how they think
Be willing to see the world from their point of view

As human beings, we tend to do anything to avoid silences in conversation. It causes us great discomfort and so we tend to fill the gap with more conversation. Silences are VERY powerful if we want people to be honest and come up with ideas and thoughts that they may not have considered before. It allows the brain to access resources that it can’t usually access, SO SHUT UP AND LISTEN!!! You’ll be amazed at what you hear.

To create the dynamics of synergy in your team, reflect on your capabilities in Emotional Intelligence, your approach to issues and their solutions and your management of personality differences and you will coach your team to excellence.

Coach and passionate supporter of people reaching for their highest potential, Pamela Harrison has written an innovative series of self coaching e-books that are available at a fraction of the cost of live coaching sessions.