Are You An Effective Leader?

Being a team leader can be quite challenging, especially when you want to be effective, there are several times when you have to shuffle between being an assertive taskmaster and maintaining a congenial rapport with your team members. That being said one vital function that you perform as a team leader in evaluating employees and their potential to benefit organizational growth. This is a sensitive responsibility and must be handled carefully. Is that being said it might be a task easily accomplished as one may find it easier to evaluate others, but what about evaluating self? Are you good enough? Are you sure you’re performing to the best of your capabilities? Are you peaking, is your performance stable or inconsistent?

It’s hard when it comes to evaluating ourselves; the pressure of what? Takes a toll on your mind and body (is it a fact?). Being a team leader is not easy and its worst to constantly wonder whether you’re a good one? Too often team leaders’ underrate the importance of constant performance improvement and the time it takes to keep growing and developing your skills. Becoming an effective team leader is a protracted and laborious process. You have to constantly keep learning and updating and growing your knowledge base and expanding your skill sets. It is a process driven by personal intent and takes years to perfect the process.

Here are 10 checkboxes that will help you understand yourself and your effectiveness as a team leader or here are 10 traits of an effective team leader :

1. Impartial: Bosses that encourage motivate and reward while being impartial, having no special treatment for some and being just and fair are the ones admired by all. Such bosses encourage employees better and give them a fair chance of impressing them. Add more points about how being impartial help.

2. Transparent: Bosses that promote transparency are additionally valued – A true leader is one who not only instructs but supports and explains himself or herself, someone who allows the team in on his/her vision while being open to ideas and giving autonomy for making necessary changes. Elaborate further.

3. Accountable: Bosses that don’t blame one but all – When everyone is accountable for failures it not only eradicates the fear of being held responsible but opens doors to various ideas and creative options, bringing in an unrestricted flow of possibilities and subtly ensuring trust and good faith within the employees.

4. Constructive: Bosses that help out when you’re stuck are keepers – When an employee gets stuck or has to face obstacles while giving his/her best shot and all hope seems dead but the boss steps in and helps out as a true leader then he/she is golden in the eyes of his/her employees. It’s easy to dedicate the work and yell when it’s not done but a true leader is one who considers himself a part of the team and chooses to help out.

5. Curious: Bosses that have a genuine interest in you make you want to go an extra mile for them – True engagement is when bosses take a genuine interest in their employees and want to know more about them. Taking an interest and knowing about their dreams and passions builds a bond and makes them want to go an extra mile and impress you further.

6. Concerned: Bosses that Listen – Last but not least is a Boss who listens to the grievances of his employees and ensures to find solutions as early as possible. Bosses that extend themselves while allowing others to approach them are ones that are truly respected and appreciated.

7. Engaged: Bosses that engage – A perfect example of a good boss is one who is himself/herself engaged and engages others. Most might think this is obvious but the truth is there are several bosses who dedicate the work and leave it right there, leaving no effective follow-ups, feedback, etc. When bosses are engaged they set the example for others and subtly provide hints on how they can be even more productive.

8. Approachable: Bosses that encourage work-life balance – Today’s fast-paced life, several firms offer great perks but employees barely have the time to enjoy most of them, in these tough times a boss that encourages work hours to be minimum with maximum productivity is truly a blessing.

9. Inspiring: Bosses that share their Success story – Bosses that share their story make the true difference, when they let people into their lives they create a bond and help people understand the purpose behind the goal and why it means so much to them, as they say, when the why is strong, the how becomes very easy.

10. Empathetic: There’s nothing better than an empathetic boss – When we say empathetic doesn’t mean someone who is always easy going but someone who understands and treats people as humans and spots genuine flaws and provides means to eliminate them. Someone encouraging and having a genuine concern for their employees

You might not always check all the boxes, but if you get some of them right, you probably headed in the right direction! Keep going! But for those of you who haven’t been able to relate much, you need to get a move on your role as a leader. It means you still need to make progress on your journey that should spur you to action, not discourage you. Take responsibility for your actions and soon you will be mastering the necessary imperatives to make a great boss!

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