Leading people is a great responsibility, since you need to achieve your area, department and organisation goals through the people who make up your team. And this is the big challenge: bringing individuals and the organisation into alignment and make your team feel the goals and the company as if they we were his/her own!

But this challenge requires certain skills and competences that will allow you to be a good leader. That leader everybody will remember as the best one they had throughout their professional career!

In this article I’ll give you 10 keys that will help you manage your team and be a good leader.

10 keys to leading teams and people

1. Team equals uniqueness

You have before you a sum of different individuals, which equals: different understandings of reality, skills, knowledge, values, etc. This requires great flexibility and adaptability on your behalf, but it will be much easier if you first focus on getting to know each of your team members individually and not apply the “one-size-fits-all” approach.

2. Communicate clearly and frequently

You may have very clear goals, but mind-reading doesn’t exist, so you should let your team know: “what, how and when”. People need to know the goals they are working towards and what employers expect of them, and they also need to get personal performance feedback and timely information on the company and its results. Remember that communication is the main management tool, and it’s free of charge!

3. Common sense is not the commonest of senses

The sentence: “but this is just common sense” is outworn because, in fact, common sense, is the most personal of all senses, and what is green for someone, may be black or blue for other individuals. So that’s why you should never presuppose or take anything for granted… just explain yourself in a clear and specific way.

4. Talk the talk, and walk the walk

Bear in mind that you are your team’s mentor, and, to that end, you need to lead by example. If you ask them to be punctual, be the first one to arrive; if you demand involvement, involve yourself to the maximum extent possible; if you want them to communicate, be the first one to inform, explain and specify. Collaborators look up to their managers, so the team leader’s behaviour must be exemplary. Being a role model manager is key to creating and ensuring good behaviours and to showing the coherence between what is said and done. Having the adequate role model is one of the most encouraging or discouraging elements for teams.

5. Create a trustworthy environment

An environment where people can express their ideas, suggestions, fears and concerns (of course, and regarding the two latter, without falling into a negativity cycle). Create a team where people want to be and to stay!

6. Balance the sequence: "what I give -what I get"

You must bear in mind that each of the people you manage is constantly balancing the following sequence: “what I give to the organisation-team-manager (hard work, availability, leisure time, effort, dedication, etc.) and what I get back (salary, incentives, emotional salary, etc.). A great part of your success as a leader is to get this sequence balanced, since its imbalance is the main cause for people leaving their companies.

7. Boosting acknowledgement: a top-notch value

Develop your team through positive feedback and use negative feedback as a development tool: focus on specific behaviours (never on “labels” of the “you are” kind) and always finish off with an action plan.

8. Be an emotional leader

A good leader knows how to handle his/her own emotions as well as his/her team’s. Emotions pass on, and it’s necessary to get rid of the negative ones and to strengthen the positive ones in order to create a good working environment. This is very important especially during crisis periods, where external emotions have a direct impact on teams.

9. Get to know yourself, and improve yourself

It is important that you analyse, with certain frequency, your behaviour with respect to your strengths and developmental areas as a team leader. This implies making a deep self-analysis (from the firm commitment to change) and establishing a Development Plan to boost your strengths and develop your improvement areas.

10. I'm the manager now, what do I have to do?

What happens when, due to internal promotion policies, you stop being a regular employee and you end up being the manager, and suddenly, those who were your colleagues with whom you had coffee or lunch and talked about last Barça’s game, now depend on you since you have become their boss?

• Believe your role

Just think that if they have chosen you, it is because you deserve it: They have seen in you the perfect profile for leading teams, so be the first one to trust your own skills and abilities and project an image of self-confidence in front of your team.

• Keep in mind that your role has changed with respect to the people in your team

Specify the team’s standards of practice: goals, functioning, procedures, rules, etc. Doing this at the beginning will help you avoid having problems in the future.

• Be objective and don’t get swept up by thoughts such as “what they will say, what they will think, etc.”

Act in accordance with objective criteria and never feel pressured into “liking, not disappointing, not annoying or not displeasing your team members (former colleagues), etc.” Be clear about the fact that it is difficult to have each and every team member’s acceptance. Your actions and decisions need to be made from the perspective of “what needs to be done” for the organisation, and not from “what is easier for me and will keep me away from more problems”. 

• Focus on the solutions, not on the problems

When facing a problem with one of your team members, don’t focus on the PROBLEM by straining your brain thinking “why is this person doing this?”, “why would this happen to me?”, etc. Focus on the SOLUTIONS: How can we fix this? And then, define which actions may help in solving the problem. Always remember that you are now the manager and that even when the solution is agreed upon, it’s your responsibility to make the needed decision!

• Find a mentor

It can be interesting that you find a mentor. That is, someone who manages teams and who is a reference leader within your company who can be your people management mentor. You can ask him/her for advice and counselling, and for sure all his/her teachings will help you day by day to become the leader you want to be.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

John Quincy Adams