by Carole Nicolaides © 2002 http://www.progressiveleadership.com A lot of discussions lately are centered around teamwork and leadership. This is especially an issue after all
leadership scandals that have been brought to light in corporate America this past year. Due to major layoffs, and loss of exceptional brainpower, there is a huge need for leaders who possess both a heart and a sound knowledge base at same time. The quest is on! Leadership books outsold all books this summer giving us great insight into challenges of companies around world.
So where do you start when creating a great leader? Everybody seems to start with teamwork. Teamwork will lead to excellence, which will eventually translate into better company results. But common approaches to teamwork are lacking. It’s time for a little innovation! Let’s focus on an approach that happens to shock a few people. An approach that is quite different than what management gurus have been preaching for past 15 years.
If we want people to be good at what they do, love their work, and be proud that they belong to something bigger than themselves, we need to change our traditional management thinking. We, as leaders, need to remind ourselves that people are people and individualism is by no means dead. People still crave individual praise.
I admit as a leader you are walking a fine line between honoring individualism and cultivating teamwork, yet bottom line is that it can be done. In fact, it MUST be done if you want to recharge your employee’s creative batteries. People’s morale, faith and most importantly loyalty are so low these days. As a leader, you need to use a variety of motivational, and inspirational tactics if you want them to feel self-confident. Without this, you can be sure that they will not leverage all their potential.
Contrary to some beliefs, individual attention will by no means jeopardize your work in building an effective team. Think of it as an opportunity to embrace and inspire individualism without sacrificing collective effort. Every one of your people is good at something. Find that “something” and allow them to shine through it.
How do you walk that fine line between teamwork and individual praise? Here are a few ideas that you can implement immediately.
§Acknowledge that everyone has an ego. People need praise. This is a proven fact. But how do you “stroke” someone’s ego without destroying your team? Offer individual praise based on each employee’s contribution to team. As you speak casually with your team members, look for opportunities to offer accolades. An example would be, “Ellen, you amaze me! Your organizational skills are simply excellent. I don’t know where our team would be without your contributions.” Another way would be to publicly acknowledge each team member in meetings. When team reaches a goal, praise team as a whole first then offer a brief statement of how each person’s individual contributions played a vital role in team’s success. In this way, you can boost an individual’s ego without diminishing team effort.
