If I asked you what is your secret to make your team management a success story, would you have one to tell? Well, for you can deal with the expectations and reactions of a whole group of people, you already deserve my respect. However, you will agree that the emotional intelligence needed to drive a team may always be improved. So, after reading a great article of Harvard Business Review, I summed up the five skills you have to develop (and show, do not forget) to be a model manager:
1. Self-awareness
Would you say that you are able to recognize how your mood is today? Can you acknowledge your weaknesses without fear and, without arrogance, your strengths? Reflect. How does your mood affect the others? Self-aware leaders are extremely interesting figures. First, because they trust in themselves, but can do a realistic, constructive self-criticism. Second, because they have a keen sense of humor, in the sense that they know make fun of themselves without feeling downgraded. They are, in short, people who inspire in the team autonomy and a desire to be someone strong.
2. Self-control
Do you know these impulses of anxiety, fear and anger, bothering our mind? The leader can redirect these waves of pessimism and even self-sabotage. That’s why the team management is so tied to thinking well before acting. That’s how you’ll know peacefully deal with differences between people and, with certain serenity, go through the obstacles. That’s how you will be remembered as a reference of confidence and emotional balance.
3. Motivation
This is one of the most critical skills because it is the essence of what the manager is: passion for work, will to be there – for reasons that go beyond the wage and the status in the circle of friends. The manager is an optimist, even in the face of mistakes, and that’s encouraging. Optimistic, but sensible, of course. Important to remember that you will be the symbol of commitment to the organization – or organism, once people compose it. And the commitment of the team begins when they feel inspired to pursue goals on behalf of the team, not of the particular glory.
4. Empathy
While sympathy is crucial to get along, empathy is something else and can be translated by the eternal catchphrase: “Put yourself in the place of another.” When the team leader understands the emotions that other people can feel – which involves a deep self-awareness – he/she takes a great step towards the respect of the organization. Moreover, remember that you are responsible for recruiting and retaining talents in the company and without sensitivity to reconcile different cultures of employees as well as customers, no deal.
5. Bonds
This is the last advice: create bonds with people by finding commonalities between you and your employees. Be honest about your values and you will be convincing. Then, instigate others within the team to know better themselves. It’s not that hard. If it was so hard to find commonalities between people, they would not have applied to work in the same company.
(Bonus) To remember…
Try on:
• Create opportunities for team members to ideas and perspectives, for example, by providing training and lectures;
• Cultivate a failure-friendly culture in the company, so that the staff feels confident to share their raw ideas, like insights of the project;
• Separate a modest budget reserve to experiment the good new ideas.
Escape:
• Do not schedule brainstorming meetings to solve huge goals. Instead, focus the attention of the team to solve a specific problem;
• Do not stick the fanciful stories of successful innovation that so many have there. Find realistic and truthful cases and share them;
• Do not use technical terms to tell the results and goals without explaining them to the team. Adopt an understandable language for all to follow your reasoning. That’s what a communicator is.
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