Modern businesses have a lot of obstacles to overcome, including the ongoing effects of the pandemic, rapidly evolving technology, and the rise of stiff competition. Adaptability is necessary to thrive, and that starts with your leadership.
Leaders are not simply managers. They must offer direction, set clear expectations, and inspire their teams to succeed – not just with projects but with larger business goals and objectives.
Some people have natural leadership qualities, but true leadership must be honed and refined. No one is born an effective leader with the skills to nurture trust and cultivate the best in their teams, but devoting the effort to developing such leaders is key to business growth.
Develop Effective Communication
Effective communication is necessary in all industries and teams. Building trust and ensuring that everyone is aware of their role in the process and the business goals is a critical aspect of productivity.
Unfortunately, many leaders fail to deliver effective communication. They may believe they communicate well, but they often leave something to be desired among team members. True leaders know that communication isn’t just speaking, but listening to others and sharing two-way feedback that builds openness and collaborative environments.
Clear communication, active listening, and feedback are all essential to ensure that employees understand their roles and responsibilities and feel acknowledged and appreciated. Putting in the effort to improve leadership communication pays off in a cohesive, collaborative team that’s invested in the company’s success.
Empower Your Teams to Take Initiative
In just a few years, primarily in-office environments have shifted to remote and hybrid environments. More and more businesses are seeing the benefits of remote work, but despite the benefits, there are unique challenges that go along with it.
When teams operate on their own, outside of a traditional office setting, it can lead to isolation, miscommunication, and a lack of collaboration. Employees need to be self-driven, motivated, and, most importantly, empowered to make their own decisions without constant oversight. This requires a lot of trust between leaders and teams, along with clear expectations and communication.
Effective team leaders can keep their teams aligned with the goals and empowered to take initiative and make decisions on their own. Instead of relying on a traditional hierarchy, create an environment of teamwork, collaboration, and open communication that allows everyone to share responsibility for keeping projects and tasks on track.
This doesn’t happen overnight, of course. It takes ongoing commitment and encouragement. As a leader, you need to assign tasks appropriately, communicate timelines and goals, and stay accessible for direction and questions. In doing so, you’re handing the reins over to your team and freeing your time to focus on broad, mission-critical tasks instead of micromanaging.
Don’t be afraid to evaluate what’s working and what’s not. It may take some trial and error to figure out how your team works best and how you can get the best work out of them. Ask for feedback and schedule time to chat as needed.
Embrace Diverse Teams
Revamping company culture is a big feat. Aside from smart recruiting techniques and understanding your organization’s needs, you must be dedicated to building diverse teams that can collaborate successfully and contribute fresh ideas.
Keep in mind that it’s not enough to simply have diversity within your teams but to embrace it fully. It’s not enough to represent different genders and ethnicities. You need people of different backgrounds and experiences to contribute new ideas. Everyone should feel equally valued and considered, especially when it comes to differing opinions, to benefit from a multifaceted group.
This all begins with your company culture. Fostering a culture of diversity and inclusivity, which is communicated throughout your marketing messaging, internal communications, and recruitment strategy, attracts top talent and can help you stand out in a competitive job market.
Remote and hybrid teams can make this more challenging, but devoting resources to leadership training and growth can improve communication and efficiency. The result is an inclusive environment that attracts top talent, improves current employee satisfaction and retention, and enhances collaboration across disparate environments.
Share in Accountability
One of the secrets of a high-performing team is accountability. Everyone from the top executives to the new hires should understand their role and take responsibility for their contributions to the business objectives – for better or worse.
The idea of accountability often causes anxiety in people, but it doesn’t have to be a burden. At its core, accountability is about what makes each and every person vital to the business’s operation and reinforces why their work matters.
For example, the real estate industry has a lot of moving parts and players that factor into a project, like a kitchen renovation, bathroom remodel, or new site build. There may be on-site workers, contractors, architects, engineers, and designers collaborating from the larger scope to the small details, ensuring that the project stays on track, on time, and on budget.
While your individual concerns with project management may be different, the idea of mutual accountability is relevant. Everyone in the organization or on the team has to understand and take responsibility for their role and how their contributions impact others. For example, if the team members early in the project fail to meet their deadlines, that sets back everyone else on the project.
Set Clear Expectations
Clear expectations are a key predictor of employee turnover and contribute positively to job satisfaction, contentment, and decision-making. Much like getting a house ready to sell, which involves meticulous planning and communication across many people, leaders must clearly communicate their expectations for their team members.
This ties back to effective communication. Expectations must be clear, attainable, and realistic. When teams understand expectations, it creates a strong foundation for growth and adaptability. For example, when your business undergoes a shift to adapt to a changing market, employees are better able to adjust quickly to their new or changed roles.
Allocating work isn’t the same as expectations, however. Your team members need to understand not only what they’re responsible for but how it factors into the larger goals. They understand where they fit in your business’s journey and their purpose and direction.
Not sure where to begin? One of the best ways is with regular one-on-one sessions with each team member. These sessions foster open dialogue to understand how your employees perceive their role, how you perceive their role, and how you can bridge any gaps.
The idea of frequent meetings may seem daunting, especially if you’re not sure how to accomplish everything in a day to begin with, but having these touchpoints can streamline your processes and clear up any misunderstandings early.
Learn to Accept Change
Change is inevitable in all things, including business. No matter your business ideas, industry, client base, size, or market, you will need to pivot sometimes. It may be in a small way, or you may have to make a big shift to stay relevant. Either way, part of being an effective leader is getting used to it.
Leaders are often tasked with navigating the changes and keeping the organization in a strong position. Most people are uncomfortable with change, especially if they’re not in a control position – like an employee. It disrupts their routine or alters their role, leaving them unsure about their job or the future. As a leader, that’s where you come in to assuage their concerns.
An effective change management process can go a long way toward helping with transitional periods. Include team members in the decision-making process as much as possible, which gives them a sense of investment and ownership in the changes as they occur.
Another crucial factor is leading by example. Teams look to their leaders for guidance and reassurance in the face of uncertainty. If you appear calm, confident, and forward-thinking, your team will follow.
Applaud Good Work
With an ever-growing workload and not enough time to do it all, it’s easy to forget to show appreciation or applaud good work. However, your team is achieving great things, so you can afford a moment to celebrate them.
Competitive compensation is an important start to motivating employees, but it’s not the be all, end all. You still need to acknowledge your appreciation to your employees regularly to show them that they’re not interchangeable parts in your business’s operations.
How you show appreciation depends on your team, however. You don’t need grand gestures, but it should be personalized. For example, offering development opportunities, celebrating milestones, offering extra time off, treating the office to lunch, or simply saying “thank you” can go a long way.
Lead a Strong Team into Your Growth Period
Putting your business on a growth trajectory is an ongoing process, especially as you encounter obstacles. Building strong leadership and cultivating a positive culture are among the most important factors that will support your growth now and in the future. When you invest in effective leadership, you ensure your employees are appreciated, attract new talent, and lay the foundation for sustainable growth and productivity.
Author Bio:
Entrepreneur, technologist, and passionate business leader sum up the core of Dalip Jaggi, co-founder of Revive Real Estate, a PropTech company with a goal to democratize house flipping. Since its 2020-inception, Revive has since become the smartest solution for homeowners to maximize their home’s sales value across the nation.
