5 Traits of a Brilliant Team Leader

Some people are born leaders. Wherever they go, they don the hat of the leader. However, most people succeed as team leaders not because they are destined to but because they are determined to. What does it take to be an effective team leader?

Open communication channels

Poor communication skills can be the kiss of death for a team leader.

• ~ If you are not precise and clear about what you expect from your team members, you will not get the crisp action and results you want
• Make sure your team knows that you are approachable and you consider them worthy of your time.
• ~ Every member of the team has strengths required to make the team successful. So, each should be treated with the same respect.
• ~ An informal atmosphere is an added advantage.

Anticipate problems

It is up to the team leader to be farsighted, anticipate problems that may plague the team in the future and take preventive measures. Effective problem solving requires discipline and organisation.

• ~ An effective rule for managing issues is: When you hear it, write about it. This ensures that all related details are recorded and can be subsequently reviewed. Each issue can then be prioritised and attended to accordingly.
• ~ Townsend states, 'An important task of a manager is to reduce his people's excuses for failure.' These excuses later on take the form of issues or problems.

Be helpful, not forceful

Gone are the days where the command and control format applied. Leadership as of today is all about guiding -- not ruling. People management skills are a pre-requisite for anybody aspiring to be a team leader.

• ~ You need to gauge your team members accurately. It is only by understanding their individual work preferences, core competencies, motivation levels, areas of improvement and strengths that you will be in a position to assign them tasks accordingly.
• ~ If one of your team members is finding it difficult to meet his deadline, get a colleague, who is relatively free, to chip in. Two brains are better than one.

Your team members will definitely appreciate your sense of solidarity and respect you more for saving the day for them.

Trust is the key

No relationship is long-lasting or worthwhile if trust is missing. This holds equally true for the team leader and team member relationship.

~ The first thing a team leader needs to get straight is that his team will not trust him because he considers himself to be trustworthy.

Anyone who has ever walked a corporate corridor knows that trusting the wrong person has led to many an executive's downfall in the long run.

He needs to trust his team members before they trust him. It works both ways.

• ~ As the team leader is the connection between the team and the higher management, he needs to work in tandem with both parties to obtain a full commitment from the management in support of the team's programme.
• It is his responsibility to ensure his team members are making maximum use of the resources and the support provided. He needs to earn the trust of both parties to meet his objectives.
• Betrayal of trust leads to an inevitable downfall.

Show the way

Meetings, issues, firefighting and meeting deadlines sometimes makes the team leader put mentoring of team members on the backburner.

However, today's executive is no longer lured by just the job guarantee factor or a fat paycheque. More than anything else, he is looking for professional growth.

~ Building and supporting a career development atmosphere is paramount. By empowering your team members, you empower yourself. You need not then micro-manage your employees and can concentrate on matters that merit your time and attention.

The investment in making sure that every team member is ascending his personal learning curve pays great dividends. Not only does it boost their confidence, the team members become increasingly valuable to the organisation.

• ~ Team members need feedback on a regular basis, not just during the annual appraisals. They need to be made aware of their performance levels and be given an opportunity to discuss their needs for growth and development. Recognition of efforts is essential for lifting the executives' spirits and strengthening their sense of commitmen t.
• Likewise, the executives must be told -- firmly but gently -- about their areas of improvements as well as shown ways and means of working on them. Quality needs to be inspired, not dictated.
• ~ Set high standards for yourself and your team will follow suit. Your example will always be emulated. Nothing inspires a team member more than seeing his boss hard at work.

An Excellent Poem On MOTHER - - (Don't Miss It)

Good morning friends…start your day reading this...Really heart touching…

I was a just-born and she was Twenty-Five,
Though we were we, we were one.
I would cry out in Latin and she would respond in Greek,
I would learn nothing but she never got tired to teach.

I was surrounded by monsters eager to pull my cheek,
but they would vanish the moment i was wet and weep.
She would come running and hold me in her arms,
as if i had won the contest of the charms.

Now I was able to walk and chew,
hey, i was two.
I and she could now understand each other,
i was her everything and she needed no other.

I would try to walk and fall down,
But knowing she was with me, the fear of getting hurt was now gone.
We still could not converse that effectively,
But she would understand my needs so easily.

I could now roam about free,
because now i have turned three.
I was ready to join a new world,
my academic life was now gonna mould.

She would dress me as best as a prince,
but when i would come back, she would need at least an hour to rinse.
I was now able to talk,
I was a ferry and she was my dock.

I still remember the child, whose shirt I had tore,
Hey buddy, i have turned four.
I now came home a little late,
Nevertheless finding her waiting at the gate.
She would hug me and carry me in her arms,
it felt like flying through the farms.
We now did the homework together,
i would spoil the home and she used to work.

Years passed and now i was fifteen, and with each year i would forget to
lean.
I wouldn't care for what she said, because now i had become mean.
She would ask me to study for a good future,
but i was busy in a different culture.
Now i had many shes in my life,
i dreamed of having one of them as my wife.

I changed a lot which she did not teach,
She would try to hug me but i was out of reach.
She still waited for me at the gate,
but i would look at her with utmost hate.
She would be awake till late in the night,
because i wasn't home, i was in a fight.
She had so much to scold, but she never did say,
hoping to find me better the next day.
Time went on and now i am grown,
lost in the world of my own.

I and she, between us have a river,
I have left her for my career.
When i was young, for me, she sacrificed her ambitions,
but i don't care, i now have my own mission.
I am not with her now, i am in a different city,
she is so old now but i don't even pity.

She needs me now but i am nowhere to find,
in the race for appraisal, i have become blind.
In a few years from now, i will be two,
there will be in my life someone new.
Then i'll forget even to bother,
i am her son and she my Mother.