6 Tips To Bring Out the Best in Your Team

Stephanie is a project process specialist, trainer and mentor. She is the Lead Consultant at Jaeger Consultants Ltd in Nairobi. Stephanie specializes in the human aspect of project management and leadership, and encourages discussion and feedback. She also writes regular blogs on jaeger-consultants.com.

  Leadership   Talent Management  

Leadership is less about telling people what to do and more about helping to bring out the best in the team. This requires commitment and diligence.

Having worked for over 30 years in many different sectors and environments, I have seen many leadership styles and their outcomes. Over the years, I have come to the conviction that leadership is about developing people. You can be a dictator and you will get things done, but you will not earn respect—and you will not get your team to buy in and excel.

However, if you step back and let your team members shine—helping them gain confidence and bring out the best in them—you’ll be surprised where your team takes you.

We first need to take a step back. Drop the idea that, as a leader, “I am the one to tell everyone what to do.” Yes, you give direction, but you are not there to prescribe every single step to be taken. The power of a team comes from the multiplication of each individual strength—and the fact that someone’s strength makes up for someone else’s shortcoming (perhaps even your own).

1. Help your team pull together. Every team must go through the five stages of team development as laid out by Bruce Tuckman, both as individuals as well as collectively. Only then will the team fully pull together:

Here are two important points:

• As a leader, you are …

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