24 Proven Leadership Skills To Build Effective Teams

Many responsibilities and skills are required to become a truly excellent team leader. With my three decades of management in global Silicon Valley corporations, I believe this list is the blueprint for success.

The most critical element to running a successful team is developing a positive team culture devoid of politics, where everyone works together to support each other and achieve personal and business objectives.

So that is where we will start.

1. Developing A Positive Team Culture

I have met with many teams over the years and participated in different team meetings, and one thing is clear: Teams follow the path of their leader. If the leader plays politics or disrespects others, the team will eventually do the same.

In a team meeting, I tried to influence that team’s opinion towards a direction I wanted the broader organization to follow; the team members agreed with me and their manager’s support. When I spoke to some of the individuals later to follow up on a topic, they blatantly told me that what they say in a team meeting and what they do are two different things. The manager did the same to me.

People rarely succeed unless they are having fun in what they are doing.”

– Dale Carnegie

Backtracking, playing politics, and ignoring agreements are signs of a malfunctioning team, which is terrible for everyone involved.

Why Is A Positive Team Culture Important?

This 2006 Harvard study in hospitals specifically targeting heart surgeon performance shows that their overall performance improved over time when they could work with their regular team at their primary hospital. Success was measured in patient mortality.

A well-oiled and functioning team performs better and is at its peak with a positive team culture.

How Do I Develop A Positive Team Culture?

The rest of the skills in this article are principally focused on creating a positive team culture, which leads to a great team. Read on.

Individual commitment to a group effort–that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. –Vince Lombardi

2. Avoid Politics In Your Team

Believe it or not, removing politics and game-playing from your team is an important skill.

Playing politics is asserting power or withholding information between team members to gain advantage, prestige, or glory. A high-performing team has little to no politics in it. Every team member needs to look out for one another and help each other succeed. They need to know that you do not play politics, and it will be frowned upon if they do.

How Do I Reduce Team Politics?

It all starts at the beginning of your reign as a team leader. In one of your first team meetings, have the agenda point “Ground Rules.” Be clear in your messaging to your team that:

1. We, as a team, do not play politics, and it will always be frowned upon
2. Backstabbing or talking behind each other’s backs will be taken seriously and is not tolerated.
3. Helping other team members achieve and succeed will be recognized and rewarded throughout the year and during year-end performance reviews.

3. Promote A Success Mentality

The simple fact is that there is a team because the amount of work related to a specific function requires more than one person and more than one type of skill. So, for that process to function or the team’s goal to be achieved, all the team members need to work together. The team’s level of success is directly related to how well the team works together.

Believe it or not, you will never be a successful manager if you cannot deliver results, and you cannot deliver results if your team cannot produce results.

As the three musketeers once said, “It is all for one and one for all.”

How Do I Create A Success Mentality In My Team?

As a team leader, you need all team members to clearly understand that the team’s success is based on the success of all individuals.

The Success Of The Team Is Based On The Success Of All Individuals.

Hold a specific team-building workshop onsite or offsite. The focus should be on activities requiring people to work closely together and collaborate to achieve the goal.

Please do not make it go-karting or Nerf battles. These are individual competitive events.

I attended a tremendous team-building function, which was a group cooking course. The 40 people were split into four teams, and each needed to create a starter, main, and dessert within the required time. At the end of the evening, everyone ate together and shared all the food. It was a genuinely collaborative and fun event.

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” -Henry Ford

"When You Stop Learning, You Stop Living" SkillShare Makes Learning Easy. Skillshare Is Our #1 Rated Learning Platform With Great Lessons On:  ★★★★★ Creating: Photography, Film-Making, Music, Graphic Design & Coding ★★★★★ Building: Leadership, Communication, Entrepreneurship & Marketing ★★★★★ Thriving: Personal & Professional Development, Productivity, Time Management "Skillshare is like Netflix for learning. I take a course every time I need a new skill. With over 30,000 courses to choose from, I always have something to learn." Barry D. Moore - Founder: GreatWorkLife.com Get 30 Days of Skillshare Premium for Free

4. Support And Protect Your Team

An integral foundation of a well-running team is that they should feel they are operating in a safe space. This means that in your team meetings, they can speak openly and honestly. If your team is in a pressured environment where they engage with customers or other teams or functions in the broader organization, there will be times when they come under attack or face criticism.   These are the important times when you need to protect the team.

How Do I Support & Protect My Team?

Firstly, in your team and personal one-on-one meetings, send the message that “If you need help with a problem, face resistance from others, or need a barrier broken down, come to me.”

How you deal with complaints or external attacks is the key here.

Individual Complaints: If someone complains directly to you about one of your team members’ conduct or performance, you need to listen to the argument impartially without taking a side. Then, you can take the issue up with the individual and share, without emotion, the complaint. You will then need to work through a plan to resolve the issue with the employee. They may have made a mistake, but it is often an issue with the plaintiff’s perception. Either way, have an action plan privately with that individual to remedy the situation.

If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” -Albert Einstein

Team Attacks: It certainly can happen that your team is attacked by people who question and challenge its existence, what it does, or even its value to the company.

Example: During a corporate merger or takeover you are very often faced with a situation where you have multiple teams doing similar tasks.  As a team leader this can be stressful because if the teams merge, you could lose your job as two team leaders are often not required.  I have faced this many times and actually survived. How?

Firstly, as the leader, you need to constantly evaluate whether your team is actually adding value; if not, that is your fault, and your position is in danger. If they are, you can relax in the knowledge that your team is doing great things and will continue in the new organizational setup.

In this case, you will still need to shield your team from the discussions and politics you must go through during a merger or takeover. Causing them stress by sharing that their future is threatened will only harm their current performance.

You Should Have Your Teams Back – Always.

5. Be Polite & Respectful

When you land your first team leader role, it can be tempting to let the power go to your head and start to show dominance or authority over your new team members or “show them who is boss.”

To outwardly try to demean or belittle people in a professional environment is deeply disrespectful. Also, other people outside of your team will begin to detest you. No one likes a bully, and everyone dislikes someone who preys on the weak.

Example: In the most recent corporate merger I was involved in, the two companies merging had radically different corporate cultures. My side of the new company had a very professional, talented, and respectful culture. The other company (which will remain nameless) had several highly colorful, distasteful characters and a culture that treated people like numbers. In a high-level face-to-face session bringing together 40 people from both companies to work out the plans for the coming year, I witnessed one of my peers who now reported to the distasteful character from the other company treated very disrespectfully.

My peer had to present the new company’s expectations of productivity numbers, but he did not have enough information to be specific. His new manager berated and spoke to him with such disrespect that it was very awkward for everyone in the room. This manager could have supported his team member in this situation but decided to bury him in front of 38 other people; it was disgusting. After witnessing this, he and I had a very difficult working relationship, and I know most of the people in that room disliked him intensely after that.

How Do I Ensure I am Polite And Respectful?

The simplest way to ensure you comply with this skill is to live by the mantra:

Do to others as you would want done to you

Everyone has moments where they feel out of their depth and perhaps are not as in control of the situation as they would like. If you demean or belittle them at their moment of weakness, you will become a snake in everyone’s eyes, and you will not be trusted, respected, or even liked. If you ride to their rescue, you will be a loved leader.

6. Show Patience & Understanding

Patience and understanding are not just words but a mindset integrated within politeness and respect.

Not all people operate at the same levels of intensity and achievement. Some learn faster, some slower. Some need the same message multiple times until they understand; some get it immediately.

The art of patience must be used for those who require extra effort, new team members, less experienced, and those who learn a little slower. When you get impatient with someone, it shows in your voice and actions, and it can be very stressful for the person receiving those signals; this creates a bad working environment.

The key to developing patience is understanding.

How Do I Develop Patience & Understanding?

In any situation where you are starting to feel impatient, practice the following rituals.

1. Take a breath before you lose control, and consider if it is worth it.
2. Take a moment to understand: is the person antagonistically testing your patience, or are they genuinely having difficulty with the topic? In either case, do not lose your cool; there are different ways to handle the situation.
3. If someone tests your patience with their antagonistic actions, you need to be firm, shut the conversation down in public, and resume it privately.
4. If someone struggles with a situation or task, take the time to help and coach them through it. It will be time well spent.

Losing your cool head is always the least preferred outcome.

7. Show Appreciation

Let them and the team know when someone hits a target, delivers a project milestone, or is doing a good job. It is that simple.

If people are working late to hit a deadline, try to understand what they are giving up to do this. They are giving up time with their friends and family. You need to recognize that and appreciate it.

How Do I Show Appreciation?

Obviously, the simplest and probably the most effective way to do it is with a thank you. If you thank them, explain why you appreciate their work and the effort they invested in making it happen.

Other ways to show appreciation are in your performance reviews with them. Also, don’t forget to treat your team to a team lunch or dinner if they are doing well overall. I have seen leaders working in companies with zero budget for team rewards take their team out for dinner or drinks and pay for it from their own pocket.

8. Be Positive & Optimistic

Is it so hard to smile and speak with energy and purpose? It is. I have seen many leaders walk around with a miserable face, talk in monotone, and fail even to raise a smile in an interaction with another human. That is extremely soul-sapping for the team they manage.

How Can I Be Positive & Optimistic At Work?

For me, it all starts with two things.

Smile: Whether you are having a good day or bad, smile when interacting with people. Smile and say “hi” to people in the hallways with a smile.

Facial feedback works because the brain senses the flexion of certain facial muscles (like the zygomatic major, which is required to smile) and interprets it as “Oh I must be happy about something.” Similarly, if that muscle isn’t flexed then your brain thinks, “Oh, I must not be happy”.

Speak With Energy & Intonation: Avoid speaking with a flat voice. When you begin to put energy into your voice, you can play with tonality, accentuate words, and project confidence. Watch this interesting video on voice confidence.

8. Demonstrate Moral Integrity

Integrity essentially means being consistent with actions and beliefs. Moral integrity means having a set of rules that you live by, including how you treat others.

You can only have strong moral integrity if you understand who you are and what you believe in.

What you believe in influences:

What You Do And Say: helping at homeless shelters, giving to charity, going to church, coaching a kid’s baseball team, helping your team members succeed, not swearing, not drinking, showing tolerance and acceptance of race and gender differences

How You Do It And Say It: Do what you do with a smile on your face and with energy, or do you do it because it looks good on the outside? Do you stand up for your beliefs and the right of others to hold different beliefs, or have you become polarized and insular?

When what you say and what you actually do are synchronized and consistent, then you have moral integrity.

How Do I Develop Moral Integrity?

It all starts with what you believe in.

Start by listing down the following:

• The ten most important things you believe in
• The ten characteristics you want to demonstrate every day.
• Print them out, put them on your wall at home, and live your life by them.

10. Be A Conflict Resolver

Do you cause conflict, avoid conflict, or try to resolve conflict?

Conflict can take many forms; the most common are conflicting opinions and conflicting personalities. The main thing is not to let differences in people’s values and ideas turn into real conflicts such as wars of worlds or even actions. Conflicts get worse over time if not remediated by the parties themselves or a third party. This will impact the team.

How Can I Resolve Conflict?

In its simplest sense, conflict resolution can be achieved by sitting people down, helping them understand each other’s points of view, and moving them to a state of agreement or at least agreement to accept each other’s differences amicably.

If an amicable resolution cannot be achieved, you may need to seek a more permanent solution to the conflict, like moving a person to another part of the team or even to another team.

As the team leader, you might need to act as the judge and jury in your capacity as a conflict resolver. You may need to hold both parties to your list of values, determine who is the least good fit, and take action to relocate them.

Audiobooks Are Food for the Mind Inspiration, Education & Relaxation Have you discovered the joy of listening? ★★★★★ Audible: Review Winner - Best for Price, Library Size & Original Content. ★★★★★ Blinkist: Review Winner - Best Audiobook Summary Service. ★★★★ Audiobooks.com: Best For Unlimited Audiobook Listening. "As a 10-year member of Audible, I have a library of 300+ audiobooks. The best thing is, with a few clicks, I can return any book within 12-months. I also subscribe to Blinkist; with 5,000 15-minute audio-summaries, I can consume knowledge and learn new concepts fast." Barry D. Moore - Founder: GreatWorkLife.com Read Our Audiobook Services Test & Comparison

11. Don’t Just Talk, Take Action

I was once in the lovely city of Sofia, Bulgaria, attending a global in-person leadership meeting when a guest speaker entered the conference.

He had quite some responsibility as the global leader of about 1,000 people. He was a super smooth operator with great communication and presentation skills; he had all the answers to all the problems we faced and was upbeat. His organization faced existential challenges, but he had it all under control with a full remediation plan. I was nominated to be his key interface into our organization of 15,000 people, and I was genuinely excited to be working with him.

After the presentation, my boss leaned over to me and said, “What do you think?” I replied, “He is good.”  Being the ultimate in moral integrity, my boss surprised me and said, “I think he is a bit of a talker.”  This essentially meant he talks the talk but does not walk the walk. He talks a lot but does not actually do anything.

It turned out my boss was correct. I worked with this guy for six months, and I saw nothing happen. As things got worse for his team, he talked and talked but never got anything done; within 12 months, 70% of his team were made redundant by orders from higher management.

How Can I Be A Doer?

Actioning your words and promises is the key to success. In my leadership position, I was directly and indirectly responsible for the actions and work processes of thousands of people. As you can imagine, the number of requests via email and meetings that landed on my desk was huge. Ultimately, I could not read all the emails or act on every request. So, what did I do?

I made a list.

I made a list of the most important ten things I had to achieve to benefit my team, leadership, and the company. I focused on those actions only. If you can achieve the big things that really matter, then most of the other stuff falls by the wayside. Achieve big things, and you are a DOER, not just a talker.

12. Help Underachievers

No matter how carefully you hire staff, your team will always have a few folks who simply do not achieve their potential or even meet your minimum requirements. This can be because they lack the skills or experience, or they may be completely out of their depth.

As the team leader, it is important to recognize those people and come to their assistance.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. – Booker T. Washington

How Can I Help Underachievers In My Team?

Give them more of your time.

In the article ” One-on-One Meetings,” I explained in depth that struggling people need more focus from you, which starts with more regular personal meeting time with you. If you meet every two weeks, change it to weekly or even twice per week. You can specifically guide and coach them and help them define the path they need to take.

Give them more of other people’s time.

Assign them a working partner within the team to help them with their project. That does not mean doing the work for them but helping them with direction and organization.

Get them to create a self-development plan.

As the team leader, you are not responsible for a person’s development plan; they are. Ensure one is in place and that the plan will help them overcome their current difficulties.

Get them specialist training.

Support their development plan by working to get the training they need; we all need external help from professional trainers, so make it happen.

If they continue to struggle for a long period and do not have or cannot develop the skills needed, you will need to consider if they would be better in different roles or teams. If so, do not just abandon them; help them find a better role by understanding what they want to do and asking around your network for anything suitable.

A poor match in your team, might be a high achiever in another team.

13. Communicate Clearly

It took me a while to work this out, and I learned this from my staff in our year-end performance reviews. When I asked for 360-degree feedback about myself and my performance, many people said I was such a great communicator. When I probed further, they meant I spoke at a steady rhythm and spoke very clearly and pronounced.

This is an important skill I stumbled upon. You see, I am English, in fact, from a place in middle England called Warwickshire. In this part of the UK, we do not have a strong regional accent; it is relatively posh.

This means that when I spoke on Skype or in video conferences, every nationality had a chance to understand me. I always make an effort to spell out important points.

If your team is non-native English speakers, you need to take your time and be clear when talking.

14. Use Visuals For Important Points

When I want to get an important point across, I always use a visual. A visual is a graphical representation of the key points you are trying to make. The visual side of the brain is a lot more receptive than the audio receptors. As they say, “a picture paints a thousand words,” which is as true in remote team meetings as in an art exhibition.

How Should I Use Visual Aids?

Important points warrant pulling up a PowerPoint presentation or dragging out a whiteboard. But even in team meetings, it is simply worth sharing the meeting agenda and minutes so that the audience can see (even if they join late) what the topic is and who the actions belong to.

Remember, when using visuals, do not use a lot of text; use images.

15. Build Trust With What You Say & Do

If you say you will follow up on a topic after the meeting, do it. If you fail to do what you say, your words will soon become worthless, which means your character and leadership will also become worthless.

What you say and how you say it is imperative. Here is my quick guide to what to say and not say.

What Not To Say And Do In A Team Meeting

• Never sound impatient
• Never, Never, NEVER RAISE YOUR VOICE
• Never dismiss someone out of hand.
• Never demean anyone’s opinion.
• Never cut someone short (unless they cannot stop talking)
• Never lie. Your team knows when you are lying, covering up for the company, or being dishonest. Honesty is, after all, a truly defining factor. If you genuinely cannot talk about a company-sensitive topic, say you cannot discuss it, but never lie.

What Positive Things You Can Say In A Team Meeting?

• When someone has success, no matter how small, be positive.
• Encourage people to talk openly and share their challenges with the team.
• Encourage people to ask for help; that is what a team is for: to help each other.
• Celebrate a birthday, work anniversary, or the birth of a new child
• When someone takes a new action or responsibility, thank them wholeheartedly; it will encourage others to take on more work.

You would not believe how your team hangs on your words and the way you intone your voice. Be honest firm, and treat others with respect, and it will work out.

16. Be Goal-Oriented, Not Task-Oriented

Micromanagement is the scourge of high-performing teams. Having a virtual team spread out across different locations is also challenging. So do not try to do it. Do not focus on the task; focus on the goal. You must develop clear and simple goals tied to your assigned business objectives. Therefore, their goals are also your goals.

Become Goal Focused By Assigning SMART Goals

I have heard the SMART goals mantra so many times over my career; it makes me cringe.

However, there is a lot of sense to this. SMART goals refer to:

Specific Goals

Set a maximum of 3 or 4 big goals per person for the year, enabling them to be focused.

Measurable – set a number on the goal.

• Dollars in new sales generated.
• Customer Satisfaction Feedback Above 8
• How many doughnuts you can fit in your mouth at once 🙂

Achievable

They need to be able actually to achieve the goal. If you set the bar too high, they will be stressed out all year and ultimately fail.

Realistic

Here is where the HR-speak breaks down. If it is not Realistic, how would it be Achievable in the previous A? Come on, seriously. It should read SMAT goals, not SMART goals.

Time-Based

Finally, we have time-based goals. This means there needs to be a date for achieving the goals.

So now we have our SMAT goals, we can move on.

17. Have Regular One On One Meetings

Holding a great One-on-one meeting means you will have a highly motivated and energized employee. Repeat the process repeatedly with your employees to have a high-performing team.

What Is A One-on-One Meeting?

A “one-on-one” meeting, also known as a “one-to-one”  or 121 meeting, is a great way for a manager or team leader to stay personally and professionally connected to a team member and for the team member to stay connected to their manager.

In my experience, an average or poor manager will neglect regular one-on-one meetings because they are “too busy” or have more important priorities.

If you want to be an average leader of an average team, then ignore One on One meetings at your peril

18. Run A Great Team Meeting

Your team meetings need to be weekly. If you leave them any longer, you will be jeopardizing the team’s well-being. People need to get together; it gives them a feeling of belonging.

How Do I Run A Great Team Meeting?

In my experience, the ideal one-hour team meeting consists of the following:

• Review of the Agenda & New Topics – 5 Minutes
• 3 Main Topics – 10 minutes per topic
• Round Table – Highlights where each team member can provide an update or request help.
• Managers Corner – You highlight any business/organizational developments or new requests to the team – 10 Minutes

If you have an urgent topic or need input on a strategic decision, dominating the meeting with your own topic is acceptable. Why? You are seeking to amass the brainpower and support of your team at a major pivot point. They will love you for consulting with them on it.

The time for the team to speak is crucial and should be given priority.

So many managers go into their team meeting and talk for one hour without letting anyone else contribute.  If you do that, your team hates you.  You don’t know it, because you are too busy listening to the sound of your own voice, but it’s a fact.

Be prepared to talk in team meetings. Establish the rule that they must provide the team with an update in every meeting. This not only prepares them to have something to say, which improves participation, but it also encourages them to think about what they have achieved or what problems they have faced since the last team meeting.

19. Engage Your Team Members

Here is the problem. An insecure manager is reluctant to engage their team in a group setting because they are worried they may lose the argument or seem not to be the thought leader in the discussion.

How Do I Engage My Team?

A great manager who wants to harness the groupthink of a team of talented individuals will enter the conversation by stating the problem and asking for ideas to help resolve the problem or even improve the solution to a problem.

If you are a manager who is so full of ego that you go into every conversation with all the answers without at least posing a question to gain additional perspectives, then you will fail, plain and simple.

20. Show Your Funny Side

If you have a gram of humor in you, use it. I have seen so many managers who are so straight you could use them to correct a slanted picture frame. It is painful when it is all business.

Do not be afraid to self-deprecate. For non-native English speakers, feel free to make fun of yourself. If you are the first to see the humor in your failings, then no one else has a chance.

21. Always Be Available

Ensure your team knows you are always available to talk and that they should not leave their only interaction with you until their bi-weekly One-on-One session. If you are not available, a team member may get slowed down by a problem that you could help with. This slows them down and slows down the ultimate achievement of the goal.

How To Make Yourself Available?

Start by sitting with your team; don’t separate yourself. I once visited our office in Slovakia and found all the managers sitting on the office floor away from their teams; that does not make sense.

If you have your own office, leave the door open and make sure your office is near the team.

When you grab a coffee, go with someone, use that time to chat with someone, whether business or pleasure.

Have lunch with the team or with individuals.

Are you getting tired of being stuck in the office? Go for a walk. Take someone you need to talk to and go for a walk for 30 minutes, discussing in the open air. I do this all the time. It seems strange at first, but you come back refreshed and invigorated, like you just took a break.

22. Never Show Favorites

So many teams break down and become dysfunctional because of one thing. The boss has a favorite clique.

I have seen it so many times. You know if you have a few favorites on the team. They are the ones you always go to lunch with and always go for a beer after work. You always go for your smoke break or coffee break with them. This also goes for remote teams. Just because you are not there in person, you can still demonstrate your favorites by giving them the best new assignments, overly singing their praises, or taking their side against others in the team. Be mindful of overtly having favorites, as your team will notice it, which will breed resentment.

How Can I Avoid Favoritism?

The best way to avoid this is to mindfully spread your time across the team with coffee breaks, lunches, and walking meetings.

When new assignments arise, offer them to the team in the team meeting and see who wants to take them.

Don’t take sides in a disagreement; move to conflict resolution mode.

23. Choose Your Next Leader Or Leaders

Any good manager or leader will have a succession plan in place. If you are good at your work, the next promotion could be around the corner. If you are offered another assignment and your answer is, “I cannot take it; there is none who can replace me,” then you are letting yourself down.

How Can I Select The Next Team Leader?

You can start by rotating your “backup” or “stand-in” on vacation. This means that when you are out of the office, this person will attend your meetings and take on your responsibilities. This demonstrates to the team that you do not play favorites, and everyone gets a chance to prove themselves. Over time, you can see who can handle your job the best.

24. Take The Blame & Share The Glory

The last but probably most important item on this list is how you handle successes. If you manage a high-performing team with serious business objectives, you will need to report to senior management monthly or quarterly on your progress against those objectives.

If your team is not meeting its targets or goals, you are responsible. Take it on the chin. Ultimately, failure within the team is your fault, and your team will respect you for it.

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. – Isaac Newton

When your team delivers a significant milestone or achieves a goal, do not take credit alone. You must personally thank in public the person or people who delivered it. No matter how much you helped, them deliver the result, deflect the kudos to them. Your team will love you for this. It is the golden rule of truly great leadership.

Skills Of Great Team Leaders – Cheat Sheet Download

How To Be A Great Team Leader Cheat Sheet Contents

Well, I hope these best practices have been useful. If you liked it, share it with friends or leave a comment.