Why is leadership important in building and managing effective teams?-Relatability.
Andrew Carnegie was one of the greatest American industrialists and philanthropists of the 19th century. This billion-dollar magnate was wise enough to know that “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.”
Lone wolves are often admired in movies—they’re hailed as superheroes who go it alone and save the day. They get the bad guys, and the cash, and the girl. But in the business world, lone wolves are feared, not admired because they aren’t superheroes. They’re supervillains. They are devourers who stash the cash and strike terror in the hearts of their underlings.
While increased profits are every business’s ultimate goal, most managers know that this can’t be achieved without a solid staff. While fear of reprisals or unemployment may compel workers to suffer the daily grind, they lose heart and often burn out quickly.
Bosses boss. They have a narrow perspective, short-term goals and dictate terms to get those goals fulfilled. Leaders lead. They are visionaries who can communicate the big picture to their staff. They’re smart enough to know that the big picture reveals their workers’ input. They listen to their employees and actually hear them because their employees matter.
Bosses see their staffers as cogs in a machine; as a means to an end. Leaders see their staffers as people; as valuable human components of an organic system designed to make both the staffers and the business succeed.
People are motivated by human connection and inspired by humane interaction. A leader who values his or her staff as much as they value the company’s profits will attract and keep the best employees.
Why is leadership important in building and managing effective teams? Inspired transference.
Nelson Mandela was an anti-apartheid revolutionary who became South Africa’s first black president. He said “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”
Building and managing an effective team doesn’t always mean being out front. Ironically, when you’re out front, your vantage point may be narrower; more subjective. And the narrower your vantage point, the narrower your viewpoint because everything is all about you. The truth is that you don’t have to been seen in order to make an impact that everyone can see.
Being an effective leader doesn’t always mean being the loudest. Leaders listen, learn, and then lead. And whether they’re in front or behind the scenes, the most progressive leaders always have their team’s back—always!
This kind of leadership inspires imitation because followers want to see in their leaders the qualities they want for themselves. They transfer their aspirations to their employers.
According to a Harvard Business Review article:
…transference is the emotional glue that binds people to a leader. Employees in the grip of positive transference see their leader as better than she really is—smarter, nicer, more charismatic. They tend to give that person the benefit of the doubt and take on more risk at her request than they otherwise would. And as long as the leader’s reality is not too far from the followers’ idealization—and she doesn’t start to believe in their idealized image of her—this works very well.
We see it every day—groupies drooling over rockstars. Media pundits spewing praise about their favorite politicians. Everyone longs for something and they seek it in the lives and deeds of their heroes. Sometimes all we want is a jump start—something that revs our motor and gets us going in the “right” direction. Many of us don’t know what that right direction is and we look to others to point the way.
Why is leadership important in building and managing effective teams? Empowerment
People value projects and policies in environments where their presence is valued. And they support visions and goals when they know that their input matters. Leaders who lead people and instead of projects empower those people and that invariably guarantees that the projects will be successful. The importance of team building is that it makes the team members better people.