In this post we explore this essential Leadership Home Truth and why the best way to improve team performance is to start by looking inward at yourself.
In our earlier post on How to Be The Best Kind of Sales Leader we discussed why Sales Leaders are very important for setting the mood within their teams. We explored why understanding personal brand and consistency of style are important.
However, true self-evaluation is much deeper than this. For every positive aspect of your style there may be a negative flip side which you are unaware of. Your view of your intentions may be out of sync with how your team perceives or hears them. Your nature could be playing against you without you realising, causing discord or diminishing performance.
It takes a true leader to really want to understand this and dive deeper. Let me explain, with some personal sharing thrown in for context (don’t judge me!).
The Hidden Impacts of Your Style
Think of a leadership characteristic that you think is a key part of your style. It may be your trusting nature, it may be your openness and transparency, your willingness to help out and muck in with the team. On the surface, all of these are pretty brilliant qualities.
However, seen through a different lens they may actually be a hindrance. Take your trusting nature. Does this default position mean that you may miss things, not question decisions, take too much at face value? Could these things harm your success or that of your team? Take your transparency. Does sharing everything openly actually end up burdening your team with challenges they need not consider, or dilute their focus in any way? Is it sensible to always be so open? Could less be more?
What about your willingness to muck in? Surely that is a great quality? Maybe though it means that you are actually taking over all the time, stifling the development of your team and discouraging self-sufficiency. See what I mean?
Personally, I’ve always seen my enthusiasm as a quality, I tend to lean to the positive in situations, but this can be misinterpreted. When we have new starters join us I really try and make them feel welcome, extol their virtues to the team, regularly check in to see how they are doing, etc. However, one day a valued and experienced member of my long-standing team pointed out that I was known for waxing lyrical about new people who had been with us 5 minutes rather than doing the same for those who have been a long-standing, contributing, excellent team member.
I had been so focussed on embracing and welcoming the new starters that I had made my team feel less valued – when the opposite was actually true!
We can sometimes forget that the eyes of the room are on us, every word being analysed and interpreted and we must be very mindful of the perceptions of our actions.
Challenge Yourself…
So my advice is to take some time out, to really reflect on all of your characteristics and see if there is a negative flip side. This may be possible on your own, you may need to talk it through with a trusted coach, you may need to ask your team. However you approach it make sure you really do challenge yourself.
I have many other aspects of my character that I have to reign in and be aware of sometimes:
- desire to share = talking too much
- ambition of maintaining a pleasant family atmosphere = distracting from the task at hand
- desire to keep things positive = sometimes not sharing realities that need to be known
- focus on helping individuals = giving too much time to poor performers (the bottom 10% that Leigh Ashton describes in her guest article on sales patterns)
I could share more!
…to Develop Your Team
Once you’ve begun to understand these flip sides you can then control them and reduce their negative impact.
You don’t have to stifle the positive elements of your style but you will become better at deploying them. You’ll be more aware of your surroundings, know when to keep things in check and when to dial things up for positive gains.
Your team will become more at ease with you, they’ll see that you are self-aware and genuine. As a result, they’ll relax into a rhythm that improves performance. If they are comfortable with you as a Leader, you’ll be able to coach, develop and guide without unintended consequences.
As a final point, it is also true that styles change. Your core leadership traits today may be very different in 10 years time. This is because your perspective will shift, based on events in your life and your accumulated experiences. While “who you are” won’t fundamentally change, it is well worth re-visiting the Leadership Home Truth from time to time. It’ll help keep things in check and ensure you are able to live up to your Leadership potential.
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Image by Keegan Houser
