How can we lead people in the right direction when they have entrusted us with their livelihoods? A team relies on their leader not only for guidance and industry expertise, but also as a role model when it comes to running a business and creating profit. A team leader’s influence extends to their clients, too. When your customers have entrusted you with one of the most important decisions of their lives—buying and selling their homes—there is a lot to be gained from effective leadership.
Strong leadership effectively communicates to the entire team the exact measures of success you’re all striving for. Do you have a set of core values and a mission statement to set standards from the get-go? Every member of your team should have a mutual understanding that they’re all here for their big “why.”
When the team acts according to their mission and core values, success will come. As a helpful tip: Keep your mission and core values firm. If they change often, it can cause confusion and contentment among your team members.
If you haven’t read it, pick up The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. This book discusses some of the most common mistakes that team leaders can easily avoid. For reference, the five dysfunctions are:
1. Absence of trust. When you don’t allow your team to be open and vulnerable performance declines, good ideas don’t come forward and internal competition may hinder your team’s progress.
2. Fear of conflict. Healthy conflict brings in new perspectives and improvement. When there is a fear of open conversation, you aren’t able to grow and become better.
3. Lack of commitment. Struggling with buy-in? Your team members may have differing opinions of how the transaction process should be handled. It helps if your entire team knows the “why” behind what they are being asked to do.
4. Avoidance of accountability. Accountability is not something that you can offer someone. You need to instill the idea of personal accountability in every aspect of your team. Your chosen team members have to learn to hold themselves accountable and do what is needed so they are able to succeed within your business.
5. Inattention to results. When your team members don’t pay attention to their results, it can hurt their business because they won’t have the clarity that they need to see how their business is really doing. Love is accountability, and creating systems and tools that help them see the process of results is a life changer.
Verl Workman is the founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems (385-282-7112), an international speaking, consulting, and coaching company that specializes in performance coaching and building successful power agents and teams. Contact him at Verl@WorkmanSuccessSystems.com. For more information, please visit www.WorkmanSuccess.com.
