DR. MICHAEL GERHARZ
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Posts in Tag: Team

The difference between bad and good leaders

There are good leaders and there are bad leaders. The thing to keep in mind is that good and bad leaders sit on opposite sides of a spectrum.

It’s not that bad leaders are similar to good leaders, just not as good or maybe less effective.

Bad leaders are the opposite of good leaders. They can destroy the morale of a team and frustrate the members to a degree that leads to struggles and fights, greed and envy.

Good leaders don’t do things similarly to bad leaders, just better. They do things differently.

Yet, there’s one thing that both kinds of leaders have in common: Both lead by example. By the things they do and in the way they communicate, leaders make or break a team.

The important thing to see is that that’s a decision. You decide what kind of leader you want to be. And then, when you have clarity about your vision of leadership, it becomes a skill that you can improve.

The double meaning of status updates

Monday is status update day in many teams.

Sadly, the name has grown to carry a double meaning. Because too often it’s not only about the status of the project anymore but also about the status among the people in the team.

Too often, status updates are about “look how much I did last week”, or “look what I’m up to”, or “look, I’ve got everything under control”. In too many teams, the purpose of the status update meetings is rather to ensure that the boss sees how well people do than it is to actually discuss the actual project status.

How about a shift this week? What if rather than about status you made it about enabling? Instead of “What have you done to support the team?” you asked “What can the team do to support you?”

That way, the purpose of the meeting itself becomes to raise the status of each member as much as possible. It’s about making each member the best member they can be. A team member that creates better because we – as a team – enable her to do so.

Monday could be team enabling update once a while.

Communicating to your team

The reason we all gather in a room (no matter if it’s online or offline) is because you are adding something that can’t be put on a slide. That’s especially true when you communicate to your team.

A presentation is not about the transfer of information but about the transfer of perspectives.

Information is much more efficiently – and usually also much more effectively – transferred asynchronously. Send me a document, point me to a link or book and I’ll take the info from there. I can read faster than you can talk. I can skip back or ahead. I can compare with knowledge I already have. I can take notes. All at my own speed.

The value of a presentation is in providing your perspective on the subject. Why does this matter? How are we affected? Why is this good news? How can we make best use of the info? Where do we go from here? As a team? How do you – as a person – handle the tough situation that follows from the info?

Communicating as a leader means more than providing info. It means showing up as a person who cares. It means lighting the path. It means making your team feel seen and heard.

And when they do feel seen and heard. And when they get your perspective. And when they align with your perspective because they get why it matters. Then they become more than the sum of their brains. They become a team.

PS: Next week, I’m launching a free five-part series on leadership communication.

The clarity to focus your team

Good leaders hire great people.

Great leaders make them a team.

After all, a team of brilliant members might not accomplish much when everyone follows their own agenda. Five brilliant people pushing in five different directions can provide much worse results than five average people pushing in the same direction.

Focus and dedication towards a common goal are often underrated but they are among the most important tasks of a great team leader. The ability to communicate that vision and to lead by example, thereby lighting the path, is even more important today in this remote world.

In two weeks from now, I will publish a free 5 part deep dive to help you find the clarity to focus your team. Actionable tips to focus your team on a common vision. It will be published exclusively via email and you can subscribe here (no obligation, your info will be immediately deleted after the course).

Neu im Team: Anne Knauer

Anne Knauer, Text und Konzeption, neu im Team

Ein Bild sagt mehr als tausend Worte? Wer tausend Worte braucht, um seine Botschaft zu vermitteln, hat sein Publikum sowieso schon längst abgehängt.

Ich freue mich deshalb außerordentlich, dass wir mit Anne Knauer eine echte Wort-Virtuosin in unserem Team begrüßen dürfen. Anne Knauer bringt Ihre Botschaft auf den Punkt und findet immer die richtigen Worte – die, die man liest, nickt und sich denkt: dass ich da nicht selbst darauf gekommen bin … Denn nur mit messerscharfen Texten, die bei Ihrem Publikum den richtigen Nerv treffen, kann Ihre Botschaft überzeugen.

Schon bald lernen Sie Anne Knauer besser kennen, hier im Blog, wo sie ab sofort regelmäßig schreibt.

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