There are incredible visionary leaders, Zaha Hadid, Jony Ive and Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, and so on. Who created extraordinary “products” on the back of their vision and insight. But they’re the exception. And let’s acknowledge, they didn’t do all the work themselves.
It doesn’t take incredible visionary leaders to create extraordinary “products”, and to deliver a competitive advantage.
It takes extraordinary leaders. And their team.
New possibilities
When a leader trusts and gets out of the way of their team, it makes a space of the team to embrace their agency and create new possibilities. It takes a leader not just acknowledging that they don’t have a monopoly on good ideas, but actively seeking ideas and insight from their team. And then giving them the opportunity, the agency, to take that idea somewhere. Encouraging and supporting them to experiment with the idea, and adopt or act on it.
A new space
For new possibilities to float to the surface requires that the leader stops over-managing their team, engenders a workplace that’s psychologically safe, and supports a willingness to try things and fail. An environment where everyone can share with candour, can speak up with any concerns or ideas, and without fear of criticism or repercussion. In this space the leader takes a back seat in support of their team, to maximise their value and input.
Tapping the value of the team
You’ll achieve more when you have all your team engaged, feeling valued, and contributing their own unique skills, knowledge and experience. There’ll be many more ideas, insights and opportunities generated. When able to contribute in this way, the staff are less likely to leave. Resulting in less unproductive time spent interviewing potential team members, training up new ones, and undertaking cultural maintenance. The team is an asset to be valued, nurtured and harnessed.
Teamwork
Not only is this about developing a culture of teamwork, it’s about developing the team and creating a healthy environment within which to work (as previously described). The best teams are filled with people with prosocial skills, working for the benefit of the team, not the individual.
The competitive advantage
An entire team, as apposed to an individual, working towards better practice helps drive innovation, sparks new ideas, and develops competitiveness into the future. The focus can be as much about opportunity as about gaps.
To create a better team culture, requires better leadership.
Better leadership is a competitive advantage.
Image by Jeswin Thomas [edited]
