Leadership and Resilience
Leaders, are our teams resilient? We can all agree that leading teams are not getting easier, particularly with many of us still dealing with the unprecedented dispersal of our staff prompted by Covid. The traditional office is no longer a 9-to-5 and will likely be a thing of the past, enabled by various virtual technologies.
Teams, in general, are primarily made up of diverse staff, likely situated across different time zones and cultures. This can pose various challenges, including motivating team members and building cohesive teams before Covid.
Teamwork will always have the most significant advantages over an individual because of the group's talent, energy, resources, coordination, communication, and potential disagreements. Effective leadership is necessary for building resilient teams and guiding the team to achieve.
This article will review four attributes to cultivate resilient teams for the road ahead.
Team Confidence: Leaders are urged to make goals and processes clear, empower the team by encouraging members to participate in decision-making, cheer successes and provide helpful feedback.
Teamwork Road Map: Create a plan whereby each team member knows their roles and responsibilities and other team members' roles and responsibilities. This is particularly important as team members may possess skills so one member can step into another member's role if necessary.
Capacity To Improvise: Members must understand the skill set of their colleagues so they can call upon them for the proper knowledge that members are comfortable sharing. This helps to develop new ideas or ways of handling adversity.
Psychological Safety: Team members must be able to contribute with suggestions, observations, and objections without feeling shy or intimidated.
A resilient team will ultimately overcome difficulties and finish the job, drawing on their combined experience. Members of a resilient team will respect one another's thoughts and trust that they will not be ridiculed or rejected for speaking up.
Leaders are encouraged to continue developing the four attributes noted above by building team confidence, clarifying how team members' roles fit together, strengthening improvisation ability, and creating a safety culture. This can be done by establishing clear goals, processes, and cross-training.
Leaders must conduct regular one-on-one check-ins and daily 15-minute huddles, which must seem like bliss compared to the long meetings, reminding their teams of resiliency. Effective leadership will cultivate resilience for the road ahead.
