Team Leaders and Judgment

Team Leaders – Do we judge ourselves too harshly or not harshly enough?

The art of self-awareness is absolutely key to being a successful leader. Why? Because we always judge ourselves based on our intentions. And others judge us on our behavior.

My leadership experience allowed for some briefing and debriefing, I wonder if there is not some good business and life advice there.

We might think we are being focused, empowering, direct, authoritative, in control and motivational but we might actually be being seen as too controlling, too direct, too “over the top” or even coming across as a bully. But, sometimes these traits are necessary to lead, aren’t they?

I think team leaders need to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and then build a team around themselves to make sure that a particular weakness is overcome by someone with strengths in this area. As a leader you must work with your hand-picked dream team so that you’ve got the whole picture of your objective covered – by the right people.

For you as a leader, self-awareness is particularly key ingredient in the recipe for success. There is increasing talk now about personal branding – you have one, whether you realize it or not and it is the collection of perceptions of what people think about you. How do you want the people you work with to perceive you? Doesn’t matter? It should.

When you leave the office what do you think people say about you? It’s important to identify your Blind Spots (the areas through feedback that you should know about) and work on improving them. You must understand your core values because your team will also know what is important to you and you make decisions based on your objectives every single day.

Leaders are judged on their behavior.

How aligned are your personal values with your work-based values?
Do you know what’s really important to you?
Do you know what you stand for?
Do you know how you come across to others?

Perhaps it’s time you took some time to determine who you really are on the inside between your ears. People are making decisions about each other all of the time. In a leadership role it is vital that you are a steadfast and an authentic leader in order to be successful at attracting followers. I’m not talking here about “followers” like in social media. A leader cannot be a leader without followers and followers (your team) want to be led, and to be led well. It is important that everyone who works for you feels proud to do so.