How to boost your team’s efficiency

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” – Henry A. Kissinger, political scientist and diplomat.

Leadership is never easy. No matter how effortlessly some leaders appear to manage people, the path of a leader is one fraught with constant challenge and surprise. However, the leader does not face the challenge alone – he has a team by his side. The leader's job is not only to achieve goals but to inspire those they lead to achieve these goals.

There has been a lot written on the lines of leadership styles, leadership qualities and leadership myths. In this article, we’ll discuss some important leadership practices which can improve the efficiency of your team or organisation.

Open house

Ideas rule the world. Great leaders identify and execute talent and ideas alike. And, team members are the biggest source of ideas. The only thing that can stop great ideas from being implemented is the lack of an open house mechanism. Open house discussions are meetings where employees can openly talk about topics that they feel are relevant to the well-being of the organisation. These can be both appreciative and critical, and they offer a good chance for leaders to understand and recognise employees who contribute the most. It also creates a fair and transparent working environment.

Appreciative inquiry

A safe, positive and healthy working environment is what most organisations strive to create. Appreciative inquiry is an evolutionary concept that believes that every person, team or organisation has a positive core in them. Through appreciative enquiry, one can help bring out the positive aspects of the work environment, and once you have these, the same can be improved and reinforced within the organisation.

Knowledge sharing sessions

“Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes.” – Peter Senge, systems scientist and senior professor at MIT

and learning diplomas are not new to the organisation. However, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing is one of the best ways to foster team bonding, accelerate the learning process and boost confidence. Spare time every week to sit down and understand your team’s training needs and pair them with other employees who know the domain well.

If you happen to learn a new concept or theory you look forward to adopting in the organisation, educate your team members about it.

Reward system

Take the time to recognise good work. Acknowledge employees for finding solutions, failing less, learning more, taking initiatives, working with others, creating outstanding customer service solutions and sharing ideas. Take time to give a sincere compliment for work well done and you, your organisation and your employees will reap the rewards.

No micro-management

Today, while organisational culture is becoming the key reason for employees to stick around, micro-management is the key reason for them to be quitting their jobs. Trust your team members with their work, stop assessing and reasoning every small decision they make and learn to tolerate mistakes.

Do you know of any more leadership practices that can bring about a positive change in a startup? Let us know in the comments section below.