These are valuable tips for leaders.
CEO, Ikeja Electric | Transformational Leader | Women & Youth Empowerment Advocate | Mentor | Founding Member, Women in Energy Network (WIEN)
Managing a team is not easy, but it's rewarding. It requires dealing with different personalities, opinions, expectations, and emotions. You make decisions that affect the performance, well-being, and satisfaction of your team members. Two things will help you make a positive impact: — Empathy — Objectivity Empathy → effective leadership. Objectivity → rational leadership. But balancing empathy and objectivity while managing your team is not a simple formula. It requires: - Awareness - Flexibility, and - Communication Here are 5 tips to help you achieve this balance: 1. Know yourself and your team. - Be aware of your strengths, weaknesses, emotions, and biases. Recognize how they affect your judgment and behaviour - Get to know your team members as individuals. Learn about their backgrounds, preferences, goals, and challenges - Understand how they feel and what they need 2. Listen actively and respectfully - When your team members share their ideas, opinions, feedback, or concerns, listen to them with an open mind and heart - Avoid interrupting, judging, or dismissing them. Show genuine interest and curiosity - Ask questions to clarify and explore. Acknowledge and validate their feelings and perspectives 3. Communicate clearly and honestly - When you communicate with your team members, be clear and honest about your expectations, goals, decisions, and reasons - Don't hide, sugarcoat, or manipulate information. Explain the logic and evidence behind your choices - Provide constructive and specific feedback, express appreciation and recognition 4. Adapt to different situations and people - Applying same approach to every situation and person doesn't yield the best results - Rather, be flexible and adaptable to the context and the needs of your team members. - Sometimes, you need to be more empathetic and supportive. Other times, you need to be more objective and assertive. Find the right balance for each case. 5. Seek feedback and improvement - Don't assume you have the perfect balance of empathy and objectivity - Seek feedback from your team members, peers, and managers. Ask them how they perceive your leadership style and how you can improve it - Be open to criticism and suggestions. Learn from your mistakes and successes Balancing empathy and objectivity while managing your team is a skill you can develop and improve over time. It helps you be a more effective and respected leader, with a productive and positive team culture. Give the tips a try and see your team transform.