What makes a good team leader is your ability to lead a group of people in the desired direction. Leadership is a skill and action that influences others. So, the primary role of a good leader is to take the right actions and influence team members to follow. The person must possess a range of good team leader skills to succeed.
Here are some of the good team leading skills you need that makes an outstanding team leader:
- Good judgement
- Decisive
- Authentic
- Self-aware
- Self-confident
- Organized
- Excellent communicator
- Listens actively
- Delegates
- Questions
- Respectful and approachable
- Inspiring and motivates others
How to Be a Good Team Leader
Being a good team leader requires lots of effort and self-belief. Anyone who wants to become a team leader needs to understand the challenges ahead. But those challenges can be overcome if the person puts in an effort.
When you are a team member, you don’t feel so bothered to make your colleagues happy. You don’t try hard to motivate them or care much about their experiences.
But leading a team is different. It requires a lot of effort to inspire, convince, encourage, and motivate team members to do the job.
Leading a Diverse Team
Team members are different in many ways, and you have to treat them as individuals. What motivates them is different. Each individual has a different attitude and approach towards their work. And their abilities to complete tasks differ. So, you have to figure out who wants what and do what’s possible to keep them together as a team.
Leading From the Front
Leading from the front is to be available all the time to offer leadership, guidance, and support. That means stepping in to support the team members when they are struggling with some challenges.
Leading a team brings a lot of pressure. But as a leader, you have to absorb that pressure and don’t pass it on to team members.
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It can be uncomfortable sometimes to lead a group of individuals whose work you cannot yourself do. But team members appreciate a leader who shows commitments and accountability for everything the person does.
The leader can also gain team members’ respect for being diligent even if the person is not brilliant.
Making Decision
You must be a decisive leader. That means you have to be confident to make decisions. The team needs clarity on what to do and when to do it. So, they need someone who decides and communicates the decision at the right time. To be uncertain to determine what needs to be done only brings confusion and delays.
Sometimes you need a lot of information before making a decision. Some decisions have to be made with great care and caution.
But as a team leader, you don’t need to get stuck in details. Most decisions in the workplace are made based on incomplete and sometimes inaccurate information. It’s good to be a perfectionist, but it’s simply impossible to make perfect decisions all the time. So you have to make a decision no matter what.
Plan and Organize
Team progress depends on the team leader’s ability to plan. That plan does not have to be dramatic, but something realistic and straightforward the team understands and can relate.
They need a workable plan to help them organize and prioritize their work. A good team leader must have the ability to make the team see the big picture.
6. Delegation
One of the most difficult challenges a team leader faces is to make a transition from doing to leading.
As a leader, you need to work through team members. That means delegating some of your responsibilities to suitable team members. Proper delegation is a positive thing. It motivates and empowers team members to hold themselves accountable for their work. It also allows the leader to focus on other vital issues.
But it needs to be done correctly to work. Before you delegate, consider the urgency and importance of the work carefully. Then check to ensure team members have enough resources, and the abilities to do the job. When you are satisfied, delegate the tasks but be available to provide support if needed.
Dealing with Mistakes
Being a leader who tolerates mistakes do not mean to be weak. Everyone makes a mistake along the way. For that reason, strong-arm leadership where any form of error is not acceptable isn’t always the best approach. Most good leaders encourage team members to push the boundaries and find better ways of doing the job. But that comes with the risk of making mistakes. 
You must deal with individuals who consistently make reckless and risky mistakes.
But you need to do it in an environment that gives the individual some space to reflect and learn about their mistakes in a safe environment without worrying about being embarrassed in public.
Positive Work Environment
A positive work environment creates a culture of openness in the workplace. Your leadership style and your leadership qualities can create a good work culture. In a good work environment, team members trust each other and work as a team. As a leader, you have to be open. That means to communicate and share all the information the team wants. You have to listen to the team’s concerns and help them develop and progress in their careers.
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