Lead your team competently

A team leader gets his team from where it is to where it has not been. He or she is supposedly a dealer in hope and unlocks the potential of all team members to become better. And in doing so, he is the chief but not the lord. He is the very influence that brings about team success.

Are you due for elevation to the post for a team leader? Even if you are not, there is nothing inappropriate in know what a good team leader should be all about. A team may comprise technical and non-technical members and hence, being a team leader calls for assorted skills. That is why everybody cannot be a competent team leader. But you can always acquire or improve upon certain skills like:

·Good communication skills: A proficient team leader will have mastery over his words. Communication is something that is beyond talking. It is also about writing, body language and listening. As an effective team leader, you must have the ability to not only communicate with different types of people in different echelons. You deed to do it well with your team, your seniors and your counterparts heading other teams. Remember that good communications always lead to good comprehension, familiarity and mutual valuing. And that is what fostering team spirit is all about.  

· Poise and cool: As a team leader, being able to maintain your calm under conditions of stress and strain is an inescapable attribute. You team could be assigned difficult assignments entailing great effort, deadlines and pressures from within and outside. And God forbid if things go wrong, there will be pressures of a different kind. Being able to maintain your poise and calm is what you as a team leader should be adept at.

· Accountability: As a team leader, you simply cannot pass on blame to someone else. You have to be accountable for your actions and decisions. It is necessary that if at all you make a mistake or wrong decision, you do not run away from them. On the contrary, it will be appreciated if you acknowledge them and initiate necessary action to offset their fallout. You will have to ensure that their recurrence is prevented. In fact that should be the guiding philosophy for everyone, but it is more applicable to a team leader for certain.

· Appreciation: If your team members have to respect and believe you, they should be well-integrated into the team. And the best way to do so is by acknowledging their efforts, howsoever big or small they could be. While acknowledging the good work of any team member individually is always advisable, indulging in it for your team as a whole will keep your team contented, efficient and upbeat. As a team leader, your mantra should be, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” This will be adopted by your team if you value individual contributions.

· Persuasion: This is intrinsic to your role as team leader and leads to things getting accomplished. Persuasion implies convincing your team members about a plan that should be implemented as also others who would need to be approached for release of required resources like additional manpower ore finances. This ability will help in your career advancement.

· Decision-making:  As a team leader, you job entails several issues, including having the power to arrive at prompt decisions. You should be able to formulate a line of action that has applicability in diverse circumstances. This can be done by studying different facts, evaluating them for their effects and outcomes and selecting on a particular choice from amongst several of the. It is important that a choice once exercised should not be changed unless situations themselves get altered.      

The prime task of a team leader is to ensure that loyalty of the team towards the team is maintained and motivation levels of all members to achieve team goals are kept high. To that effect, you should be able to work effectively on a team. Remember that you may be a team leader that places you in a slot above others that necessitate making decisions, nevertheless, you should always ask people what their opinion is. It is also essential that you should find a task for everyone, no matter what their skill or level happens to be. And most importantly, you should enjoy being a team leader. You will have to display due seriousness to all matters, but then that does not imply that you cannot have fun. As a routine, you must always try to balance the serious business at hand with regard for the morale and spirits of the team. Last but not the least, you have to lead by example.