When a country is experiencing hardship, its citizens cry for a new president. When a company is going downhill, it hires a new CEO. The fans beg for a new coach when a sports team keeps losing. When a group is formed, its members elect a leader to take charge.
Whether you’re a CEO of an international company, a coach training a championship-winning team, or an individual leading a team project, understanding and embracing team leader responsibilities is integral to success.
These team leader responsibilities are the foundation upon which success and excellence are built in organizations, encompassing everything from inspiring a shared vision to providing guidance and ensuring growth.
Being a leader is beyond calling the shots or having the power to control people; it is being able to help people unleash their potential and reach their goals. To lead people means that you have to motivate, inspire, direct, and provide the resources to enable them to achieve goals that they have agreed are appropriate and worthy of their pursuit.
This begs the question: “What are the roles and duties of a leader?”
At the end of this article, you’ll have learned about the five necessary team leader responsibilities to become a more effective and impactful leader.
Set Clear Goals
Goals are one of the most important team leader responsibilities for the success of any team. They provide direction, clarity, and purpose for the team. One of the first things you do as a team leader, before anything else, is lay out your leadership goals.
Goals serve as a benchmark to measure the results of the team’s performance. When team members achieve their goals, they celebrate and aim even higher. When they fail to reach the goals, they evaluate, strategize, and take action again.
The importance of having your goals laid out as a leader must be emphasized.
Three Tips To Help You Set Goals Effectively In Your Team Leader Responsibilities
Setting Clear Expectations
Ensure each team member knows what is expected of them by outlining what needs to be done and when. This serves as a basis for making decisions, sharing resources, and grading performance. These expectations should always align with the organization’s goals and mission.
Aligning Goals With Members
As a leader, you should recognize the unique strengths and skills of each team member. This will allow you to designate tasks that align with each team member’s abilities. Doing this increases productivity and enhances job satisfaction, engagement, and cooperation among team members.
Regular Check-ins
You are responsible for keeping track of the team’s progress towards these goals. You can do this through reports or meetings, giving your team feedback to ensure everyone is on their way. If there are challenges, this will help you know them and take the necessary steps to overcome them.
Communicate Effectively
Effective communication is the bridge that connects your ideas, motives, and goals to others, allowing the information to be passed across with clarity, motivation, and passion.
With effective communication, you may be able to convey your vision and plans to your team or even motivate them. Clear communication encourages collaboration, increases productivity, and strengthens relationships among team members.
Five Ways To Communicate Effectively As A Team Leader
Active Listening
Being a leader doesn’t mean you do all the talking; you must also pay close attention to what others say. This involves giving your full ears to them, asking them questions to show you’re listening, and showing you care about their opinions, too. When you actively listen, you encourage team members to listen to each other.
Accepting Feedback
This might be one of the hardest things for you as a leader, especially when it does not sit well with you. You should encourage feedback as a leader to know the areas that need improvement in your leadership.
Giving Advice
This is one of the biggest traps every leader falls into—always feeling the need to advise a team member—because what happens is that your team members might quickly become tired of your constant input. Instead, try to let them figure things out independently—this will help them build confidence.
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal cues, such as your body language and facial expressions, are as important as what you say. Imagine talking about an upcoming big project with a moody face; this can send the wrong message to your team members, even if it’s not intended.
Clarity
Team members can hear what you have yet to say and miss what you have said, which is why clarifying the content of your messages is important. Avoid the need to speak in complex language and aim to ensure everyone on the team understands your message.
Positive Behavior
Your behavior as a leader sets the tone for the attitude of your team members toward building a successful and productive team. Your attitude towards them plays a role in shaping their behavior and performance.
Even with the right intentions, having a negative attitude toward your team members only breeds resentment, animosity, and apathy. Worse, it creates a toxic working environment where team members are constantly worried, stressed, and anxious about your behavior towards them.
A positive attitude towards your team members encourages an environment where everyone feels valued and respected. This motivates and inspires them to work even harder with energy and enthusiasm.
Imagine how much difference it would make if you greeted each team member with a smile on your face every time you saw them.
Three Ways To Demonstrate A Positive Attitude Toward Your Teammates
Lead By Example
Whatever you expect from your team members should be demonstrated by you first. Your behavior should reflect the values and work ethic you expect from your team members. You can inspire them to do the same if you approach each task with energy and enthusiasm.
Show Empathy
You have to understand that your team members are unique in their ways—strengths and weaknesses. How you want a task to be carried out might not be how a team member works, even if they guarantee the same results. You have to be willing to understand and accept their differences.
Be Accountable
When things are unplanned, the team leader is always held responsible. You are responsible for your actions and decisions. If you make a mistake, admit it and immediately seek a solution. Demonstrating accountability sets the standard for others to be responsible for their actions.
Shared Responsibility
As a leader, you should learn to share responsibilities among your team members. There’s increased efficiency and productivity when everyone shares the responsibility and significantly contributes to the work.
Great teams do not rely on the leader alone; they depend on each member to contribute their skill, expertise, and experience in finding solutions to challenges.
Three Ways To Promote Shared Responsibility At Your Workplace
Encourage Collaboration
As a leader, you should promote a work culture where team members can work together, share their knowledge, and support one another. When team members can work together, they’re more likely to get the job done faster and better.
Delegate Tasks
Team members are more likely to work together and effectively when they know what is expected of them and how their work fits into the one big goal.
Recognize Efforts
Give credit where credit is due. Learn to celebrate your team members’ efforts, achievements, and milestones, no matter how small they may be. When they are recognized and appreciated, it reinforces the idea that they also have a responsibility for the success of the organization.
Empower Others
Even if you have the best team in the world, one of your fundamental team leader responsibilities is to empower your team members with the requirements to enable them to grow and serve at their most total capacity.
Do not mistake their competence at their jobs for their ability to excel in the same way under your leadership. Their skills can be better suited to their place of work than yours.
You will be responsible for the results, so you are accountable for equipping your team to deliver those results.
Two Ways To Effectively Empower Your Team Members
Resources Provision
No matter how skilled, motivated, or inspired a team may be, little can be accomplished without adequate resources. As a leader, you must provide the necessary resources to complete the job.
Skill Enhancement
Allowing team members to improve their skills can help them develop new abilities and stay relevant in their field. It also shows you value their growth and development. By enhancing their skills, they can contribute more effectively to the team’s overall success.
Conclusion
Leadership goes beyond merely making decisions and exerting authority; it entails guiding, teaching, motivating, and empowering team members to achieve goals together.
By setting clear goals, communicating effectively, maintaining a positive attitude, encouraging shared responsibility, and empowering team members, you can inspire excellence, foster growth, and ultimately steer your team toward success.
In my course, “Convert Confusion to Clarity, I go in-depth into what it takes to become a truly impactful and effective leader.
