Characteristics_of_Leadership

Unit 1.1 Understand the characteristics of effective team leadership 1.1.1 Identify the principles and characteristics of leadership Principles of leadership Effective team leaders should know how to direct, delegate to and support their team in order for them to succeed. The team leader should be able to recognise the most effective principle that is suitable for the task and the team members skills. For example, in my organisation, a team leader would need to organise and control the work of the team when we experience higher than usual call volumes, ensuring each team member is working on the right switch at the right times. An example of delegating is when I would choose a team member to represent the team and their views in a Care Forum, empowering them to take responsibility for owning this activity and feeding back to the team. An example of supporting my team members would be offering guidance to an individual who is not sure where to direct a complex customer complaint. Characteristics of Leaderships Forward Thinking The most effective leaders know and understand their mission and why their organisation exists and are able to communicate this with their team. However, this alone does not mean a leader is forward thinking. Forward thinking leaders have the ability to look past the day to day tasks, creating and engaging their people in a shared vision which will drive their team or organisation forward. Inspirational The ability to inspire others is a core characteristic of a good leader. Inspirational leaders have the ability to generate a sense of shared vision through everything they say and do. Inspirational leaders are role models that other look up to and aspire to. Competent When we talk about effective leaders being competent, it does not mean that the leader should be able to complete every task or role in their organisation. It is more their ability to have an overarching awareness of the tasks involved and to create an engaging and rewarding working environment for all of the team. With these skills in place the competent leader will naturally build a secure and positive working ethos. Recognising differences between effective and ineffective leadership It is important to recognise the ineffective leadership attributes as this will help leaders avoid becoming ineffective. There are various signs of a leader becoming ineffective and these can be seen when a leader shows that they lack three fundamental attributes. Firstly drive; an effective leader has ambition and aspirations to succeed. They also have the passion and motivation to lead by example and be driven to achieve the goals they have set themselves. An ineffective leader tends to coast, showing a reluctance take risks, drive new initiatives and set themselves challenging goals. Secondly judgement; an effective leader will actively seek out new opportunities to improve the performance that they, their team or their organisation deliver, for example, in relation to quality of service to customers or a reduction in costs . Ineffective leaders tend to become overly cautious and hold back and wait for others to take the lead for such opportunities. Failure to seek out new opportunities may also lead to poor time management, where spending too much time completing unimportant tasks over shadows the importance of keeping momentum in the team. And thirdly influence; an effective leader is able to get things done using their own knowledge and through managing their relationships with others. An ineffective leader may adapt a controlling stance, where their aim is to protect the status quo, either suppressing others or surrounding themselves with non-threatening people. If a leader lacks these attributes it is likely that this will lead to a reduction in performance of the leader and their team and the quality of service they provide as well as a reduction in the value that they add to the organisation and an overall lack of motivation to improve their contribution to the business. Team dynamics Team Dynamics are the unseen forces that operate in a team between different people or groups. Team Dynamics can strongly influence how a team reacts, behaves or performs, and the effects of them are often very complex. An effective leader will be tuned in to the dynamics of their team and acknowledge such dynamics exist. Also an effective leader will be able to judge whether the dynamics are affecting the team in a positive or negative manner and more importantly will make interventions which will make the effect of those dynamics more positive. Importance of obtaining feedback from others on own performance Feedback is an important mechanism for everyone in an organisation to help them perform to their optimum, and leaders are no different. Feedback from others can come through formal measures such as appraisals and surveys, however it is important to also seek regular informal feedback from people higher, lower and equivalent levels of the organisation alike. Most people don't see themselves as others see them and because of this they often don't understand the impact their actions have on performance or on others. When people receive little or no feedback they tend to be either self congratulatory or self critical and this can have a negative impact on a leader's performance and that of their team. Feedback is essential to learning and a powerful mechanism which helps people to develop an awareness and understanding of their strengths and development areas and the impact that these have on their performance and the business. Feedback on development areas or what isn't going well, if delivered effectively, helps to improve performance. Positive feedback on strengths and what is going well reinforces positive behaviours and is a strong motivator as it encourages people to continue to do a good job. Use of feedback in a constructive manner Using feedback in a constructive manner is essential for continuous improvement in a contact centre and for delivering excellent service. An important thing to remember is to encourage people while giving them feedback on areas of performance that need improvement. Giving constructive feedback can make a person uncomfortable. It is important to point out the behaviour and to help them understand the impact of it, and to then explain or demonstrate a better way of doing things. This keeps the period of discomfort as short as possible and turns a mistake into a positive learning situation. You show that you want to be supporting good work and getting the job done right. By doing this it helps a person to realise how he or she could have done better. Interpersonal skills Successful leaders are able to create rapports with their people to help to engage and motivate them and good interpersonal skills play a crucial role in enabling this. People need to believe in what their leaders are communicating, whatever the message. Research suggests that as much as 93% of what we communicate is communicated through body language, tone, pace and volume, whilst only 7% is through the actual words themselves. Body language alone accounts for up to 70% of this, therefore it is important that a leader's body language is in sync with the message they want to project. It is also equally important that the appropriate tone, pace and volume are used, failure to do this effectively may lead to the wrong message being conveyed. For example, if I were communicating a new, exciting customer initiative to my team, I would need to make sure that all aspects of my communication conveyed that I felt that excited about the initiative, using an enthusiastic tone of voice, making eye contact, smiling, etc., all of which would help to highlight my enthusiasm and passion and encourage them to share that belief. Leaders operate in a goldfish bowl, everything that they say and do and how they go about saying and doing it is always on show, therefore it is important that they are always aware of how and what they are communicating, whatever the setting. 1.1.2 Name the different leadership styles and state how they can make a difference within the business Leadership styles Identifying different styles A team leader needs to be inventive, creative and have good management skills, these styles are known as inventors, promoters and custodians. Inventors are creative and often innovative, however they tend to lack the management and business skills to put them into practice. Promoters are creative but tend to focus more on short-term wins rather than long term gains. Custodians tend to focus on cost and efficiency and have good general management skills. Few people are able to combine all of these styles, therefore an effective leader should aim to create a balance of these styles within their team. An effective leader is able to recognise the different leadership styles and adapt their style to suit the situation or task to get the best results for the business. There have been several proposed leadership theories, one of the most prominent includes the following leadership styles: Authoritarian leaders make all of the decisions and give specific instructions to team members about what they want them to do and how they want them to do it. This style works well when a team member is very inexperienced at a task and has few or no transferable skills, or in a crisis situation where quality of service is suffering and specific actions need to be taken to improve it. Democratic leaders invite other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process, however the leader makes the final decision. This style can increase job satisfaction by involving team members, whilst also helping to develop their skills. Team members feel valued and feel that their opinion counts and that they can really make a difference. We often use this type of style in my organisation when we are looking at ways of improving the systems and processes that team members use due to the front line knowledge that they have. Delegative leaders allow the team member to make the decision, however the leader maintains responsibility for the decision that is made. This style is most effective when team members are very experienced and are able to find out what needs to be done and how to do it. This style is often used with supervisors when they are dealing with escalated customer complaints as they have the skills and knowledge to make decisions themselves. Styles to suit situations or arenas As mentioned above, it is important for a leader to adapt their style to suit the situation or task. One model used to determine which style will work best in a given situation focuses on the impact the decision or action will have on the team and the team members competency in completing the task. The model has four styles or arenas of action: The political arena relates to issues that have significant impact on team members, such as KPI targets, but where team members have limited knowledge of why the decisions are made. Because of this team members can be reluctant to take action. In this situation an effective leader should make the decision themselves using their knowledge and experience and then sell the decision to the team, explaining the reasons for and the benefits of the decision. The bureaucratic arena relates to making decisions that have a minor impact on team members. Such decisions require little or no participation from team members as they are unlikely to be particularly interested in the decision making or the impact, therefore the leader would make the decisions in isolation. The technical arena relates to technical issues that the leader knows little about. Making decisions around these issues have minor impact on technically knowledgeable team members, however they are often eager to provide assistance. In this situation an effective leader would benefit from using a democratic style as it gives team members the opportunity to feel involved and that their opinion counts. The professional arena relates to decisions that team members are both interested in and have the skills and knowledge to deal with. In this situation an effective leader would adopt a democratic style, inviting team members to contribute to the decision-making process. Applying strategies of leadership Engendering trust You cannot be an effective leader without trust. The foundation of trust is a leader's credibility and they must adopt certain behaviours to build and maintain mutual trust. Amongst other things, leaders must demonstrate respect (regardless of age, race, sex and disability), honesty, integrity and loyalty as well as keeping commitments, righting wrongs and listening to their people. When trust is broken leaders should take the initiative to re-build it and always act professionally. Establishing mutual trust between a leader and their team members can improve productivity and performance. Promoting morale within a team Poor morale within a team can lead to a deterioration in performance and an unhappy workforce. There are many things, outside of a leaders control that may lower morale, such as an increase in customer complaints, however it is up to the team leader to identify the cause of low morale and take positive action to pull others through. The best motivator is to make people feel that they are valued and a worth member of the team. Leaders need to acknowledge and recognise their team members contributions and how valuable they are to the company, even a simple thank you can go a long way. Team members also need to feel there is a connection between themselves and their leader and that they share a common purpose and common goals. Knowing that their leader knows what is going on with their role and that they are there to offer help when needed is important. Discrimination and harassment within team can contribute to low morale and it is important that a team leader takes active steps to address any of these issues straight away. Leading within a team mission statements Organisations often have mission statements to spell out their vision for the future. It's not always easy for a team member to connect with an organisation's overall mission statement. An effective leader is able to define what that vision means for their team and communicate it clearly in a way that draws them into sharing that vision. A shared vision can help a team pull together, giving them direction and a reason for being. Goal setting Goal setting plays an important part in a leader and their team members realising their vision and delivering a high level of performance. Without goals a team member will lack direction and purpose so it is important for leaders to be specific about what is expected of them. To increase motivation, goals should be challenging and individuals should be able to participate in the goal setting process with their leader and they could be short or long term goals, but must always be time driven. For goal setting to be effective individuals must be able to see how they are performing in relation to their goal and be able to see how the actions they take directly contribute to the vision. Identify how empowerment can lead to successful teams Empowerment Empowering agents Front line team members in call centres are the face of the organisation and are key to customer advocacy and loyalty, therefore it is important that a leader gets the best out of them. Empowering team members to respond to customer needs can have a positive impact on service success as it can give them greater job satisfaction and allows them to use their skill and abilities to their full potential. An example of empowering team members could be the leader giving more meaningful tasks and more autonomy and responsibility for the ways they go about these tasks. Reasons for empowerment There are several advantages of empowering team members in a contact centre. Perhaps the most important is that there should be an increase in both the effectiveness and the efficiency of the service. If team members are empowered make their own decisions in response to difficult customer situations there should be an improvement in right first time resolutions, therefore improving customer satisfaction and cost benefits. Secondly, giving more responsibility and autonomy can lead to increased job satisfaction and employee loyalty, reducing attrition and having a stronger, happier workforce. How to create effective teams through empowerment Delegating tasks for team members to lead on can help them to feel valued and feel that their opinion counts and that they can really make a difference This can increase job satisfaction by involving team members, whilst also helping to develop their skills. Mentoring programmes can have several benefits from improving communication to developing professional relationships. The benefits are not just for mentorees but also mentors and the organisations as a whole. Matching an experienced team member with a less experienced individual can improve the mentees self-confidence, provide them with additional support and help to encourage commitment to the organisation. Mentors can gain a greater sense of job satisfaction, they can feel empowered by having a greater sense of responsibility and purpose in their role. It's important for leaders to know the strengths and skills that their team members possess and use them to the advantage of the team and the business. Giving a team member that excels in dealing with irate customers a specialist role in this area allows them to use their skills to their full potential and can give them greater autonomy and a greater sense of purpose.