Business leaders need high levels of interpersonal skills to achieve top team performance in today’s pressured operating environment. Learning and developing the skills of knowing when to shift ideas and views to ensure you get the best out of others to drive results.
A leader’s job is to use the power of employees to create value for the organization, not his own power only. Most leaders have their egos and not willing to listen to the other’s view point.
Culturally for us, learning from others is perceived to be a cheap thing to do. But the recipe for success is teamwork. Successful business leaders need to achieve top results from their teams.
Improvement
Today, no individual can produce results in an organizational environment but teams. To get the best out of people, look at what you do with people, that work, and how to improve what does not work. So it’s about learning from success and failure for continuous improvement.
When results are below expectations, resist the inner urge to blame others. Instead, recognize your part of the results they produced. This could include things you did not do or did not do well enough to achieve the desired results.
Imagine alternate approaches that might work better next time. For example, a colleague does not seem to listen to your comments. On reflection, you realize that you told them only what you wanted, not how they should go about doing it.
The differences between individuals are much bigger than the apparent differences which you notice easily. Creating an organizational culture with a common vision, strategy, practices, values and ethics should take precedence over individual culture. This is the biggest challenge the business leaders have today with widening cultural gaps due to emerging sub-cultures that are complex in nature.
Real world vs our your own
People often talk about the ‘real world’ and forget that each one of us lives in our own world. Learn to see situations from other people’s view point. So should typically have three positions to base your decision; 1) your own,2) other’s and 3) neutral or impartial observer position. 3rd position is essentially, an outsider’s view. This will help foam a well balanced perspective to base upon the best decision possible. When you are faced with a difficulty, explore all three positions.
Describe your behaviour in one word to discover YOU. Imagine a situation with a colleague who you find difficult to manage. Choose a word to describe how you experience the colleague’s behavior as difficult, for example, lethargic.
Think how they may see your behavior as difficult. Choose another word describe your behavior. Imagine yourself in that situation and notice how you feel. You may be more frustrated than you realized. Focus on the person’s body language and imagine being in their position. Notice any feeling they might have you were not aware of, such as anxiety. Then, step back and ask yourself” what is the best way to handle this”?
Personality traits
Two people with different mental models can find it hard to communicate, and this can be damaging in business. Learn to recognize different patterns of behavior in your team members, and work with these differences to maximize performance.
Try to differentiate between people with different personalities in your own team. Improve performance by ensuring that people’s characteristics fit their job scope. Make sure people’s natural personality preferences are well-matched to the tasks that they perform.