The Challenges of Being a Team Leader

Everyone is a leader in some area. Some of us have stepped up to be team leader while others were deemed team leader by default, and then there’s everyone in between. Regardless of how we became a team leader, we now have responsibilities. People are going to be expecting us to deliver, and this is where the fun and the pressure begins!

My best moments as a team leader are when the team members follow directions, all of them. Provided that my instructions are clear, the team will get good results when the directions are followed. And when a team gets results, a team gets happy.

I do my best to ensure that the directions that I give are clear, but one of the challenges of being a team leader is that we don’t always hit the mark; we won’t “connect” every single time. On the flip side, as a leader you can give the best instructions, but if they’re not followed as instructed, the team is going to take a loss. And a team that loses isn’t a happy team.

As the election season comes to an end, we now have a newly appointed leader of the country. The question is, how are you going to support the new leader? Are you going to make it easy or difficult for the new leader of the country to do his job?

My view is that we should never make it easy or hard for any of our leaders, however, we should make it intellectually challenging for any of our leaders. Meaning that we should strive to get a good understanding of the leaders mission, and we need to know what role we play along with having a good understanding of our rights and what we can do about the things that we’re not happy with.

One of the most challenging things that a leader can face is a team that doesn’t speak up and provide feedback. As Lateva mentioned yesterday, we need to SPEAK UP!

• If things are going well, speak up!

• If things are coming apart, speak up!

• If you have an idea, speak up!

• If you have some concerns, speak up!

• If you have skills not being utilized, speak up!

• If you feel you have too much on your plate, speak up!

As a leader, isn’t this what we should want? As a mother, father, big brother, big sister, realtor, entrepreneur, don’t you want your family and team to speak up? Don’t be quiet as a church mouse when you’re a team member and as loud as a howler monkey when you're a team leader.

As a leader you may expect great communication with your team, however that starts with how you communicate as a team member. Issues with communication are one of the biggest challenges that a team leader will face, the question is what are you going to do about it?

Make it a great day and be the best leader and team member you can be!

~Matthew