As a team leader, you will face many difficulties. Either it will be your team members’ problem or your work problems. At every level, nature will test your leadership development qualities.
Sometimes it is difficult to think about your responsibilities and to take specific action to achieve your goal.
WHAT’S IN IT
What is Action Centered Leadership Qualities
People also called action centred leadership a three-circle model. And it was first published by John Adair in 1973. Also, action centred leadership focus on three core areas. That you need to focus on for your maximum team efficiency and productivity.
These 3 core areas are
Individual: Your action that targets your team individuals according to conditions and needs.
Team: Your action should be done at the team level. This ensures team productivity and team cohesion.
Task: Those actions that you have to take at your level to achieve your goal.
Additionally, in action centred leadership making balance is not easy every time. Sometimes many problems arise in balancing the above areas. For example, sometimes in the pressure to achieve a sales goal. You will prioritize the task at the expense of the individual and team. And this unbalanced condition might cause some problems in future.
Additionally, now let’s take another example in which you have the world’s best team. But your leadership qualities lack goal setting. Then how can your team know what they have to achieve?
Also, in this example, individual and team areas are focused but the task core area lacks.
Action Centered leadership in Real Life
In real life too, action-centred leadership is easy to practise. But sometimes some problems arise. And these problems make people think that action-centred leadership is trash.
Additionally, in action-centred, you have to focus on three core areas prior to developing your leadership skills. And adapt the leadership model according to your conditions and situation.
Here are detailed three steps that will help you to practise action-centred leadership.
Focus on Leadership Development Qualities
Although action-centred leadership can be practised in any organization no matter how big or short it is. However, Adair and his colleague believe that to achieve the goal in action-centred leadership you have to develop certain leadership qualities.
Team Leaders: Team leaders need to practise and briefing the skills. They have to take control and define the task to team members. They should motivate and inspire the team members and should evaluate their performance to achieve mutual goals. It is very important that team leaders should be led by example not by motivating them.
Operational Leaders: Operational leaders need to influence and inform the team members. They should also interpret results and goals and start the project and plans according to them.
Operational leaders should have the skills that need to be implemented in order to interpret the result.
Now Focus on Three Core Areas
In this area, you have to think and apply all three responsibilities. Imagine your responsibility according to your actions and goals. And you have to also think about which areas need which responsibilities.
Additionally, after this, you have to separate equal time and spend equal time in all areas.
Use the below guide as a to-do list according to your conditions.
Building the team
These steps help you and your team to achieve your goal faster and efficiently.
- Set performance standards and group behaviour.
- Please ensure every team member has skills, abilities and confidence to perform a given task.
- Also, manage any team conflict and help your team members to make a comfortable environment.
- Encourage Intra and inter-team communication.
- Additionally, motivate and inspire the group.
- Also, build a team and generate team spirit.
- Don’t forget to give necessary feedback and instruction to your team members according to their performance.
- Also, identify the work culture of your team and promote their work culture. Doing this will build a comfortable environment in team members.
- And don’t forget to alter group composition. Doing this will help you to develop your leadership qualities.
Achieving the task
As a leader, your uttermost responsibility should be guiding your team members. These steps help you and your team to achieve your goal faster and efficiently.
- As a leader, define and identify the task that your team members should do.
- After the above step, communicate with your team members, prioritise the task and make the suitable and comfortable environment.
- Also, create strategies that include the deadline, deliverables and measures that your team should do.
- Help your team to define success.
- Use tools and process the task and ensure that each team member can understand this.
- Control the speed of work.
- Also, evaluate and discuss the current condition of the team project and performance.
- Decide quality, time measures and reporting standards and make sure your team follows all these.
- Report and review the progress.
Focus on Individuals
It is very important to understand the fear, needs, condition, skills, talents of your team members and here are some tips to do this. These steps help you and your team to achieve your goal faster and efficiently.
- Clearly and concisely define your team members responsibility and task.
- Support individuals and never force them to do anything.
- Spend some time with your team members and focus on their leadership development. And know more about them not as a leader but as a good friend.
- Also, spend some little time to know their passion, actions, behavioural styles, personality, cognitive skills, needs and aims.
- It is very important to control more enthusiastic individuals or team members. Also, you should promote introverted team members. But don’t forget to force them to do this.
- Offer your support and coaching.
- Give regular feedback. And don’t promote negativity.
- Give reward, praise or a shoutout to an individual who contributes towards your goal.
- Adapt the Model According to Your Situation.
More About Real leadership development
Real leadership development is not only to balance the three core values that we mentioned above. But real leadership development is to balance three core values according to your conditions and situation.
For a case when a new team member joins you, then most of the time should be spent in new team member coaching instead of a task.
And for a situation in which you have to achieve your sales goal within a short time period then your first priority should be a task rather than your team value.
When your all three core values compete with each other to get your attention. Then you should prioritise your attention according to your situation and goals.
Sometimes your team and task both need you. Let’s take an example if your teammate met with an accident. And you have a near deadline for your work. Then you have to choose one from two.
Always remember to use your judgement ability wisely. Maybe wrong judgement will hamper your team and goal activities.
Things to Remember
Leaders have many other responsibilities too other than these three core values. And it’s not an easy task to handle these three values with other important tasks.
Unfortunately focusing on another task may cause team upset, the cohesion of the team, unhappy clients and team members. Action centred leadership is one of the best leadership qualities that help to balance the environment in your personal and professional life too.
You can apply action centred leadership to balance your professional life by three stages.
- Develop after identifying the core skills for your business and your team.
- Identify and focus on your responsibilities that your business needs from you and take action to fulfil all your responsibilities.
- Accept your business needs and modify your decision according to these. The correct balance of work and responsibility always depends upon your situation and conditions. You have to figure out what your business needs and follow a good work culture by changing your leadership development and prioritizing your work needs.
Conclusion
An action centred leadership can solve your problems. And it ensures that you achieve your goals without or fewer problems. Unlike other leadership ways, action centred leadership helps you to focus on three areas, Individual, Team and task. And it can help you to balance those three areas.
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