When you are at work … Leading a Team … what words would you use to describe your relationship with the Team Members?

Does the feeling of a Partnership come up for you? A Partnership where everyone is involved in providing value to the team and the relationship is two-way. This concept flies in the face of the usual “Command and Control” Leadership style.

In most cases, relationships at work involve some sort of power imbalance. The Leader typically has the ability to tell the members of the team what to do, and, in some cases, how to do it. AND “Telling” really only works on the battlefield, where your “troops” are trained to obey no matter what the leaders tell them to do. Telling never really works in business ( or with your kids!) … at least not for long.

Our experience is this …. Relationships at work become much more productive when Leaders build Partnerships with the Team Members.

The first step is to buy in to the concept that LEADING IS A PARTNERSHIP. This can be tough if you believe you are a Leader because you are the one telling folks what to do … you are that “buck stops here”, heroic leader. If that is true for you … you are working way to hard and robbing your Team of a chance to show you what they are capable of. Try partnering …. here’s how.

You partner with your team members to match their talents with your business’ definition of performance. What you are looking for is a Win:Win arrangement here … This takes the Coaching skills of asking high quality question and then …. wait for it …. listening to their answers.

Coaching questions you can use might include:

• What do you do really well and how can our team benefit from those skills?
• How can I support you in the excellent performance of your job?
• What resources do you need from me as the team leader…time, training, technology, regular feedback?
• How do you feel the team could do a better job?

Feel the partnership here? Some might call this “Servant Leadership”. We believe it represents true partnership and a leveling of the power imbalance inherent in most work relationships.

Take a minute to think of yourself as a Partner to Your Teammates…

• How would that change the way you work together?
• The way you talk?
• The questions you ask?

Tagged as: Coaching, Leadership Styles, partnership, questions