When we feel that we are taking control, we are on the path to great leadership
How much do you believe in your team right now? Do you believe in them as people or just in their abilities? The difference is, believing in them as people is an unconditional belief, and believing in only their abilities is conditional.
1. What Are The Conditions?
The conditions are; “as long as they are good at the job, I will believe in them. If they are not good at the job then I will not believe in them.” When actually, as a leader we need to believe in the person, not the ability.
The general “rule” when you believe in a person is, you must have 100% trust in them as a person, and in their abilities. You must have 100% faith in them that they will do the right thing. You must have 100% confidence in them that they will do their best at anything they do, whether that be a team effort or an individual effort.
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Now, when you tell yourself you believe in someone, you must be honest with yourself. Thinking about your team members right now, can you honestly say you believe in your team with 100% trust, faith and confidence?
Whatever your answer to that question is, don’t worry because I believe something different. I believe that if you believe in a person, then you must 100% encourage them to do be the best person they can be. You must 100% encourage them to work to the best of their abilities.
You must 100% empower them to do the right thing. You must 100% empower them to use their own initiatives on tasks they have been set. You must 100% engage with them on a regular basis. You must 100% serve them as best you can.
2. Inspiring your People
When I was going through my engineering graduate training, my mentor Ron would constantly “show me” how much he believed in me. He would do this by encouraging me, empowering me and engaging with me. There were times I would make mistakes or I would be behind with my quarterly reports, but he would never judge me.
He would simply continue to believe in me. So, Ron was inspiring me every time we met, and I would pay him back the favour. I would do this by recovering from, and trying my best to minimise my mistakes. I would do my best to ensure all my reports, and evidence was on time.
I would give my very best in everything I did, and whenever I could go the extra mile, then I would for him. Now, because Ron inspired me and believed in me, I want to do the same with you.
Whenever I led teams in my future leadership roles, I would ensure that I would show them how much I believed in them in the same way. I would encourage them to be the best person they could be, I would empower them to do the right thing, and I would engage with them. Most importantly I would serve them the best I could.
In my most recent role working as a senior project manager for an engineering consultancy, I tried to show my belief in my team from the very beginning. I did this at the same time as I started to get to know them.
I wanted them to feel that I believed in them, so I would encourage them, empower them, and engage with them from the first day we met. Building a relationship and building trust would obviously take time. But, a good start was them knowing and feeling that I believed in them, and what we could accomplish as a team.
3. Show Your People You Believe In Them
I had no grounds to judge the team from the very beginning, so the least I could do was believe in them.
What the team did in return for me was show me how much they believed in me. I could feel that the trust between us was starting to build. They did this by working together as a team. They worked exceptionally well on their own initiative too, because they were empowered to do so.
The work they did, and the results they achieved were excellent. The clients we worked with were very happy.
Believing in your team and showing them encouragement, empowerment, and engagement is a leadership principle just like any other. You need to learn the principle, practice it and apply it every day, so that it becomes a habit. Do this in the same way as the other leadership principles you are learning.
I want you to unleash your team’s potential. I want you to do this by believing in your team the exact same way as I did. At present you might be judging them for mistakes they made, or if they’re behind on work. However, this is because you already know them, so it will be difficult to turn that judgement around into belief at first.
But, by working at it you will eventually turn that around. But, you have to start believing in your team right away. Everything you are learning in throughout this site will help you encourage, empower and engage with your team. That is why I wrote this article, because I believe in you, and I believe that you can do the same for you team.
Encouragement is something that everybody needs, and to encourage a person doesn’t cost us anything. So, why don’t we do it more often? This article and every principle I discuss is designed to help you encourage your team, and others the best you can.
You can use these principles when encouraging your friends, and family too. They are not just designed for the work place.
4. How To Empower Your People
How I liked to empower my team was through delegation. This was especially easy in my most recent team at the consultancy. I would delegate to them a few times a day. However, when I first started delegating to one of my first ever teams, I would do it wrong.
I would delegate by telling them what to do. So, by doing that I was making myself responsible for the task I just delegated. I learned later in my career that when I delegate, I should tell them what needs to be achieved. By doing that I was making them responsible for achieving what I delegated to them.
My mentor Ron advised me that when delegating to a member of your team, they go through phases of delegation. They will either wait for you to give them directions, so they don’t take any responsibility, and you have to do all the thinking for them.
They will constantly ask you “what’s next?” which is their only responsibility and you have to still do all the thinking. They will start to make recommendations, so the responsibility is changing over to them, and they are now doing some thinking.
They will do what you have delegated and report right back, so they have taken full responsibility, and taken all the action. They will do what you have delegated and not come back until it is finished, now they are fully trusted and empowered.
Delegation is not easy, especially when you are new at it. There is an urge to hold on to certain tasks because either you don’t believe in your team, or you don’t trust them. That is what needs to be turned around if you feel that way. This website will help you with that as long as you apply each principle.
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When you are delegating correctly, and you fully understand, that is when you and your team will be fully engaged. They will feel that you believe in them.
Highly effective leaders love to empower and engage their team. So, when they delegate they ensure that the team member is delegated what to achieve. The team member will then go away because they are fully trusted and empowered, and will not return until the task is done.
They do all the thinking, and make all the decisions because of your act of delegation. That is where you need to strive to get to when you are delegating.
I believe in you to do this. How much do you believe in your team?
When you realise that working with others will help you achieve a lot more than you ever could on your own, you are making a big step in your personal growth.
I welcome hearing how this post has influenced the way you think, the way you lead, or the results you have achieved because of what you’ve learned in it. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by commenting below.
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All the best,
Hi Tom,
I was looking everywhere for information about leadership and when I found your website it was exactly what I was looking for.
This was very helpful for me and great for anyone who wants to know more about tram leadership.
I’m so grateful that you have shared this information. Thank You for this awesome post!
Keep up the great work 🙂
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your comment and your kind words. Really pleased you came across my site and found my article helpful.
If you would like to know more then go through my other articles and stay in touch for my future articles. I post on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need any further help or advice.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Another great post. You nailed it here. It is very true that we need to show that we trust the team members and correct delegation. Once I was part of a team where the manager had zero trust in us and he was always trying to control and micro manage. This is really irritating and that made the team members do only what he asks to do and nothing more, we didn’t give nearly as much as we can to the company.
So I totally agree with you in the point you are making here.
Hi Rajith,
Thank you for your comment and your kind words. I’m so happy that you found the article valuable.
Trust is the foundation of leadership, so if we don’t have trust to begin with, we don’t have influence, and we don’t have leadership.
Micro-management is not nice at all. I have been micro-managed in the past on many occasions and it made me feel extremely de-motivated, and I hated what I was doing. You are right too.
Keep returning, keep engaging, and keep leading.
All the best,
Tom
Excellent article, Tom! As someone who works in the legal industry, I completely agree with you that true leadership comes from showing the utmost confidence in your team that they are qualified to do the job. I have worked in firms where the leadership was non-existent, the workers were treated more like replaceable bodies than valued team members, and as a result, company morale (and sometimes, performance) rapidly decreased. No one can do everything on their own; we need help. When we properly engage those around us, you’d be surprised at what all you can accomplish. I pray that people pay attention to this and act accordingly. God bless you!
Hi C.N.
Thank you for your comment and your very kind words. God Bless you too.
It’s great that you found the article valuable.
If we don’t have confidence in our team to do the job, why did we hire them in the first place? It seems strange.
As you say, I hope people leaders act accordingly and change their ways in how they treat their people. We can’t treat people as numbers. If we take care of the numbers then the people will suffer. If we take care of the people then the numbers will take care of themselves.
Keep returning, keep engaging, and keep leading.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your article. You seem like a nice and effective leader to me! I think trust and believe in your team is very important indeed. They were hired for their skills and experience, so they should be capable in doing the right thing. It takes a bit of time though to build mutual trust. When you are new as their leader or a new team member joins the team…the team chemistry always changes a bit before all roles in the team are clear.
Hi Angelique,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased you liked the article.
Trust and belief are the foundation of leadership in any team, you are absolutely right. I have found that the team chemistry changes when new people join or a person leaves. It’s up to us as leaders to keep that chemistry and culture positive. So we must do whatever it takes, but in the right way and treat people well.
Thank you for your insights.
Keep returning, keep engaging, and keep leading.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom! I think that every person who is in charge of a team, whether big or small, should read this article! It feel so good when you know that your boss supports you and believes in your skills and in yourself as a person. When you work with and for a leader, you will achive many rewards, on the personal level and professional alike. I hope this post will reach a lot of people who can really learn from it!
Great job!
Emma
Hi Emma,
Thank you for your comment and your kind words. It feels great that you found the article valuable and should be read by others.
It is a great feeling when you are part of a team and your boss is in support of you. It’s rare that this has happened in my career, but when it did, I was working at my best.
Thank you for your insights and keep up the amazing work that you are doing.
All the best and keep leading,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Great post about believing in your team. And I completely agree with you. My mentor is the exactly the kind of person you have described. He believes in us and while delegating, he delegates what need to be achieved. This sense of responsibility and trust improves collaboration and productivity of our team.
This trust over which our whole hierarchy is build help us achieve great results and appreciation.
Looking forward to your next post.
Hi Vinayak,
Thank you for your comment. I’m really pleased that you found the article valuable.
Your mentor sounds like an amazing person, and is doing the role of mentor at a very high level. It’s great to hear that you have that kind of mentor, well done.
My next post will be available later today (20th April). Keep a look out for it.
All the best and keep leading,
Tom
Great article on leadership and team. Both are always critical to a company and even to an individual. I think I will be using your website now for more information on these two important topics.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi John,
Thank you for your comment and your kind words. It feels great that you want to return to learn more. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need an help or advice on your leadership or personal growth.
Keep engaging and keep leading.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Great article! I agree with you completely, if you believe in your team you will see great results. Unfortunately I have a supervisor and a department head that are all for themselves so no matter how good their team is (and in my opinion we are all hard, dedicated workers) they always seem to make us feel “less than”. If I weren’t afraid of retaliation (sure it doesn’t happen), I would print your article and post it on the board.
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your comment. I’m so pleased that you found it valuable.
I’m sorry to hear about your supervisor and your department head. But, I would look at this differently. Look at this as an opportunity to be the leader you wish you had. You can be a leader without the authority, believe me, I have done it. That is how I fell in love with leadership and personal growth. I became a leader within my team because my boss just couldn’t do it.
If you work on your leadership and personal growth every day, and make a commitment of being the leader you wish you had, you too will fall in love with it.
If you decide to make this commitment need any help with it then please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Keep returning, keep engaging, and keep leading.
All the best,
Tom
Hey there! Thanks for writing this article, I always found it hard to be a leader and taking on a leadership role is often daunting. I will definitely try out your tips in the future! I think it can be very difficult to try to believe in my team and not judge them from the get go but I will definitely give it a try. Thanks!
Hi James,
Thank you for your comment. I’m really pleased you found it valuable.
Taking on a leadership role is very difficult and it takes courage. It also takes a lot of learning, and we must be open minded to learn new things every day about ourselves, our team, and about leadership.
If you need any further help or advice regarding your leadership then do not hesitate to get in touch.
Keep returning, keep engaging, and keep leading.
All the best,
Tom
Great post on being a great leader. It is very true that as a leader, we should have trust in a person instead of one’s ability because everyone makes mistake and we just can’t stop believe in others whenever they’ve done something wrong. Instead, it is the leader’s job to delegate the work and achieve the task. Thanks for the useful article and keep up the good work.
Hi Jonath,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased you found it helpful.
Trust is the foundation of leadership, and without trust then we cannot lead and we cannot influence our people. Low performing leaders don’t have trust with their people, so they have to resort to micro-management and dictatorship styles in order to get what they want.
So, as a leader you must have trust with your people in the beginning.
Keep returning, keep engaging and keep leading.
All the best,
Tom
I’ve always tried to hire people based on their “person” and not necessarily their abilities.
If I’m hiring for customer service I can’t teach someone to be a “genuine” happy smiling person that loves to interact with people. I can teach all the skills, knowledge about the product, ect., but I can’t teach a person to be a genuine interacter.
Most skills can be taught but character is not something I feel an employer can or should develop most of the time.
Hi Lee,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased you found the article helpful.
I have always tried to hire people based on how they come across and who they are. I need to be able to work with them, get a long with them, trust them, and influence them. I also want them to influence me and if I feel I can’t trust them then I don’t hire them.
Character is far more important to develop, you are absolutely right.
Thank you for sharing.
Keep returning, keep engaging and keep leading.
All the best,
Tom