10 Qualities of A Great Team Leader: Part Five

For those of you that know me, you know that nothing excites me more than coaching and leading teams. I love it. I find fulfillment in leading and developing highly efficient, excellent, healthy teams more than most other things I do in business.

In the spring this year, I took our team leads from Catalyst away for a two-day retreat. The goals were simple: learn more about each other. Learn about our unique wiring. Learn the DNA of our current team, and create energy around becoming great leaders.

I asked these leaders what they believe makes great team leaders, and It did not take long for us to come up with a list of 21 qualities that would surface from the greatest team leaders we know.

I have narrowed it down to the top 10, which is still too many, but I can’t edit anymore. So over the next few days, I want to talk about each of these characteristics and the value that they bring to leading teams.

9.  Trustworthy

Around our offices, one the phrases we have made part of the DNA of our team was taken from my pastor and friend Andy Stanley.  We talk about leaders worth following.  It’s very similar to the idea of being Trustworthy.  Worthy of Trust.  Worthy of following.  You don’t become trustworthy overnight.  You earn it. 

There are so many leaders who believe that their position at the top of the team makes them trustworthy.  Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are already acting that way, then it will take you so much longer to gain trust than someone who knows that leadership isn’t about position.  It’s about influence.  

Trustworthy leaders provide their teams with a stable work environment because what is being talked about and encouraged is being lived out by the team and by the leader. How many people do you know who have left a job because their boss was not worthy of trust?  Probably each of us have left somewhere because of that.  I really don’t think we can over estimate the power of having the trust of the people on your team.  It could be the most powerful characteristic of great team leaders.

What can you do today to gain a little more trust with your team.  Maybe it’s time to make that hard decision or take that difficult step to show your team you are trustworthy.

10. Respected

As much as I wish that all respect comes from relational investments over time with your team, I'll be the first to admit that competency to achieve results is also crucial to this characteristic.  You can't lead well, without a standard of excellence and a strong skill set for work. So many of us who are naturally relational, really wish that we could just hang our hat on leading people.  The truth is people won’t follow you if you are just relational, you have to be able to do something….

When I moved into the director seat here at Catalyst, it was a little unnerving frankly.  I don’t have an MBA from…anywhere.  I don’t have years of experience in business.  I don’t even understand all the abbreviations that CFOs use to sound smart.  But I knew God gave me the ability to lead people and I needed to lean into the “Leaders are Learners” mentality.  I don’t care how good I am at casting vision for Catalyst, or caring for the team at Catalyst, if I can’t make sure we have realistic financial goals and systems, create and deliver world class leadership events or lead a marketing department, then I will never be respected in the seat I sit in.  

But it cannot just be competency.  I believe respect comes from not demanding respect, but earning it by doing the first 9 things in this series.  

Leaders.  Team Leaders.  Let’s be leaders who deserve to be respected and worthy of trust. Let’s lead today knowing that how we lead effects people’s faith.  Let’s represent Christ to our teams today and watch God take our little gifts and explode them through amazing teamwork.

 

Where have you lost respect from your team?  If you don’t know, ask.  They will tell you.