What are the Key Skills and Knowledge for Team Leaders?

Team Leadership Development

Are you interested in improving your abilities as a team leader or do you want to improve the leadership skills of the team leaders in your organisation?

Team leaders have a pivotal role in your organisation, since they are the ones organising the implementation of the plan. And it is the implementation of the plan that is the most important thing, since that is what the customer sees.

If the front end delivery of the products and services are defective, then the whole organisation is in danger, since the customer won't return with more business.

And therefore the team leader, who is on the first rung of the management hierarchy, is also one of the most important, since it is the team leader who is on the ground, in the trenches with the team, facing the customers.

If the team leader's skills are deficient, if the team leader is not effective, then this deficiency will negatively affect the customers experience, the team efficiency and the organisation's final results.

Therefore an investment in some targeted team leader development training would seem to be a wise investment.

Team Leader Development Training

What should a good team leader development training course cover?

The training would have to cover all the essential skills that need to be present in anyone who is attempting to fill the role of team leader. All roles have certain skills associated to them. And if you want to successfully fulfil the requirements of a role, then you need to have the associated skills, don't you?

Unfortunately many team leader-types lack one, two or even more of the essential skills necessary to be a great team leader.

What are the essential skills necessary to be a great team leader? Here they are:

1. Technical skills and knowledge of the product and service being rendered

The team leader needs to know his/her stuff. They need to be technically competent, so that they can answer questions and solve technical problems.

2. Goal focused

The team leaders must have a GOAL FOCUSED mind-set. They need to have a mind geared to achieving results and making measurable progress in reasonable time. They must not be drifter types. They must not be of an apathetic mind. They need to have personal initiative and the motivation to achieve targets.

3. Clear communicator

The leader is a good communicator, in the sense that his/her messages must be always clear and distinct. There must be no ambiguity; no confusion; no vagueness; they must not make statements that are capable of multiple interpretations.

Remember this rule: 'Whatever CAN be misunderstood, eventually WILL be misunderstood by someone.'

Whatever CAN be misunderstood, eventually WILL be misunderstood by someone; and that misunderstanding will translate into error, confusion and therefore, ineffective action. So your team leader training must contain notes on how to improve the clarity of your verbal expression; the accurate use of your language.

4. The leader must be an excellent planner

The team leader must have a daily plan. The team leader must not allow the day to be too reactive. The team leader needs to be PRO-active. The team leaders need to be able to drive events; and not be so RE-active, meaning that they are driven by events.

In order to be in control of circumstances, as opposed to being at the mercy of circumstances, you need to have good planning skills. Planning skills really means many skills combined: they need to know how to organise work, prioritise work, prepare work and delegate work.

The training for team leaders must contain information about:

Planning, organisation, preparation and delegation.

5. The team leader must be a negotiator and a settler of internal conflicts

Since conflicts are inevitable, the team leader must have the ability to manage conflicts properly; quickly and effectively. The team leader needs to resolve problems whilst they are minor. If neglected, minor problems can quickly escalate into major problems that become intractable, costly and time consuming. Team leaders need to be trained to see problems and resolve them before they can grow out of control. We call this "the art of nipping the problem in the bud".

This unique ability takes excellent skills, technique and, therefore, some proper training on this specific issue.

6. Positive attitude

Since the team's performance is affected by how they feel, then the attitude of the team is of vital importance.

Have you ever worked in a team that has the right attitude? It was great wasn't it?

Have you ever worked in a team that has a negative attitude? It was a nightmare wasn't it?

And you would agree that the leadership of the team strongly affects the overall attitude of the team as a whole.

• If the leadership is negative, the atmosphere is negative and the results suffer.
• If the leadership is positive, the atmosphere of the whole team is more positive and the results improve.

So the team leader training should contain lots of good information and techniques on how to create and sustain a positive mental attitude.

What are the key skills necessary to be a terrific team leader?

Here is the list in brief.

1. Technical skills and knowledge of your product and service.
2. Goal focus.
3. The accurate use of language.
4. Planning, (organisation, preparation and delegation).
5. Settler of internal conflicts.
6. Positive attitude.

Here at the Corporate Coach we assume that you already have point one settled; you already have excellent technical skills and knowledge of your product and service.

But are you goal focused? Are your communication skills all they need to be? Are you a good time manager, planner? Are you good at handling conflict situations, and are you able to maintain a positive atmosphere in the team?

If you want some training in these issues, would you like to attend our two day team leader training programme?

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