By Kasey Dean, Simplicity Lone Beacon’s Senior Director of Accounts.
Throughout my career and personal life, I have held various leadership roles. Among those leadership roles, one of the most important aspects is helping to grow and develop the teams I work with. What I learned in these roles is that success is about how you inspire trust and confidence in those you work with. To me, I aim to inspire that trust and confidence in my team by leaning into a few key rules I want to share with you.
At the end of the day, whether you are a financial advisor looking to grow your team, a team lead responsible for the day-to-day management of those under you, or new to your position as a manager, it’s important to take time to think about what you can do to further not just your success, but your team’s success as well. I find success in focusing on 3 key rules that I learned.
Inspire Self-Confidence in Your Team
I learned early in my career, like every successful manager out there, that if you walk into a room doubting yourself, you’ll be ignored. So, whether you’re in a virtual meeting or in the office chatting with your team, find ways to inspire confidence in themselves.
Personally, my process for developing self-confidence came from how I prepared for big games as a college basketball player. For example, if I had a big game coming up, I would be doing everything in my power to mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare whether I made sure to get extra shots up, watch more film on my opponent, eat better, etc. and that feeling of being over prepared translated to confidence. Believe it or not, the same is true when it comes to work. I know that the hours of extra thought and care that my team puts in every day gives them confidence to be able to walk into any meeting and command respect in a way that makes the decision-making process smooth and productive.
So, what’s the moral here? Make sure you build confidence in your team by prompting them to spend the time necessary to prepare without trying to prepare for them. Letting them take on challenging work and guiding them through that process can help them develop self-reliance and confidence necessary to be highly effective team members.
Cultivate a Village Mentality
A village mentality may very well be the common trait all successful teams have in common. The truth is that nothing can get done without teamwork. But there’s a fine line when it comes to taking ownership of tasks and knowing there are teammates ready to help you out when need be. I use the term “village” intentionally because in a village, there are equal parts responsible individuals and group efforts to support each individual.
But what does that mean when it comes to your team? It means cultivating a culture of individuals that feel confident and inspired enough about their work to try to solve any problem that comes their way on their own before passing it to a teammate. However, it also means cultivating the confidence necessary for that team member to know when to call in support or work with partners.
Essentially, this is the indicator for the ultimate team mentality. If your team is guided by the drive not to burden their teammates with tasks that can easily be solved themselves, yet they stay equally committed to producing quality work to the point where they feel comfortable tagging in their coworkers to add value according to their strengths and skills, you have the ingredients for an explosively successful group of coworkers.
Get Your Team Used to Reading the Room
Reading the room is something people continue to learn throughout their careers but believe me when I say that it has been the most influential factor in my ability to lead teams. Being able to read a room allows you to know where the conversation wants to go and what key pieces of information are vital in each moment to help projects move forward. In other words, reading the room is one of the most important communication skills you and your team can employ.
I know what you’re thinking: “But why is this so important to team management? Isn’t this more of an interpersonal skill?” The answer: interpersonal skills are vital to your team’s success, and this skill can’t be understated. Your teammate’s ability to read the room helps them become more independent task managers and project completers. I learned in my career that I quickly turned from being a helper to being an asset when I learned how to read a room and progress in projects on my own. For your teams, you should take steps to make sure your team goes through that exact transformation; becoming an asset that contributes not only to their success, but to yours as a manager as well.
Bringing It All Together
Ultimately, we all have a job to do, but success comes from what happens outside your daily role and amongst your teammates—much of which can’t and shouldn’t micromanage. As a company owner, leader, or individual, you should understand that you get out what you put in. The more you can learn from others and use your own experiences to create your own rules the more successful you will be. But if you’re wondering where to get started, I recommend using these rules and adapting them to your specific role and desired career path.
About the Author: Kasey joined Simplicity Lone Beacon from the sportswear industry where she was a marketing manager overseeing the strategy, content creation, execution and analysis for New Balance Athletics’ first-ever customer rewards program. She has also managed a million-dollar media budget, creating content and measuring performance for paid and organic marketing campaigns. Kasey graduated from Brandeis University with a double major in Business & American Studies, where she was also two-year captain of the Varsity Women’s Basketball team. In her free time, Kasey enjoys being active and traveling as much as possible.
