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Knowing how to effectively lead and manage a team is essential when furthering your career. A good leader knows how to relate to others, make productive decisions and provide effective guidance. If you want to learn how to empower and inspire your team, or you feel that you lack leaderships skills, keep reading! Here are five ways to improve your leadership strengths and become more effective in a managerial role.

1) Admit when you’re wrong

Everyone makes mistakes. Even the most powerful, inspiring leaders sometimes get it wrong. Being a great leader doesn’t mean your immune to making mistakes. It just means you’re human.

When you make a mistake at work, admit it openly. It might feel uncomfortable, but there are many personal and even organisational advantages to taking ownership. Firstly, it increases your leadership credibility and helps to build loyalty. It can also provide a learning experience for you and your team. Remember: “Admitting and correcting your mistakes doesn’t make you look weak; it actually makes you look stronger.”

Often, more damage is done to credibility, trust, and relationships when someone avoids taking responsibility for their errors. So, if you feel uncomfortable and embarrassed about admitting your fault, just remember that there is power in admitting and correcting your mistakes.

2) Pay attention to morale

A good leader should always be aware of their team’s morale. Employee morale is significant because it's tied directly to employee engagement and retention, job satisfaction, and overall productivity.

A happy team is an effective team. A demoralised team is unproductive and dissatisfied.

Cultivating positive morale among employees is one of the most important things a leader can do. Some simple ways to boost morale may include, acknowledging and appreciating staff, being fair about discipline, respecting team members as individuals and as professionals, providing continuous feedback and leading by example.

3) Listen and communicate effectively

A great leader needs to always keep the lines of communication open. Leaders need to be mindful of the individual needs of their team members in order to inspire professional development and overall performance/

This can be as simple as scheduling weekly one on one meetings with each member of your team. After all, it’s difficult to really know what’s troubling your employees or how to help them get out of a performance slump –unless you take the time listen to them. One on one meetings will help build trust and rapport and will enable each member to make contributions and feel seen and heard.

4) Recognise Efforts

Everyone wants to feel appreciated and rewarded for a job well done. When a leader takes the time to recognise achievements, it signals to the employee that the company values the good work they do and the effort they put in.

A study by Make Their Day and Badgeville revealed that 83% of employees found recognition for contributions to be more fulfilling than rewards and gifts.

Positive feedback helps build an employee’s confidence and loyalty to the company, and an employee is more likely to stay with their job when they feel their work is appreciated. Plus, it’s a great way to build team spirit and a positive work environment.

5) Be selective when building your team

Team dynamic is so important. Getting the right balance of personalities is integral to creating a positive and effective team environment. After all, most employees leave their jobs because of poor company culture and management. So, when it comes time to hire for a position within your team, be very cautious and selective. When hiring, think about every team member’s personality and workplace strengths. In the long run, it’s better to hire someone less experienced but who fits in well with your team, then someone with years of experience who brings team morale down.

Choose wisely and you will end up with a happy, effective team and a great company culture.