Few things in life or business work out as planned, specifically in the life of a leader. Whether you’re new to leading a team or generally new to leading, it pays to be on the lookout for these 4 signs that you might require rethinking your leadership approach.

1. The Outcomes aren’t fulfilling Expectations in Leadership Approach

In business, outcomes are the ultimate measuring stick, and if your team is consistently falling short of targets, it is time to admit there is an issue and start searching for a solution. Although, before you rush to shake things up, it is significant to look closely at your behaviors.

Consider:

• Resist the rush to judgment. Consistently subpar outcomes are a sign of an issue or, more likely, a confluence of issues.
• Ignore blaming factors outside your control. It is tempting to point fingers at the new product your competitor just launched or the issues with suppliers or quality your firm is having. Although, you require resisting the temptation to point. It is time look at the team around you and significantly at the leader of the team staring back at you in the mirror.
• Explore the symptoms outlined in the balance of this article and cultivate an informed perspective on the root causes and required changes.

• Remember, you’re the leader of your team. When the team succeeds it is because they did their job. When they fail, it is your fault.

2. The Impact of New Notions is Weak to Non-Existent 

When ideas to resolute issues or innovate to make better operations are not flowing, there is commonly a leadership factor involved. The leader is responsible for forming and framing the working atmosphere, and when the individuals in that environment go quiet on offering ideas, it’s time to alter your leadership approach.

Consider:

• Perhaps you have fallen into the trap of telling rather than asking. Resist the urge to issue orders and rather than describing what to do, ask people what they would like to do.
• Explore whether you’re intimidating individuals or, worse yet, inciting fear in the workplace. If your behaviors in the past have engaged punishing or chastising individuals who tried new things, you should anticipate the culture to go quiet on you. You require to model patience and showcase support for people experimenting and failing with new approaches. Position every failure as a lesson learned and motivate people to keep searching for solutions.

3. Your Team appears to be Distant & Standoffish

If you perceive you’re getting the cold shoulder, you’re probably right. This situation is specifically common for leaders new to a team.

Consider:

• You’re likely navigating a trust problem with your team members, specifically if you’re just getting started working with them. Often, leaders do a little dance with trust, suggesting or telegraphing by actions and words that people have to work hard to earn their trust.
• To reinforce the team chemistry faster, quit putting individuals on “trust trial” and instead, offer your trust to them immediately. People will comprehend your positive gesture and good workers will move mountains to not let you down. If someone does let you down or betray your trust, well, that’s another issue. Although, it is worth the risk. Trust first!

4. Your Team is merely Going Through The Motions

No leader needs to admit that her team is just going through the motions, but it happens. And while it is tempting to search at the people or overall workplace factors as the root causes, you control the energy switch for your team.

Consider:

• If people aren’t excited about their work or, if they don’t clearly see how their efforts connect to the larger corporate mission and key goals, work seems just like…well, work. It is incumbent upon you as the leader to bring a sense of mission and purpose to the challenges your team faces.
• Conduct regular business updates with your team. Make sure they comprehend the overall company or group performance and strive to tie-in the team’s results to the bigger picture results. If your firm uses a scorecard or tracks key metrics, teach your team how to understand those tools and share the latest results with them.

• Invite your executive or executives from other groups to team and share insights about the firm’s strategies and key initiatives.
• Motivate your team members to recognize opportunities to reinforce their support of their internal or external customers and go to bat to gain approval for new projects or initiatives. Let your team members serve as active project participants.
• Celebrate more. Often we are so focused on our daily firefighting that we forget to acknowledge the victories—small and large. Find opportunities to celebrate accomplishments and milestones and become your team’s biggest cheerleader.

5 Key Actions to Help Strengthen Your Team’s Performance:

There’s always an explanation for poor results. While there may be external factors, chances are, there are leadership, resource, and process issues at work creating the challenges. Now that you’ve looked at some factors under your direct control, it’s time to get the team involved in helping diagnose the cause and develop the cure.

1. Be transparent with your team about the poor results. They deserve to understand that things are not working and that management is looking for improvements.
2. Resist the rush to frame your view to the problem. Ask the team to explore the areas where performance is weak and offer their analyses. Listen more than you talk.
3. Once the team develops a hypothesis on root causes, encourage them to detail their ideas for potential solutions. Help them prioritize the ideas.
4. Provide ownership of the ideas for improvement to your team members. Inquire them to own the execution and on-going monitoring and tuning of their ideas. This sense of ownership for improving their overall performance in leadership approach will address many of the issues identified throughout this article.
5. Celebrate the victories and place your team members in the spotlight with senior management. Remember, when things go right, it is because of them, not you.

Conclusion of Leadership Approach:

It is annoying when things aren’t running right with your team. As the leader, you control several of the variables that impact morale, teamwork, innovation, problem-solving and performance. Before you rush to blame factors outside your control, pause and take a step back and look carefully at your behaviors. You will be surprised how small changes in your leadership approach will yield significant results.