Mastering Modern Leadership: Top Principles for Effective Team Leaders

Today, the role of a team leader is more complex than ever. If you’re currently leading a team, you’re likely managing a diverse group of team members from different generations: Boomers, GenX, Millennials, and Gen Z. Each generation is driven by unique incentives and values, making the task of leadership challenging. On top of this, hybrid and fractional work make it difficult for team members to get to know each other and work well together.

So, what’s a team leader to do if they want to be a strong team leader? I’ve managed dozens of teams during my career — ranging in size from two (i.e., myself and someone else) to teams numbered in the hundreds. I’ve been on teams where I’ve benefited from working with a strong leader or suffered through poor leadership. Thus, I’d like to share some time-tested leadership principles that are as true today as they were 100 years ago (and will still be true 100 years from now):

1. The role of a leader is to build the business and grow the team…at the same time. I learned this when starting my career at Procter and Gamble (which has been in business for almost two centuries). Their basic philosophy for leaders is to focus on two things: the business and their people. The challenging part is growing both at the same time. The team leader was out if the business was booming, but the team suffered. The leader was also out if the team leader was loved, but the business was not growing. It wasn’t either/or…it was always both! You had to enable your team to grow professionally while you and your team concurrently built the business.
2. Appreciation is the most valuable currency your team wants and needs. Salary increases and annual bonuses are great, but their positive impact is short-term. Regular feedback is the most valuable currency you can spend on your team as their leader. Too many team leaders think they must be stingy when showing appreciation for a well-done job. I strongly disagree. A team leader should regularly give their team members positive feedback whenever possible — and it doesn’t have to be for a major win. It costs the team leader nothing to do this, and the odds are it will make the day of whoever is getting the feedback (especially if it is shared publicly at a meeting or online). I’ve never met an employee who thought they got too much positive feedback from their team leader — chances are they are starving for it.
3. Praise in public, coach in private — This is directly related to the previous principle about showing appreciation and sharing positive feedback. Members of your team are going to screw up — it happens to all of us. However, when this inevitably happens, the team leader must provide feedback to the person who made the mistake in a private conversation. Lambasting someone via email and copying the entire team devastates the recipient. Even worse is when this happens in a public setting (I can personally attest to how this feels from being on the receiving end). As team leader, you are not a Marine Drill Sergeant trying to destroy and rebuild someone. You should be the one who still believes in them (even when they don’t believe in themselves) after they’ve made an honest mistake — let this be a learning opportunity that will enable both of you to grow in future capabilities and mutual trust.
4. You aren’t just the team leader…you are the head talent scout and training coach. — All your team members should have a professional development plan you jointly create and regularly review. You should be willing to go “above and beyond” in helping your team members grow professionally — through seminars, training, special projects, and, if warranted, hiring an executive coach. If one of your team members quits and you are surprised, that’s on you. You should know where each team member is regarding what they want to do next regarding professional growth and then do everything you can to help get them there.
5. As team leader, EQ and CQ are more important than IQ. — You’ve got to have a certain amount of intelligence to lead a team, but that’s not enough if you want to take your team to the next level of performance. How strong is your Emotional Intelligence? Are you empathic to what your team members are dealing with right now? Do you even know and appreciate what they are facing outside of work? Are you willing to listen and respond to what they are asking from you? How about your Curiosity Quotient — your ability to stay curious about a changing business environment and remain open to new ways of solving new and emerging problems? “Shadow of the leader” means your team members will carefully study how you deal with these challenges — and if you proactively stay empathetic and curious, your odds of team success go up dramatically.
6. Teach your team to bring you solutions, not just problems. The pace of change in today’s business environment is too rapid for the team leader to figure out what needs to be done. A high-functioning team does not just report issues (“Houston, we have a problem.”). They take individual accountability to come up with possible solutions simultaneously to save the entire team time and effort. This has the additional benefit of the entire team owning the outcome rather than the team leader making the call alone (“Success has a thousand fathers while failure is a lonely orphan.”).
7. Ensure your team understands and commits to the “disagree and commit” principle. — One of my best bosses, Bill Cobb, lived by this mantra and constantly reminded us of it. In our weekly senior team meetings, he emphasized that he wanted to hear everyone’s opinion (especially those who disagreed). But he also made it clear that we didn’t run a business based on majority rule, and he made the final call. Once we left the meeting room, it was “team together, team apart,” and he expected everyone to support his decision. Many business decisions are close calls, and your team must recognize and appreciate the need to have one voice and mind once a decision is made.
8. If you love drama, go to the theater because drama at work can ruin your business. You should bring your authentic self to work and encourage everyone on your team to do the same. That said, your team doesn’t have the luxury of having some team members treat work as a tryout for “Survivor” or “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” As team leader, you are responsible for the team’s culture. Your team values should be clear, and acceptable and unacceptable behavior norms should be mutually supported and consistent. Aggressive behavior, gossiping, and trash-talking are poison to a team. Ensure the drama you and your team members are exposed to is limited to when you see a Broadway show, not your next team meeting or offsite.
9. Make sure you and your team members “stay in your lane.” When the business is not performing, there is a strong temptation for teams to tell other teams what they should be doing (or what they are doing wrong). It seems especially tempting for non-marketers to tell the marketing team what they should be doing (even though they have no experience in marketing). As a team leader, you must stop this behavior whenever it starts. Your team has a clearly defined mission — stay focused on it and let the other teams worry about their own unique missions. The fate of your business depends on everyone contributing in a coordinated and organized manner, not trying to guess second what the other functions are (or should be) doing.
10. Sometimes, a team member must find their “happy place” somewhere else. Unfortunately, I’ve had to fire team members (and I’ve been fired as well). There will come a time when a team member is not in the right role for your company. It doesn’t mean they are not a good person — they need to find a better fit between what they can offer and what a company needs. I’ve talked to many team leaders about the unpleasant task of firing someone. The only thing these firings have in common is we wish we had done it sooner. If you have tried your best as a team leader to help an employee perform in their current role, but it’s not working out, trust your gut and help them with a dignified exit. You both (and your company) will be better off doing this sooner rather than later.

How Do You Measure Up As A Team Leader?

If you are currently a team leader and want to do a quick self-assessment (or want to assess how good of a job your boss is doing), calculate how many of the following questions you can say “yes” to:

1. Do you focus on growing your business and your team simultaneously?
2. Do you provide team members with regular feedback (both written and verbal)?
3. Do you consistently praise in public and coach in private?
4. Do all of your team members have a professional development plan that you are actively supporting?
5. Do you leverage your EQ and CQ with team members regularly?
6. Do your team members come to you with potential solutions rather than just problems?
7. Does your team support the principle of “disagree and commit”?
8. Is your team culture “drama-free”?
9. Does your team “stay in its lane”?
10. Do you proactively manage someone to leave your team when it is best for the business?

If you can answer “yes” to most of these questions, you are well on your way to being a leader your team will cherish being part of for years to come. Suppose the answer is “no” for many of these questions. In that case, it’s time for you to do some serious soul-searching to decide whether to improve as a team leader or become an individual contributor. Team leadership isn’t for everyone, and it’s hard — but you owe it to everyone in your business to ensure that if you are a team leader, you’re a truly great one.

Thomvest works with founders and business leaders who have created an outstanding branded portfolio of fintech, proptech, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity companies. We’d love to hear from you if there is something we can do to help your startup succeed in any of these categories (including helping you become a better team leader). You can reach me at kip@thomvest.com.