Recent Posts

5 Exciting Ways Charismatic Leaders Influence Followers

Written by Gabriel "Gabo" von Knorring in Leadership Styles

Charismatic leaders are people who utilizes their charm and interpersonal skills to inspire, motivate, and influence their followers. They make use of their exemplary communication abilities, captivating authority, and empathetic personality. They are proven to be invaluable assets in a team. 

Charismatic leaders influence their followers by being empathetic, relatable, and humble. They don’t come off as superior in skills and experiences. Rather, they strive to be an invaluable part of the team, despite being its leader, eagerly working with everyone to attain common goals. 

If you’re wondering how you can use charisma to influence your team, read on because we will talk about the different approaches you can apply. You’ll learn how to use the power of communication to influence people toward your desired direction and how humility, passion, and optimism can allow you to influence your followers to strive for excellence and be vital members of the team. 

How Can You Use Charisma To Influence Your Team?

You can use charisma to influence your team by developing strong interpersonal relationships rather than mere professional connections. Get to know them deeper, help them develop their strengths, and walk with them through difficult challenges. Be open, relatable, humble, passionate, and optimistic. 

Here are some unique ways charismatic leaders influence their followers:

1. Use the Power of Precise Communication

Charismatic leaders are effective communicators. They take advantage of the power of language to evoke the emotions, mindset, and actions they want. They make use of verbal and non-verbal tactics when communicating with their team and leading them toward common goals. 

Your choice of words, articulation, gestures, and the tone with which you deliver your messages are critical in ensuring your team fully understands your point of view. Your method of delivery must never be weak for a strong message to effectively get through to your followers. Otherwise, you run the risk of your message diminishing in value and relevance. 

Here are some tips to help ensure your message effectively gets across to your team and you elicit the precise reactions you desire:

  • Eye contact. Maintaining eye contact while communicating with your team members sends the message that you are earnest, trustworthy, and truthful. 
  • Posture. Maintain a confident, assertive, yet non-confrontational stance to win your team’s attention and respect. Keep your back straight and your chin level with the ground. Maintain an open, engaging countenance to encourage interaction from your followers. 
  • Gestures. Gesturing will help you to convey explicit information and your followers to better understand your messages. For instance, when you say “The client wants a new door design for the kitchen” while moving your arms as if swinging 2 doors wide open in front of you, your team will instantly grasp that the client wants double-swinging doors, not a standard, run-of-the-mill door. 
  • Tone. Keep your tone animated and engaging to grab and retain your team’s attention. Be mindful about overdoing this since you might come across as insincere and pretentious. 

The ability and willingness to listen also play a big role in a charismatic leader’s effectiveness. Communication is a 2-way street, and they make this concept apparent by always making their followers feel seen and heard.

This conjures up memories from a recent social gathering my friend Jijo went to. Her friend is married to one of the city’s banking industry big shots. Over the years, they frequently mingled and enjoyed casual conversations during parties and social gatherings, but Jijo never really had any intimate conversations with them.

A couple of weeks ago, at a social event, Jijo was sitting at a table with a couple of friends, and during a lull in the conversation, her aforementioned friend’s distinguished husband turned to her colleague and asked, “So how’s Ysabel? She’s probably 14 or 15 by now. Does she still do ballet?” 

Jijos’s colleague was astounded. Ysabel is his teenage daughter who has been dancing ballet since she was 3. He believes he casually mentioned this in a previous conversation, never really thinking that anyone was paying much attention since it was just small talk. 

As they talked (and yes, Jijo was eavesdropping!), she began to realize how this man was able to make it big at a relatively young age in such a demanding, competitive industry. Sure, he’s hardworking, exceptionally smart, and accomplished in his chosen field, but he’s also a magnetic, charming person — a charismatic leader. 

2. Show Humility 

If you’re a charismatic leader, arrogance is never an option. You must be pragmatic and humble enough to know your own strengths and limitations. You must exhibit a desire and willingness to further enhance your skills and experiences. You must also be quick to own up to your shortcomings and mistakes, and comfortably express your misgivings and fears. 

The ability to practice vulnerability is one of the unique traits of a charismatic leader. Don’t be afraid to show your true self when managing a team. This will help make you more relatable and approachable. This also shows an acknowledgment that you consider yourself an integral part of the team, not just its leader. 

Mahatma Gandhi, a celebrated political and spiritual leader, chose to demonstrate humility as his brand of leadership. He promoted resistance to tyranny through non-violent means and didn’t command his followers to act in accordance with his plans. Rather, he encouraged them to accompany him, and he was known to go about his work regardless of how many people stood next to him in his fight against oppression. 

3. Project Optimism

A charismatic leader influences followers and creates an encouraging vibe in the workplace where team members are made to feel that even if there are challenges ahead, the team can always rise above them all. They always look at the brighter side and exhibit strong confidence in the team’s capabilities. In essence, charismatic leaders are their team’s anchors when faced with challenges.

Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and a well-loved global figure known for her hard work in tending to the poor, afflicted, sick, dying, and orphaned and abandoned children, is a great example of a charismatic leader. She went about her work with good cheer and selflessness, making sure to spread hope and love wherever she went. 

She did not only provide food, water, medicines, and shelter to those she ministered — she also taught them valuable skills that can help them move forward in their lives. Mother Teresa taught them about soap-making, needlecraft, basket-weaving, and many others so they could earn money, enjoy a sense of fulfillment, and be able to provide for themselves and their families. She gave other people hope, especially in the face of adversity. 

4. Value Interpersonal Relationships

Charismatic leaders place a high premium on establishing interpersonal relationships within the team. They connect with team members on a more personal level and encourage their team to do the same by not strictly observing a purely professional interconnection. They like getting to know each of their followers better, uncovering their strengths, discovering their limitations, understanding their struggles, and discussing challenges with them. 

A charismatic leader always chooses to see the bigger picture. They consider their followers’ feelings, circumstances, and ideas, and take these into account when making decisions and plans for the team. They are empathetic, always capable of and willing to understand and share other people’s perspectives. 

A friend of mine told me a short story about the leader of a small software development team. She said, “I always find it interesting to observe him with his team members. Their meetings are always laid back and engaging, yet they’re able to discuss pertinent issues and tick things off their to-do list. The secret lies in how he treats his team — with respect and empathy.”

Rather than complaining about their shortcomings or berating them for mistakes, the team leader crafts these discussions in such a way that his team members don’t feel threatened or embarrassed. He encourages them to pinpoint areas of improvement, then they brainstorm ideas on how they can resolve issues or refine how things are done. 

His leadership style is quite similar to that of Nelson Mandela, acclaimed for his efforts in uniting the country and fighting racial oppression and discrimination. Despite being unjustifiably imprisoned for 27 years, he emerged back into society with the same fervor and hope for a better tomorrow. 

Rather than dwelling on negativities and retaliation, he focused his efforts on uniting and leading the country to bring about healing and change. He led a peaceful rebellion to help a racially-divided country finally enjoy peace and harmony. His humility, compassion, and empathy were his secret weapons in rallying his followers to fight for change.

5. Ignite Passion

Passion is one of the more apparent attributes of a charismatic leader. When you are passionate and genuinely enthusiastic about your work, this mindset could easily rub off on your team members, making the workplace a highly functional, engaging, collaborative space. Passion can help make a team more purposeful and productive.

One way to ignite passion in your followers is to eagerly share your vision with them to inspire them to work together toward common goals. Frame your vision in such a way that it appeals to your team’s values and sentiments, making it compelling and worth aspiring for. 

Here are some pointers:

  • Share stories. Rather than relying on facts alone, share persuasive, relevant anecdotes with your followers to further entrench the significance of your vision. This lends a more personal touch to your ideas, making them more relatable and real.
  • Remain positive. Negative feedback is unavoidable, but don’t dwell on skepticism and pessimism. Acknowledge the concerns, but immediately pivot the discussion away from the potentially dismissive notions by offering corroborating evidence of strengths and some anecdotal incidents. 
  • Be consistent and tenacious. Constantly talk about your vision until each team member is well-versed and highly familiar with all its ins and outs. Encourage your followers to share their own ideas and views, so that your vision doesn’t lose its thrill and soon occupies a central space within your team’s dynamics. This is one way to ensure that your team always works synergistically toward the same goals. 

What Is Experiential Leadership? (Its Powerful Role In Business)

Written by Gabriel "Gabo" von Knorring in Leadership Skills

“You only learn by doing.” Learning by doing is the essence of experiential leadership. Normally, this saying is directed toward learning a new skill, sport, or other activity. But have you ever heard this saying and applied it to leadership development? 

Experiential leadership is learning leadership skills through doing exercises and then reflecting on the experience. Training activities are specifically chosen to teach the person leadership skills, such as problem-solving and critical thinking.

Leadership skills can be learned through lectures and slides, but to really get into the meat of leadership, you need practical activities that let you get your hands dirty. Stick around to learn more about this type of learning and how you can apply this to your team. And don’t forget to schedule a free coaching call with me after reading this post.

Learning Leadership Through Experiential Training

You could take hundreds of leadership courses that require you to sit through countless boring lectures while mindlessly looking at mind-numbing slides, but would you learn anything? Sure, you could learn leadership theories and concepts, but until you get into the meat of training, you won’t learn anything actually changes the way you lead.

Honestly, the best way to learn leadership is through activities that allow you to practice what you’ve learned. This is known as “experiential training,” and it’s a very powerful method to increase your leadership skills in your organization. 

Many outdoor leadership programs are similar to experiential learning, but the training programs are held outdoors for hiking, camping, or other outdoor sports. Team sports held outdoors are also great activities to enhance your experiential leadership training.

What Happens To Your Leadership When You Don’t Use Experiential Training?

Consider, for a moment, that your organization is a large fan of those boring lectures and mind-numbing slides for leadership training. In fact, they swear by them, as it supposedly “helps” people to get the concepts faster.

Now consider another organization that uses experiential leadership training programs in conjunction with lectures. 

Which organization would see more success? Let’s talk about that for a few minutes. 

When you learn something by watching a Youtube video or reading a book about how to do something, you fumble around for a while when you try to put it into practice, right? But if you participate in a guided exercise, it tends to stick, and you repeat that action until it becomes second nature.

It’s the same with learning leadership skills. 

If your leaders learn leadership skills through lectures and slides, then try to lead a team, they’ll most likely make more mistakes than they would if they completed experiential leadership training. These mistakes could cost your company valuable clients or grants.

On the other hand, an organization that uses experiential leadership training has the potential to outperform the other company due to their leaders learning leadership skills from hands-on practice.

Here’s a quick summary of a comparison of what happens when companies don’t use experiential leadership training and when companies use experiential leadership training:

Without Experiential Leadership TrainingWith Experiential Leadership Training
Leaders don’t know their team.Leaders learn how their team functions.
Leaders lead by words.Leaders lead through actions.
The team fumbles around, not knowing what they need to do.The team gets clear direction and accomplishes more.
There is a lack of trust between leaders and team members.Team members trust their leaders more often because the training bonds them more.
Leadership is passive.Leadership is active.

Why Experiential Leadership Can Improve Your Leadership Skills

Real-world experiences learned in a guided environment allow you to practice leadership theories and concepts quicker than if you sat through several lectures. 

Before moving on to the “why,” let’s discuss a quick example. 

Imagine that you own a small accounting firm, and you’re about ready to promote a few of your top employees to leadership roles. They already know their accounting job inside and out but are weak in the “people management” department. 

Let’s say that you decide to go the experiential leadership training route. So you set up the training room in three separate stations. You divide your new leadership recruits into small teams and give them accounting problems to solve. 

Instead of lecturing them on how to lead a team, you’re giving them valuable practical experience they can take into their new roles. 

This works because they’re not just sitting in chairs learning concepts and useless theories. 

They are, instead, learning by doing, which is why experiential leadership training works. If you’re unsure how to set up an experiential leadership program in your organization, schedule a free coaching call with me now. 

Experiential Leadership Activities To Improve Your Leadership Abilities

So you’re convinced that experiential leadership training is right for your organization. What type of activities should you use to improve your leadership abilities?

You can choose from outdoor activities and team sports or create simulations that emulate real-world problems and situations to give your leaders opportunities to practice leadership skills. 

Here are a few examples:

  • Scavenger hunts
  • Real-world work scenarios or problems that are made into a race against the clock to solve them.
  • The old-style telephone game
  • Use blocks or legos to build things faster than the other team
  • Camping or mountain climbing
  • Whitewater rafting

You can implement the above activities or other similar activities to train your existing and future leaders. But how do they transfer to creating great leaders for your organization?

Transferring Experiential Leadership Skills

You might think that scavenger hunts or the old telephone game are just games kids play. Have you ever wondered why kids play these games and what valuable skills they learn from them?

Scavenger hunts teach teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills, while the telephone game teaches how to listen and communicate well. Kids think these games are fun, but they also learn valuable life skills while having fun.

These same games, and other games or activities, can teach your team and leaders the following skills that you can then transfer to your organization:

  • Delegation
  • Trust
  • Creative problem-solving skills
  • Communication and listening
  • Flexibility and openness to changes
  • How to give constructive feedback

Conclusion

Experiential leadership training gives your team an edge regarding working together to accomplish great things. Let me tell you how I can help you set up a great experiential leadership training program for your organization. Schedule a call today!

The Fascinating Pros and Cons of Working in a Small Team

Written by Gabriel "Gabo" von Knorring in Small Team Leadership

Are you on the fence about accepting a job offer in a small team? Working in a small organization may not appeal to all, but I definitely think it has some perks, especially if you’re keen on acquiring more relevant experiences and exposure in your chosen field. The downsides are considerable, too, but it’s a matter of knowing exactly what you’re getting yourself into.

The advantages of working in a small team include speedier career growth, more personal work relationships, and more flexibility in meeting your needs and expectations. On the other hand, disadvantages include fewer company resources, lower pay, and fewer benefits.  

Stick around if you want to know more about the ins and outs of working in a small team. In this article, we’ll share 12 years of experience working on all types of small teams.

You’ll read about how small teams can help you make meaningful business connections, enjoy more flexibility with work conditions, and grow with the company, particularly if you join them at the critical initial stages. We will also discuss how basic pay, employee benefits, and adequate support and resources may take a backseat, factors you must be sufficiently prepared for.

Is It Advantageous To Work in a Small Team?

It is advantageous to work in a small team because it can expose you to more opportunities for faster career growth. You will also interact more directly with people who may significantly impact your current and future prospects. It could be a great stepping stone for career advancement.  

Some people harbor misgivings about working in a small team because of some flawed, preconceived notions about it. Working in a small team has its own benefits and downsides. 

Here are some of them:

Pros of Working in a Small Team

More Personal Relationships

Working in a small team keeps you in closer contact with your teammates. Business relationships tend to be more personal, meaningful, and symbiotic. Furthermore, direct interaction with leaders brings about more opportunities for coaching and support. 

When you’re part of a small team, there are more opportunities to foster valuable connections that may prove to be beneficial for you as you advance further in your career. These worthwhile relationships help establish a positive atmosphere in the workplace where feedback and constructive criticisms are encouraged so you can all help each other progress in terms of self-development and skill enhancement.

I remember a friend of mine telling me her story of being part of a small startup composed of just 5 individuals. They worked hard, day and night, eagerly giving up weekends to ensure the business gets a strong foothold in the bustling coffee industry. Their leader inspired openness and candor, and they were urged to own up to their strengths and weaknesses so they could support each other in navigating through tricky scenarios. 

The intimate relationships established were instrumental in allowing the team to work on their deficiencies and further build on our strengths. These solid connections continue to help my friend today, she says, particularly in terms of establishing professional networks, even if the team has gone separate ways and explored other fields. 

Less Bureaucracy 

In small teams, there are also minimal bureaucratic processes to contend with. Tasks can be accomplished faster because there are fewer steps, approvals, and appraisals to go through. Red tape is also efficiently reduced, if not eliminated. 

Red tape is also efficiently reduced, if not eliminated. 

Red tape, commonly associated with larger teams, is linked to missed opportunities, unnecessary delays, and redundant processes. Teams immersed in red tape are often inflexible, and they favor adhering blindly to established steps over independence, fast decision-making, and efficiency. 

In small teams, it is much easier to address the issue of red tape and mitigate its negative impact on the team’s productivity.  

More Flexibility

Small teams are generally hungrier for progress and more ambitious than their larger counterparts. When you join a budding small team, you become drawn into its dynamic, flexible culture where everyone is open to new ideas, eager to adapt to changing market trends, and bent on exploring creativity and innovation. 

A small team will also be more likely to adapt to your needs and expectations to boost employee retention, especially if you’re a significant asset to the business. Their aim is to attract and retain the best employees in the industry, so they can be counted on to be more flexible when it comes to adjusting work hours, methodologies, and other preferences. 

This can come in handy in today’s modern business setups where working remotely has become almost a requisite option for employees. A small team eager to retain you will readily give you more options to suit your needs and lifestyle so you can enjoy a better work-life balance. 

You Can Grow With the Company

Small teams are made up of 2-10 individuals working together toward common objectives. With fewer hierarchical positions to consider, you can more quickly move your way up the corporate ladder. Larger teams typically have a queue of tenured, competent, and worthy individuals waiting for their shot at career advancement, making promotion a more difficult and prolonged process for you. 

When you work in a small team, your strengths are more easily recognized and enhanced, while your weaknesses are more readily identified and refined.

At Sanctus Leadership, we believe in the value of uncovering our team members’ strengths and weaknesses. We invest in our team members’ strengths and leverage them for the benefit of both the individual and the team. Their weaknesses, we strive to overcome by finding ways to not allow them to pull the team back. When you want to learn how to do the same on your team, reach out to us!

Cons of Working in a Small Team 

You Won’t Enjoy Brand Recognition (Yet)

It’s very likely that small teams are practically unknown entities in the industry. Although this won’t pose much of an issue for the time being, it won’t be much help to you further down the road when you go job hunting, especially if you want to move on to larger organizations. Hiring managers are generally unimpressed with small teams. 

In this scenario, what you must do is focus on your skillset and range of experiences. Talk about what you bring to the table and how you can be an asset to their business. 

Limited Support/Resources

Small teams generally have fewer resources that team members can utilize. This is because they typically generate less revenue compared to their larger counterparts, which translates to less budget for support. 

This could mean you’ll be working with technology that isn’t up-to-date, your customer support services may not be as comprehensive, or you might be understaffed, and job descriptions aren’t as concise.

There might be more instances of employee burnout in smaller teams. Multitasking might be the norm, and this could easily trigger stress and frustration within the team.

Lower Compensation and Fewer Benefits

A small team’s scarcer revenue may also translate to lower compensation and fewer team benefits. You might expect an individual in a small team performing the same functions as their counterpart in a larger team to get a lower take-home pay. 

You might also want to take a look at these employee benefits, which often aren’t as favorable in small teams as they are in larger organizations:

  • Health insurance
  • Dental and vision coverage
  • Life insurance
  • Retirement benefits
  • Annual salary increase
  • Paid leaves
  • Loans

Restricted Career Growth

Less hierarchy in the corporate ladder might be advantageous to you in terms of promotions, but it can also restrict you in terms of long-term career growth. Due to limited available positions in a small team, achieving your ceiling position may come sooner than you anticipated. 

You would have to wait for a new position to be created (which may take too long to happen) or for one of your superiors to leave the team (which is altogether incalculable). Being stuck in your ceiling position might leave you feeling dissatisfied, unhappy, and bored with your job. 

Reduced Job Security

Needless to say, small teams are more unstable than larger firms. They are more vulnerable to feeling the negative effects of market changes, financial dilemmas, natural calamities, and unforeseen hurdles. 

For instance, during the Covid-19 pandemic, a great deal of small teams were not able to survive the sudden and unforeseen problems and challenges posed by abrupt changes in the business sector. With limited resources to work with, some didn’t stand a chance against the unsympathetic state of affairs. Many small teams buckled under intense pressure, while most larger organizations were able to withstand the heat.

Key Takeaways

Working for a small team is for you if you have an aversion to bureaucracy and value meaningful personal relationships, flexible work conditions, and a speedier trip up the corporate ladder. A small team isn’t for you if job security, a competitive compensation and benefits package, and working with a reputable firm are among your priorities. 

Working in a small team has its ups and downs, but it will expose you to opportunities you might otherwise not encounter with a larger team. At the end of the day, it is a personal choice, and knowing the pros and cons will help you make the best decision.  

8 Values Your Small Team Needs To Survive In Business

Written by Gabriel "Gabo" von Knorring in Small Team Leadership

It can be quite daunting to lead a small team, especially during the critical initial stages when it still hasn’t established a strong foothold in the business. As a leader, the responsibility of ensuring that the team gets off on the right foot rests on your shoulders. Instilling strong core values in the team early on is the way to build a successful small team. 

The pivotal values every small team should have are integrity, trust, and teamwork. These core principles help ensure efficiency and synergy in achieving goals. Other values, such as passion and extreme ownership, also have crucial contributions to how swiftly a small team can establish solid roots.

If you’re eager to know what values you must instill in your small team to ensure success in the ever-dynamic and challenging world of business, read on to find out more. We will discuss how integrity, trust, and teamwork can make or break any team, especially in the beginning stages when you’re still trying to find your footing. You will also find out how passion, extreme ownership, fearlessness, and risk tolerance can help you reach new heights. 

1. Integrity

Effective communication, honesty, and transparency are essential values in a small team. Without these, a team can quickly lose its footing and crumble. 

Having integrity means you have the fortitude to always uphold your moral principles. Your standards of what is right and wrong must be very clear, and you must ensure that these are always adhered to by the rest of the team. 

An atmosphere of openness should be cultivated within small teams. This means each member must feel safe when voicing out their opinions and ideas, even if these may go against the flow of the rest of the group. It also means that faults and blunders must never be covered up through fibbing and concealment, since things can quickly spiral out of control. 

Confidentiality is just as important. Effectively managing a team means you should be able to make your employees feel that they can trust you and you’re one of their safe spaces in the team. However, there are limitations when it comes to openness and candor. Know what types of information are relevant to the team and which are best kept out of the public eye. 

When your employees share personal information, struggles, or misgivings, let them know any details they share will be treated with confidentiality. Be discreet when discussing sensitive topics with your team members, and make them feel that they can freely talk to you because you’re on their side and are willing to help them progress and accomplish their goals. 

2. Trust

Trust is the foundation of any team. It’s what allows a group of people to function synergistically like a well-oiled machine. Without it, that group of people won’t be united in working together toward the attainment of common objectives.

Trust has a significant impact on a team’s efficiency and productivity. It will make your team members feel more eager to take on tasks, even the most daunting ones. They know that come hell or high water, their team leader and teammates have their back. It will make them feel bolder to take risks and step beyond their comfort zones.

With trust as a cornerstone of your small team, you can empower your team members to strive to achieve their full potential. After all, an individual’s success is the entire team’s gain. It will also enable them to not be afraid of making mistakes. With trust, they can spin these into learning experiences the whole team can also benefit from. 

3. Teamwork

There is an African proverb that goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” There is certainly something to be said about strength in numbers, and this is apparent when you’re part of a team. Efficiency and productivity inevitably soar when people working toward the same goals are grouped together. 

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

African proverb

In managing small teams, you must ensure that collaboration and teamwork are at the core of your leadership. This is one way to ensure your team survives the trials and challenges inevitable in any business. Instill the mindset that when one team member wins, the whole team is victorious, too. Along with trust, teamwork ensures that the team is always moving forward toward success. 

4. Passion

Passion is known to bring out the best in people. It is the driving force that makes us intentional with our words and actions. It fuels people to be determined, energetic, and resourceful in achieving set goals.

More importantly, passion is contagious, and it can certainly make a significant difference in how a small team functions. One team member’s passion can quickly rub off on others, igniting a collective desire to improve productivity, enhance motivation, and prioritize growth and development.

Let’s take a closer look at how passion impacts small teams:

  • Boosts productivity. Passionate people give 100% (and more!) effort in goal completion. A passionate team can work tirelessly and consistently toward the attainment of objectives, and will bravely face any stumbling blocks encountered along the way. 
  • Improves team motivation. Passionate people enjoy their work, so their motivation levels naturally soar. Boosted team motivation is what will make the team committed to working synergistically with another and ensuring that the team’s interests are always prioritized.

Encourages growth and development. Passion encourages innovation, making people constantly search for ways to improve themselves, the way they perform their roles, and relevant aspects of the business. A passionate team is never stagnant, but ceaselessly grows and develops.

Remember that conflict is necessary and unavoidable in any business scenario, particularly in small teams where diversity is recognized and encouraged.

5. High-Risk Tolerance

Being a responsible risk-taker is crucial in small teams. Starting small is sometimes inescapable, but thinking big is definitely essential. Leaders and team members must be willing to go the extra mile and forge through the challenges of high-risk situations to ensure advancement and victory for the business. 

Leading a small team means you have to be a bold visionary. Lead your team members in setting goals that may seem daunting but, when tackled with grit and collaboration, will eventually develop into a reality for the team. Encourage your team members to think innovatively, be open to change, and not set limitations for themselves. Support them with adequate training, opportunities, and resources to help them achieve their objectives.

6. Extreme Ownership

Leading a team means you must hold yourself and your team members accountable for both failures and accomplishments obtained. It can be easy to acknowledge achievements, but it may be utterly challenging for most to own up to blunders and defeat. Having a high sense of responsibility and taking extreme ownership of the business will ensure progress and success. 

As a leader, adopting an extreme ownership mindset means you never blame problems on anyone other than yourself. All that is bad is for you to own; all that is good is for the team to enjoy!

As a leader, adopting an extreme ownership mindset means you never blame problems on anyone other than yourself. All that is bad is for you to own; all that is good is for the team to enjoy!

7. Fearlessness in the Face of Failure

As a leader, it can be easy to feel frustrated and irked when team members fall short of your expectations when accomplishing tasks or when goals aren’t met as swiftly and efficiently as you would have liked. In small teams, it is essential to tackle mistakes and shortcomings in the most constructive ways possible.

When things don’t go as planned, assume that errors and deficiencies are honest mistakes and miscalculations, things that occurred not out of malice. Properly managing a team means you have to ensure your team members know you’re on their side — that you’re an ally, not an enemy. Inculcate the mindset that they shouldn’t be afraid of failure and that they should spin these frustrating scenarios into positive learning opportunities for the team. 

8. Focus On The Why, Not The How

It’s vital that the person closest to the problem decide how it should be solved. Otherwise, we end up in a situation where decision-makers lack the necessary skin in the game, as Nassim Taleb writes it.

This means that decisions will most likely be based on assumptions rather than an up-to-date understanding of the situation, sometimes in the shape of micro-managing. This is how things go sideways.

To help you focus on the why and not get stuck in the details, here are some tips:

  • Clearly communicate the “whats, whys, and whens.” Be specific when setting objectives, and be precise about the steps that will get the team there. Employ the SMARTER mindset when setting goals and ensure that they are:
    • Specific
    • Measurable
    • Actionable
    • Risky
    • Time-keyed
    • Exciting
    • Relevant
  • Allow your team members to exercise independence and critical thinking. Let your team brainstorm on the “hows” that will get them closer to the set goals. This helps build their motivation, self-esteem, and sense of ownership.
  • Be a good role model. Set great examples for your team by practicing what you preach. Celebrate victories, no matter how small, and be quick to acknowledge and make amends for your faults.

What Is Outdoor Leadership? (And Its Powerful Role In Business)

Written by Gabriel "Gabo" von Knorring in Leadership Skills

Have you ever gone camping with a group and ended up being the leader? Did your leadership skills get a nice little boost at the end of the trip? Maybe you even found a way to translate that into business success? If that happened, you might have experienced outdoor experiential leadership at its best.

Outdoor leadership uses outdoor team activities (experiential training) to boost your leadership skills. Canoeing, mountain climbing, and even camping can help you learn communication skills and the value of everyone on your team. Outdoor leadership activities can also improve your leadership abilities in the workplace.

If you want to hone your leadership, stick around. You’ll learn what outdoor leadership is, how to use outdoor activities to boost your leadership skills, and what natural characteristics make a good outdoor leader. You’ll also learn how to transfer what you learned outdoors to your workplace team.

Outdoor Activities Boost Leadership Skills

Management and leadership are not limited to the boardroom, and if this is your only means of leadership training, you’re missing out on the most powerful shortcut to becoming a more trusted leader. Outdoor activities such as camping or whitewater rafting require you to have “skin in the game” and come to solutions immediately.

Skin In The Game by Nassim Taleb is a great book when you want to understand why risk is necessary for great leaders to develop.

As a leader, you might not need to make quick decisions when at work, but when you’re in nature, it has a way of forcing you to make snap decisions based on the weather conditions and the welfare of your team. 

Here’s an example of what I mean. 

Let’s say you’ve taken your work team on a weekend camping trip to learn how to communicate better. Your camping spot is at the base of a mountain, and it’s finally spring after a very cold and snowy winter.

And because it’s so warm, avalanches are more likely to happen. But you were assured that your team was safe in the designated camping area. Except…you weren’t.

After everyone settled down for the night, you and your team heard this awful thundering roar like a freight train approaching your campsite. You see a wall of snow, ice, and rocks barreling toward your entire team. 

You don’t have the luxury of waiting a week to decide, as you must act RIGHT NOW! You gather your team and race to your vehicles to escape the avalanche path. In the moment, your decision saved the lives of everyone on the team.

The above scenario demonstrates several leadership qualities that benefit from outdoor activities. Let’s discuss how in more detail.

You Learn Effective Communication

While workplace communication is important in getting the job done, it’s absolutely critical in outdoor leadership. This is because you don’t have time to waste with ineffective communication when something happens in nature. 

You need to be direct and to the point because if your communication goes unreceived, it’s a matter of life and death.

It might not be a matter of life and death in the workplace if you have ineffective communication, but it could mean that your projects don’t get done on time or you lose customers. Outdoor leadership training teaches you effective communication.

Outdoor Leadership Develops Problem-Solving Skills

Outdoor activities create a new set of problems that you don’t usually encounter in the workplace. Whitewater rafting, for example, gives you problems like the following:

  • Fast-moving water
  • Navigating the twists and turns in the river
  • The possibility of falling into the river
  • Getting lost

These problems can mean life or death if your problem-solving skills aren’t up to par. 

Using that same example, what do you do when the water is too high or going too fast to navigate? Or how do you deal with the twists and turns of the river without falling in? As the leader, you’ll need to solve the problem instantly.

Taking this into the workplace, when faced with a work problem, you’ll be better able to solve the problems as they arise, and you get faster at doing so. 

By the way, having sharp problem-solving skills are in high demand when searching for a job or getting a work promotion. If you want to improve your leadership problem-solving skills for your next hike or camping trip, schedule a coaching call with me at your earliest convenience.

Making Decisions Will Become Faster

Just as your problem-solving skills improve during outdoor leadership activities, your decisions become faster. Much faster, in fact. 

You don’t have the luxury of putting off your decisions when outdoors, as the consequences of a bad decision are almost immediate. It works like gravity because the moment your bad decision is made, you feel the consequences.

You don’t have the luxury of putting off your decisions when outdoors, as the consequences of a bad decision are almost immediate. It works like gravity because the moment your bad decision is made, you feel the consequences.

Let’s use the whitewater rafting example again. 

What happens if you don’t navigate a sharp turn quickly enough? Your raft will likely flip, and you’re flailing down the river, trying not to drown. 

Quick decisions can mean the difference between life and death. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s absolutely true–you cannot take the time to weigh your options if you’re rafting down a raging river.

How does this relate to being a small team leader in the workplace? 

If you normally have problems making decisions or take a long time doing so, outdoor leadership activities can retrain your mind to make faster decisions. It can also help you realize that you know what you’re doing and that if you make the wrong decision in the workplace, you won’t end up in the river.

It can also give you more confidence in your career, as you’ll start seeing yourself as a capable leader in the office and outdoors. 

You Learn How To Value Your Team Members

Normal workday activities don’t always show you who your team members are. You don’t get to know them outside the workplace or see their strengths or weaknesses. 

However, outdoor leadership activities you do together as a team show you a different side of your team members. You have time to talk with them about their families, hobbies, and passions that make them light up with joy.

Even when working together to solve a problem, such as while camping, you see a completely different side of them. And seeing this teaches you how to value your team on a different level. You see what they’re capable of and learn how you can help them accomplish their career goals and beyond.

I you are lucky, you see their true passions in life so that you can feed that energy back at work, allowing them to 10x engagement.

Working with a leader who values the team makes a huge difference for the entire team, not just you. They become better at their jobs and are more loyal to the team, and your customers will feel this.

Delegation Becomes Easier

Do you have a difficult time delegating tasks to your team members? Do you often feel like you’re asking too much of them, and maybe it’s better you do it yourself?

If you’ve ever felt this way, you might want to take your team on a camping trip. Say what? 

When you’re in an office, it might be easier to do tasks yourself, especially if they’re easy and somewhat quick. But when you’re outdoors, you won’t always be able to do everything yourself. 

Take camping, for example. 

If you’re putting up a large tent, it takes more than one person to successfully put it up. Delegating tasks, in this instance, can save you a lot of grief and frustration. One person at each tent corner might raise the poles simultaneously.

After your camping trip, you’ll realize that delegating tasks makes things much easier for the entire team, and you become less stressed over the long term. Delegation can become second nature to you when you take your team on outdoor activities more often.

How Outdoor Activities Can Improve Your Leadership 

So far, this all might feel like theory to you, and you’re right–there’s nothing practical yet about how outdoor activities can improve your leadership skills. 

Let’s shift this to the practical side and use a hiking example.

Imagine taking your team out on the trails about 50 miles away on a hiking/camping trip. Now, these trails are very difficult as many of them are steep and can challenge even the most experienced hiker. And in some spots, working as a team is the only way you’re all going to get through it. 

How can this trip improve your leadership skills? And if you want to learn more about what outdoor activities improve leadership skills, check out this article.

You Learn To Adapt Quickly to Changes

When you’re hiking, the weather can change instantly, and if you don’t quickly adapt and make allowances for your team’s safety, it could spell disaster. Or, the trail might have sunk, and it’s no longer there.

The workplace can change almost as quickly. 

Your hiking trip shows you how to adapt quickly to changes, which can create more confidence in the workplace. While it might not be a matter of life or death in your organization, it can mean getting a huge contract or losing it, which in turn can be the difference between success and failure.

You Learn How To Set Realistic Goals

If your team is slightly out of shape and cannot hike several miles in steep, hilly terrain, it would be unrealistic to make this a goal. Instead, a more realistic goal might be to hike a mile on flatter terrain. 

Knowing what your team can accomplish in the workplace can also help you set realistic goals. If they can’t complete a project in 24 hours, maybe 48 hours or more might be a more realistic goal. 

Hiking, or other outdoor activities, can teach you that realistic goals in the workplace are just as important as they are in nature. If you want to know which outdoor activities improve leadership skills.

You Learn What’s Important To Your Team

Humans tend to talk about anything and everything while hiking. As you’re hiking with your team and away from the workplace, walls come down, and you’ll see an entirely different side of them. 

They’ll talk about their families, hobbies, passions, and other important things.

After your hiking trip, you’ll know what makes your team tick, which can create a bond with your team and improve team communication.

Natural Characteristics That Make a Good Outdoor Leader

Do you have what it takes to make a good outdoor leader? You might be an “okay” leader in the office, but the stakes aren’t as high or fast-paced as outdoors. When leading outdoor activities, certain qualities could make you a good outdoor leader.

Why are we talking about this? As you learn leadership skills outdoors, these natural characteristics can transfer to your organization and allow you to lead, rather than boss, your team.

You Want To Help Others

A good leader isn’t a leader because they want to live in the spotlight, but rather, they want to help others enjoy the spotlight too. A natural desire to help others achieve their goals creates a nurturing environment in the workplace and space for others to expand their abilities in outdoor sports.

Wanting to help others makes you a good leader in all areas of your life, not just outdoors.

You Listen To Others

A good outdoor leader listens to others. You don’t know everything, nor will you ever know everything, and when you understand this, you’re in a better place to truly and authentically listen to others. 

Leading outdoor activities, you might not know that a large storm is coming or the dangers on the trail ahead of your group if you’re hiking. If someone tells you something about these dangers, and you don’t listen, your group could face serious trouble.

This transfers to the workspace. When you listen to others with different skills and experiences, you can learn from each other for the organization’s good.

You Know You’re Not More Important Than Others

We all like to think we’re the most important people. A good outdoor leader knows they aren’t more important than the others on their team. 

Imagine if an outdoor leader thought they were more important than other people.

Who do you think they would think of during that avalanche scenario when getting out of the path? Themselves. The others would have to hurry to get out of the way, and without calm and logical leadership, lives would be lost.

Conclusion

Outdoor leadership allows you to practice your leadership skills through outdoor team activities and bonding experiences. When you’re ready to get a helping hand with your outdoor leadership skills, feel free to schedule a free coaching call with me. I look forward to talking with you!

Being Vulnerable as a Leader Is a Liability. Here’s Why

Written by Gabriel "Gabo" von Knorring in Leadership Skills,Uncategorized

Being Vulnerable as a Leader Is a Liability. Here’s Why

Vulnerability in leadership involves:

  • Opening yourself up to your team members.
  • Reaching out to them.
  • Closing the gap to encourage more interaction and synergy.

It allows you to show your human side apart from your professional persona as their leader. Some say that vulnerability helps motivate team members and fosters trust.

Vulnerability in leadership is a liability because you run the risk of diminishing your influence over your team. Leaders are seen as strong, capable individuals, and exposing your faults might make you lose your standing. Toxic colleagues and industry competitors may also exploit your weaknesses.

Vulnerability in leadership is a liability because you run the risk of diminishing your influence over your team.

If you’re curious about how vulnerability can affect your leadership style, this article is right up your alley. You’ll discover how vulnerability as a leader can impact your team’s motivation levels, collaboration, and productivity. You’ll also learn how it can affect your stature within your team and the industry you belong to.

The Impact of Vulnerable Leaders on the Team

The impact of vulnerable leaders on the team
The Impact of Vulnerable Leaders on the Team

There has been a lot of noise lately about how showing vulnerability in leadership can positively affect a team. Some say it encourages teamwork and productivity, while others attest that it builds trust and solidifies professional relationships. 

These may be true to a certain extent, but being vulnerable as a leader exposes you to many risks. You may be exploited and manipulated, especially if unscrupulous individuals get hold of sensitive and relevant information about you. Your reputation as a leader may also be put on the line.

Take a look at some of the more glaring ways being vulnerable can have adverse effects on your leadership:

Vulnerable Leaders Needlessly Expose Their Weaknesses

When leading and managing a team, you may sometimes need to connect on a deeper level with them to build stronger bonds and cultivate trust. However, when doing so, you risk revealing your weaknesses, exposing yourself to criticism, and subjecting yourself to embarrassment and disgrace. 

Vulnerability takes fortitude. It may lead to over-familiarity, and you must be aware that when you’re in such a situation, any information other people gather from you may later be used against you. 

Vulnerability takes fortitude. It may lead to over-familiarity, and you must be aware that when you’re in such a situation, any information other people gather from you may later be used against you. 

Be careful when dealing with potentially dangerous individuals who can ruin your career in the blink of an eye. Here are some personality types you might want to be more cautious about:

3 dangerous individuals who can ruin your career
3 Dangerous Individuals Who Can Ruin Your Career
  • Narcissists. These individuals are more eager than most to resort to deceit to manipulate outcomes and ensure they always come out on top. They believe they’re superior to others, are self-serving, and often lack the integrity to achieve their goals honorably.
  • Machiavellians. These people are deceitful and cunning. Unlike narcissists who love basking in the limelight, they prefer working on the sidelines, pulling strings, and manipulating people and circumstances to achieve their desired results. They are highly competitive and are willing to engage in unethical strategies. 
  • Social loafers. These individuals prefer riding on the success of others to achieve the objectives they’ve set for themselves. They are not willing to put in the hard work, are passive-aggressive, and may sometimes pull other people down to get a leg up on their perceived rivals in the business. 

Vulnerability in Leadership Affects Your Reputation

Showing vulnerability as a leader may be seen by other leaders in your company as a weakness, thus providing them an easy opportunity to outperform you. Toxic bosses such as these are often dishonest and scheming, and they will grab every chance they get to promote themselves and fast-track their way up the corporate ladder, even if it means stepping on others along the way.

Showing vulnerability as a leader may be seen by other leaders in your company as a weakness, thus providing them an easy opportunity to outperform you.

Your competitors may also view vulnerability as a weakness that they can abuse. Your respectability and reputation as a worthy adversary may be damaged once your flaws become subjected to harsh criticisms, humiliation, and even ridicule. 

Let’s envision a scenario — You’re in the middle of a full-scale war, deep in the trenches, and you’re the leader of a band of brave men. Enemy forces surround you, and the whole team is looking to you to strategize on how to defeat the enemy and lead everyone out to safety.

You have to be honest with your team. Inform them of your tactics, voice your fears, share your misgivings, and enlighten them about perceived loopholes in the plan. It is impossible to hide your weaknesses and true self from your team. 

If you attempt to do this, they will eventually see through all the bravado and may hold it against you for not being transparent to them. However, if you show your team your true self, they will respect you even more for being forthright, especially about your weaknesses. They may even respond by helping you out.

But will you give your enemies the slightest clue that you harbor all these apprehensions and are working through all those weaknesses? No! You will be brave and show your opponents you’re a force to reckon with.

Being vulnerable as a leader may not be profitable, but practicing transparency within your team and showing them who you are is. 

Being vulnerable as a leader may not be profitable, but practicing transparency within your team and showing them who you are is. 

Vulnerability in Leadership May Demotivate Your Team 

Suppose you have some experience already in leading and managing teams. In that case, you will find that much of your leadership authority and power stems from your recognized superiority in skills and experience in the business. An effective leader is someone the team looks up to as a role model.

It will be much harder to lead and manage a team if you become overly vulnerable and consistently reveal your weaknesses and fears to them. Maintaining a good leadership status becomes more challenging if you constantly show vulnerability to your team members, especially when uncalled for. This may significantly reduce your influence, limit your credibility, diminish your respectability, and damage your authority as a leader. 

Once your authority as a leader is compromised, you will find it easier to effectively lead and manage your team toward the goals you have set. Here are some adverse effects you might observe in your section when you show too much vulnerability as a leader:

  • Diminished productivity. When team members are demotivated, they take on a more passive stance in accomplishing their tasks in an efficient and timely manner. 
  • Poor collaboration. Team members who are demotivated develop disinterest in working synergistically as a group.
  • Low employee satisfaction. When team members are no longer motivated, they will soon become apathetic toward their jobs. Close on its heels are unhappiness and discontent, eventually leading to a higher employee turnover for the company. 
Adverse Effect of showing too much vulnerability as a Leader:Description
Diminished productivityTeam members will take a passive stance in accomplishing their tasks.
Poor collaborationTeam members who are demotivated will be disinterested in working together.
Low employee satisfaction.When team members are no longer motivated, they tend to be unproductive and soon quit.
Adverse Effect of Showing Too Much Vulnerability as a Leader

Here’s a video that shows the adverse effects of vulnerability and 5 signs that you might be “overdoing” it at the expense of your own self-protection, and how you can show up differently.

How to avoid too much vulnerability for your protection

Final Thoughts

Being vulnerable as a leader may be a strength if you expose yourself only to the right people. Those you fully trust, such as good friends, devoted family members, and dependable colleagues, can help you reinforce your strong suits, expand your opportunities, and help work on your weaknesses. 

Alternatively, showing vulnerability to the wrong people can be hugely detrimental. Some people may try to outperform you by exploiting your flaws, while others might attempt to take the upper hand through manipulation and deceit. 

Showing vulnerability as a leader is extremely risky, so go down this road only with people who have already earned your trust and respect.