Leaders Influence Team Performance and Goal Achievement

The ability to influence the leadership skills of your team members in order to meet organizational demands is a complex element of the overall leadership development picture. Leaders are tasked with effectively guiding organizational goal achievement while considering team member skills necessary to produce the desired output.

A focus on balancing talent development with organizational goal achievement will place the company on a trajectory of achieving performance success. Motivating team members toward goal achievement is no small task. Essentially, leaders should reflect behaviors that inspire and motivate people to change.

Though motivation factors vary across an organization, there are many leadership qualities common to successful leaders. Leadership qualities that influence goal achievement include the ability to create a clear vision, the ability to understand organizational culture, the ability to focus on performance development, and the ability to encourage innovation.

Make the Vision Plan

Vision is the foundation that allows the organization to flourish for goal achievement. Awareness of the organizational vision provides a directional compass for each contributor within the organization to follow. Depending on the leadership level, many leaders are not responsible for creating the vision for the company. They are responsible for:

• Articulating the vision
• Aligning team members to operational strategies
• Taking steps necessary to achieve company priorities linked to the vision

For example, leaders may engage team members in activities that correlate to fulfilling revenue, growth, and organizational culture goals. Team members may brainstorm methods to improve the interaction between departments targeting improved organizational culture. This type of activity allows a team to focus on accomplishing departmental tasks that translate to the company goals and vision.

Culture Club

Understanding organizational culture is a critical skill for leaders to develop. Culture includes team members’ values, goals, attitudes, and assumptions. Each of these attributes plays a role in the ability of leaders to motivate individuals and teams to achieve the organization’s vision. The leader must know how to manage the factors that impact the organizational culture in order to effectively support the needs of team members.

To build an organization of mutual respect and understanding, leaders must understand behavioral patterns that contribute to the desired culture. In this case, he or she will continue efforts that build unity within the organization. This may include contests and employee recognition programs.

Successful leaders must also be attentive to detractors threatening the ideal culture. To gain awareness of attitudes and assumptions that may jeopardize organizational performance, leaders may implement focus groups or surveys to identify what team members need to create an improved culture.

Establishing a welcoming environment where employees are free to engage with leaders fosters open communication with team members. This open communication allows for increased creativity and ingenuity.

Establishing a welcoming environment where employees can engage with leaders fosters open communication with team members. This open communication allows for increased creativity and ingenuity.

Coach, Coach, Coach

Another consideration of leaders who motivate the workforce to achieve success is coaching and performance development. The leader should engage in observation and performance discussions that are critical to ensure that desired behaviors are demonstrated. Frequent performance assessment is a means of identifying what skills the team member demonstrates and those areas that require additional focus.

Leader coaching and development provides the framework for the team member to contribute to the company strategy and achievement of goals. For example, leaders may consider strategies relevant to the outcome of performance coaching. Strategies may include making decisions about the goal and how to accomplish them through the employee. The team member is an integral part of this discussion.

Allowing the team member to assess his or her own performance and identify areas of success and opportunity will yield maximum benefits. By engaging the team member in performance development discussions, the coaching conversation becomes more robust.

In this instance, the leader is able to build an environment of trust and partnership. This partnership offers a framework for the team member to carry out the collective strategic vision.

The Life Source of Great Companies – Innovation

Next, organizations thrive when the presence of innovative behaviors exists. Leaders that support a ‘what box?’ philosophy create a place where ideas can flourish. This philosophy removes the boundaries of bureaucracy that limit productivity and invention.

Help team members remove barriers to creativity by implementing brainstorming or mind mapping to develop ideas to solve business problems. From personal experience, leading teams that develop ideas creates improved teamwork, professional growth, and the ability to network with others. It is a great way for individuals within the organization to manage projects or take another role within the organization to gain experience.

It is important to note that there are certain risks that are involved in the open innovation structure. Risk factors may include imbalance across the organization when employees do not adopt new ideas proposed by team members. Another risk factor involves communication barriers. Both risks can quickly stifle progress.

Here’s What Leaders Can Do

• Communicate the rules of engagement and team member responsibilities to ensure open dialogue and exchange of ideas. This participatory approach will minimize the risks of innovation while maintaining progress and harmony in the workplace.
• Demonstrate awareness that the human quotient is the driving force behind organizational success. This is the stuff that leaders seek to build individual and collective performance. Such a move is necessary for companies seeking a return on investment from the cost of hiring the best talent!

One of the most important functions of leaders is to articulate the vision and create opportunities for team members to thrive. In doing so, leaders understand the organization’s heartbeat and determine effective methods to influence employees to perform at optimum levels of goal achievement.

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• What’s the Point of Innovation in Leadership?
• What Does Innovation Mean: Rebirth or Sustainability?
• 5 Reasons Why Hiring a Life Coach Is a Must
• 5 Ways a Career Coach Helps You Reach Your Goals

How Do Leaders Work Toward Goal Achievement?

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Florida Starks

Dr. Florida E. Starks is an Area Training Manager at Verizon. With more than 22 years in corporate higher education, her primary objective is managing new hire training, continuing education initiatives, employee on boarding, and enterprise change strategy.