In a world that changes so fast, and where competition for resources increases every day – You can’t afford to be left behind.
So, recognising emerging Leadership improvement best practice and trends, and getting in front of the curve is ultimately the path to success.
Leadership improvement techniques over the last few decades have not changed much. However, how we work and who we are as individuals has.
The drivers of motivation, performance, behaviour and influence have shifted.
But we seem to be mapping and motivating our team with techniques that date back over 10 or even 20 years.
Effective leaders have the ability to:
- Communicate well
- Motivate their team
- Handle and delegate responsibilities
- Listen to feedback, and have the flexibility to solve problems in an ever-changing workplace
Employers seek these skills in the candidates they hire for leadership.
The Company Team Leadership Charter
However, many organisations do not include their leaders in the development of the company “Team Leadership Charter”.
Therefore, many leaders either don’t know it, or have little “buy in”, as it’s not their creation.
A Leadership Charter should be developed by Leaders, for Leaders.
It will outline the behaviours identified as most important to the department, so you can achieve goals and create a positive workplace.
5 Reasons You Need a Team Leadership Charter
1. Seeking Truth
Be curious and take time to understand the problems and pressures you are facing.
Be visible, accessible and seek your input
2. Being Inclusive
Proactively listen to you, communiate and share information openly, involving you in decisions.
3. Being Tenacious
Be resilient and lead from the front in challenging times.
Be courageous and do what’s right, not easy.
4. Empowering People
Support you to learn, operate a no-blame culture when mistakes are made and work together to achieve our goals.
Trust you do do your job, help support you and your decisions and recognise your contributions to the organisation.
5. Making a Difference
Ensure your work akes a positive impact and focuses on our customers.
Drive the quality of our work by encouraging innovations and initiative.
Here is a useful diagram reiterating the 5 reasons you need a Team Leadership Charter
To Create a Team Map and Leadership Charter for Your Business
Think about these crucial 4 points:
- Do you have a Leadership Charter that aligns to your Vision, Mission and Values?
- Do you have a Leadership Charter that is aligned to your business?
- When is the last time you have reviewed this?
- Did your leaders play an active role in creating your company “WHY”?
What is a Leadership Charter?
A Leadership Charter represents:
- How the department’s executive leadership group wish to be known.
- How they want to lead with a common set of tools and language to relate to each other, stakeholders, and staff.
Why Do You Need a Leadership Charter?
It is highly recommend creating a Team Leadership Charter to collectively define the purpose of the team.
As well, this will also clarify factors that will lead to success for the team – team goals, deliverables, milestones, key values and behaviours.
The Team Leadership Charter acts as a vision for the team, helping to get crystal clear on why the team exists and on their focus. Ultimately, it serves as a touchstone for decision making and day to day behaviour, and how to collectively lead and grow the business.
Additionally, it is the first step in the development of mapping your team’s performance.
The benefits of a Team Leadership Charter are numerous, including:
- Ensuring buy-in from all team members
- Holding all team members accountable
- Clarifying roles and responsibilities within the team
- Demonstrating the team’s purpose to the rest of the organisation
- Providing clarity and reducing confusion in cases where conflicts may arise
A Team Leadership Charter is created collectively
Therefore, it encourages buy-in and support from every member of the team.
Moreover, it motivates, inspires and energises providing the clarity around the who, what, and why of the team. Fundamentally, when team members come and go – it is important to review and revise the team charter to allow new team members equal contribution, support, and buy-in.
We have developed many Team Leadership Charters and seen them in action, and watched teams flourish.
Examples of Team Leadership Charters
One of the best examples of a Team Leadership Charter is a big, bold and colourful laminated page.
Additionally, it needs to be proudly displayed in a prominent position for all team members and others in an organisation to see.
This acts as a constant reminder to team members of their purpose. It also allows others that interact with the team. Ultimately, this will lead to an understanding as to why your team exists and what drives it to succeed.
Sample of a Team Leadership Charter
Team Mapping
When you agree on your Team Leadership Charter, your leaders are then ready to map their teams. Consequently, they are now prepared to develop a unified approach to increasing performance across the business.
A Team is defined as:
“A small group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable.”
When it comes to a team – performance and accountability go hand in hand.
And for this to be successful, a team needs to be united. Unified Team management is the ability of an individual or an organisation to administer and coordinate a group of individuals to perform a task.
Impact on Bottom Line
The Financial Reality
It’s not just about smoother operations – this directly affects your bottom line. We’ve seen the impact of Leadership Charters on critical business metrics:
- Sales teams maintain more consistent pipelines
- Client relationships become more stable and profitable
- Resources are used more efficiently across departments
What is your organisation is leaving on the table without a clear Leadership Charter?.
Hidden costs add up quickly – from the obvious ones like recruitment costs when good leaders leave.
To the less visible but equally damaging costs of missed opportunities and delayed market responses.
Create a Team Map and Leadership Charter for your business needs:
Call KONA on 1300 611 288 for a conversation, or email info@kona.com.au anytime.
