How do you lead teams to do their best work? It's all about fostering an environment where teams can excel. Drawing from Patrick Lencioni's "5 Dysfunctions of a Team," the emphasis is on building trust and psychological safety. As a new leader, your role shifts from individual contributions to unlocking your team's potential.

Trust is the bedrock of high-performing teams. It's cultivated when members can share weaknesses without judgment. Embracing vulnerability as a leader, acknowledging mistakes, and building strong relationships are key.

Psychological safety, defined as a space where one can speak up without fear of retribution, is essential for constructive conflict and growth. Leaders should aim for transparency, delegate decision-making, and focus on outcomes over methods. In essence, a leader's success intertwines with their team's, and creating a safe, trusting environment is paramount.

How do you lead teams to do their best work? It's all about fostering an environment where teams can excel. Drawing from Patrick Lencioni's "5 Dysfunctions of a Team," the emphasis is on building trust and psychological safety. As a new leader, your role shifts from individual contributions to unlocking your team's potential.

Trust is the bedrock of high-performing teams. It's cultivated when members can share weaknesses without judgment. Embracing vulnerability as a leader, acknowledging mistakes, and building strong relationships are key.

Psychological safety, defined as a space where one can speak up without fear of retribution, is essential for constructive conflict and growth. Leaders should aim for transparency, delegate decision-making, and focus on outcomes over methods. In essence, a leader's success intertwines with their team's, and creating a safe, trusting environment is paramount.

In today's complex business world, many leaders find themselves operating within matrix organizations, where they must navigate dual reporting relationships and collaborate with various functional teams. Success in this environment depends not only on leading your team to deliver top-notch work but also on effectively managing your lateral stakeholders. Unfortunately, this skill is often overlooked within organizations, leaving leaders struggling to find the right approach. Through my coaching and mentoring work, I have helped leaders engage with their stakeholders authentically, building trust and fostering collaboration.

Mary Abbajay’s Managing Up (2018) explores ways to improve your relationship with your boss. Featuring effective strategies for coping with any type of manager, it explains how you can deal with difficult leaders and how to turn a bad boss into a great opportunity for professional growth. I find these archetypes also hugely beneficial in engaging with lateral stakeholders. In complex organisations where you have to align and engage with many stakeholders to deliver on your individual goals and responsibilities.

Feeling micro-managed by a boss is often a self-inflicted wound. I learned that it is crucial to distinguish between the "why" and "what" versus the "how" in your interactions. By clearly communicating your capabilities and seeking guidance only when needed, you can create a more empowering and autonomous working relationship with your boss, and break that chain. Remember, it's not about avoiding feedback or discussions altogether, but rather redirecting the focus towards the bigger picture and strategic objectives.