Reason for action

There are many leaders in the world. To lead, each leader has his or her own approach. You often see and hear about these leaders and what their goals are, who they have inspired and what they have achieved. In daily life, you also have leaders. Not of a large group, but still important for the functioning of a team. Leaders often manage to achieve their goals regardless of size. This made me interested in how this works. This is why I came up with the following research question: How do I develop myself into a good leader?

For my research question, I talked to four people who all have experience in leading companies of different sizes. With the help of my coach, Christoph Hinske, I learned interview techniques and ways of analysis that allowed me to answer my question. With the help of the collected data and Christoph's help, I was able to answer my question with a causal-loop diagram.

Workflow

To be a leader, you first need an assignment. From this assignment you can identify your goal, gather the necessary people and put together your team. With your team, you can put together a plan that describes in a structured way what you are going to do, how you are going to achieve it and what your milestones are. Based on your plan, you will divide tasks so that each team member has the same level of workload in which he or she specialises. By drawing up a plan, you can work step by step, making your work more efficient and less time-consuming. This creates more time to help others, allowing you to give each other feedback within the team. By giving feedback to each other, each member passes on a piece of knowledge, which enables him or her to gain more knowledge and experience so that the next assignment goes better.

Development 

In order to function well as a leader, you need a team behind you. It can happen that team members do not know each other and have no experience with each other. This could lead to a slower pace of work but, conversely, to an acceleration of a process. Because members know each other they trust each other and are open to each other. This makes them more open to coaching others. Because team members coach each other, an environment is created in which learning is easier and members become curious about other knowledge. This gives them perspective for new developments, which motivates them to learn and to talk about it with others, so they can help those team members further. These team members will in turn add extra value to the workflow.

Team spirit

Having knowledge within a team does not always lead to a good outcome if the team does not function well. To create a well-functioning team as a leader, you need to trust each other. With this trust in each other, the working environment becomes calmer and team members will not feel uncomfortable. The team members will have to feel in their place. As a result, more will be spoken about within the team because the barrier to speaking up is lower. The lines of communication become shorter. This encourages team members to share more information within a conversation because it becomes more informal. In a formal conversation, team members feel compelled to share the requested information while in an informal conversation, additional information may come out which may be just as important. Informal conversation makes team members feel more comfortable within the team, which improves team cohesion. This will not only add value to the workflow but also increase trust in others.

Conclusion

In short, leadership involves a lot. A good workflow is needed to get the process going, an urge to develop is needed within the team to constantly improve good performance and a high team spirit will ensure that the system keeps running. Applying these aspects while managing a team can lead to achieving your goal as a leader.