People Leadership – What Is It And How To Develop It? – Part 1

In the previous blog posts you have looked into the first two pillars ‘Company Leading’ and’ Self-Leading’. It is time to see what you can do about ‘People Leading’. As your start-up grows, you will have to deal with more and more people and this also means being more and more flexible and understanding each person in your team to ensure they and you enjoy the journey. Here is part 1 for you.

Clarity

Clarity. A word that sounds simple to implement but isn’t at all. With everyone communicating in their own way, with their own words (see also verbal and non-verbal communication below) and even interpreting differently, it is not easy to give a clear message that is understood in the same way by everyone.

Remember: If you want to be clear, you should phrase it in a way so it is understood by the people you are talking to and maybe even checked if they understood correctly. Being clear with instructions and expected outcome needs to be carefully put together.

Keep everyone up to date

Not having big secrets with the team is essential. Transparency is key. Of course, the team does not need to know everything but if there are developments within the company that affect everyone, it is better to communicate them to the team. But be aware of also offering solutions or tips on how to handle things. Nothing is worse than informing the team about some bad news and then leaving them on their own. Here, your leadership skills need to shine. Offering an open dialogue, making them feel part of the team and giving suggestions on how to deal with the news is crucial. You should also show them that you are working on a solution if there is none established yet. Similar things apply to good news.

Verbal and non-verbal communication

There are many ways to build a good relationship (rapport) with a person in your team. The two main things: body language and words. One thing to keep in mind with this is that you have to adjust your methods depending on your setting – meeting on a 1:1 basis, in front of a small group or a large crowd.

Having meetings

Meetings are unavoidable. Sometimes though it looks like we have meetings just to have a meeting but there are no desired outcomes and they feel like a waste of time. So, before setting up meetings, make sure they are actually necessary. Can the information be communicated in another way? When setting up a meeting, it is important to follow some ground rules – a meeting etiquette – and to also communicate those to the team members.

Depending on the lengths of the meeting, you should consider having some breaks. This helps to reset the concentration as well as giving the team to digest some information.

If you would like to explore all of these points further, you can take a look at the book ‘The 3 pillars of leadership’ here.