Bob Gershberg - Great Leaders Build Great Teams - May 2024

Great Leaders Build Great Teams

by Bob Gershberg, CEO/Managing Partner Wray Executive Search

Great leaders understand that their success hinges on the strength and cohesion of their team. They cultivate an environment where each member feels valued, empowered, and motivated to contribute their best. By fostering open communication, trust, and a shared vision, they can bring out the best in each team member and achieve remarkable results collectively. Great leaders build great teams through a combination of strategic vision, effective communication, and a commitment to fostering a positive and inclusive work environment.

Skillful leaders articulate a clear vision for the team and set specific, achievable goals. This gives the team a sense of purpose and direction, aligning their efforts towards a common objective. They carefully select team members who not only have the necessary skills and experience but also complement each other in terms of strengths and personalities. They invest in their team's development, providing training.

Amongst the most important traits a leader must have to attain success, the ability to influence the team and get them to follow are often the most powerful. Building high performance teams requires compassion, integrity, a keen understanding of people, and brilliant communication skills. Just as important as being a great communicator is being a superb listener. Trusting and empowering is essential, but we must ensure that our teams have the resources to develop, advance and excel. Show confidence and conviction in your team. As leaders, we must create direction to develop strategy and execute on a plan. Be confident but hold yourself accountable and be willing to course correct.

Leadership practices can determine how teams feel, observe, and lean on in times of crisis and ambiguity. Your team will remember throughout this period how they were led. They will be concerned about the information coming through and that their leaders are committed to finding the best solutions for them. Leadership must be conscious, continual, and courageous to lead through a crisis and bring people along graciously. By leading a team of raving fans, and supporting them to remain focused, you will see practices that contribute to team effectiveness productivity and collaboration.

Know your teams’ respective strengths and weaknesses to bring out the best in them. Recognize their skills and expertise to acknowledge their value and drive motivation.  Know your team well. Understand how they think. This will go far in activating the talent around you effectively.

Establish expectations and priorities. Communicate values to new team members. Clearly define roles and responsibilities and make certain the team recognizes others’ dependence and interconnectivity. Be fair and consistent with recognition as well as criticism. Show confidence in your team and their skills to ensure they feel capable, qualified and powerful. Inspire team members to meet company goals and objectives. Empower them to express their thoughts and take ownership of opportunities. Trust them to make things happen and they will do just that.

Celebrate, not just acknowledge, the team and each team members’ success loudly.  This is particularly important in these current times of uncertainty. Motivate with positive reinforcement. Everybody loves recognition but are most appreciative of respect.   Take the time to give your team the proper accolades they have earned and deserve. Building loyalty and trust is the path to glory. Forge great relationships with your team and encourage the same between them. Great leaders are masterful at building great teams.

And now for the shameless plug:

If you are headed into the 2nd half with a less than stellar leadership team, we have been instrumental in building the industry’s best leadership teams for fifty years. Happy to discuss partnering to make 2024 and beyond the best years ever!

All the best, 

Bob Gershberg |CEO|Managing Partner|

Email: bob@wraysearch.com

Direct: 727-244-4113

Finding tomorrow’s leaders today!