By Johann Odou
Being a leader often requires one to wear several hats, portray different roles and attend to so many responsibilities. Having the right skills and qualities can help leaders to lead their team towards their goals. Johann Odou, Founder and Director of Vumero and Executive Director of Sports Tech World Series shares the three most valuable traits he believes are needed in leading people successfully.
It’s an insightful exercise to stop and think deeply about a given topic and compare what you believe to be true vs what you observe yourself doing regularly. While there are many traits that I believe are involved in allowing someone to be an effective leader of people, here are three that I have found myself using (and wanting to get better at) this year that have had a significant impact keeping our team and business together and pushing forward.
Ability to create an environment for openness
This year, more than any other, I’ve found myself a lot more conscious about ensuring people feel comfortable in speaking what’s on their mind. This is such an important pressure release valve to make sure the real issues come to the surface and can be addressed (be they strategic, interpersonal, etc). Sometimes, it has been as simple as making sure to take the time to ask or go on a walking meeting where it can be easier to have more of an open-ended conversation.
Knack on translation
Again and again in business (and in other areas of life), I hear people essentially arguing about wanting the same thing. The problem is that they are talking about it in different ways and using different languages. The stress and pressure of this year have certainly amplified this at times. As a leader, the ability to listen and understand what people are trying to communicate and explain it to someone else but in a different way has been incredibly valuable. This principle was captured brilliantly in a little cartoon a saw recently…
I’m now always on the lookout for when I might need to play the role of a translator.
Effective story-telling skills
People enjoy stories. They remember them, and as human species, we are hard-wired to understand them. But there is a difference between recounting what happened and telling a story. This year, I have often found myself asking how can I make this more like a story? How can I create some form of tension that needs to be resolved? How can I tell this in a way where people will remember the principle or moral of the story?
We recently had a filmmaker present at our forum and it was great to get a refresher on some of the key elements that we need to keep in mind when creating a story. It’s a topic that you can come back to regularly and always get better at.
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What traits do you find important in leading a team? Share with us your insights through the comments section below.