Social Leadership as a Process
it’s time we shattered the myth of the lone leader.
Leadership has too often been seen as an individualistic endeavor, focusing on personal traits, actions, and achievements. However, effective leadership is fundamentally a social process that involves engaging and influencing others – guiding a team toward a common goal. The most successful leaders embrace the social dynamics of their team to get things done.
Being part of a group or team means actively collaborating with a set of individuals who share a common purpose and work together toward this shared goal. Teams thrive with constant communication, mutual support, collective decision-making, and the utilization of each member’s unique skills and expertise. Healthy teams foster a sense of belonging and shared purpose, and can achieve outcomes far beyond those of individuals working in isolation.
As a leader, you’re part of the team, too. You can empower your team – through social leadership skills – to create motivating environments and enable exceptional outcomes.
Here are 3 of my go-to social leadership framework models to help leaders better understand the social process of leadership:
#1 Know what stage your team is in and how they’re working together
There are 5 phases of team development, and recognizing where your team operates from really is crucial when it comes to collaboration. Here’s a brief overview – for more, I recommend you check out this article.
Forming – The early stages of a team. There may be feelings of insecurity, and low collaboration as team members may be cautious working with others and are learning how their strengths fit into the group’s existing culture. The sooner the leader can reduce uncertainty and establish trust, the better.
Storming – As the team organizes itself, interpersonal conflicts may surface, creating a stormy atmosphere. Leaders may feel frustrated by a lack of progress and question how much influence they have on the team.
Norming – Ways of working have been established, team members feel they can trust one another, communication is flowing, and collaboration is the norm. The leader may feel like they can start to share leadership.
Performing – Not every team is destined for this phase, although wouldn’t it be great? Roles are clear, team members understand each other, commitment is high, people are having fun, and there’s a strong sense of collaboration and momentum.
Adjourning – When a key player (or any player, for that matter) leaves, change and transition are top of mind. There may be feelings of loss, betrayal, and competition as people eye an open role.
I wanted to introduce these stages because they can give you a reliable indication of how easy or hard executing the DAC framework (keep reading…) will be. When people aren’t yet mentally functioning as a team, when there’s a lack of trust, or when change management has been rocky, all these things will (or should) change the delivery of your vision.
#2 Get direction, Alignment, and Commitment
DAC (Direction + Alignment + Commitment) leadership model is all about how to work together as a group so the group succeeds. This powerful & practical framework helps managers move from vision to victory! Here’s how DAC might look in action:
At their desk, a manager prepares to brief their team on a new project or initiative, formulating a message and vision that’s clear, concrete, and deadline-driven.
On a team call, the manager introduces the project, articulating the goals and expectations, giving direction to the team, so everyone knows what they need to be accomplishing together and why.
In 1:1s that week, the manager follows up with each team member and organizes, coordinates, and synchronizes each person to make sure they’re in alignment with the project goals. (This may happen for the group as a whole during project standups or status checks.)
The manager watches as the team displays ownership and commitment, taking mutual responsibility for success, collaborating and putting forth extra effort.
I’ve watched this framework transform teams, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to walk leaders through it more practically in an upcoming virtual workshop – the last of our summer Leadership Fundamentals series. I hope you’ll join us!
3. get to know your team members’ styles so you can adapt your style
Trust is built both on an individual level and a team level. And on the individual level, one size does not fit all – each person needs and wants to be treated uniquely. Not only does everyone communicate in different ways, but they receive communication in different ways based on the trust they have in you and their perception of your competence.
(If you haven’t figured it out by now, leadership can be exhausting!)
One great place to start for understanding how personalities work in the workplace is the DiSC communication styles model. In short, DiSC describes quadrants of four behavioral styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. While everyone has some components of each, once you identify your team members’ preferences, it will illuminate what each individual needs, and how you can motivate, encourage, and reward them. More to come from me on this soon…
The idea here is that while everyone on your team needs to feel like they’re getting the same leader, you do need to flex and adapt to the needs of each individual in the moment.
Troubleshooting
Leadership is a continuous journey of growth and development as you learn how to bring out the best in your team – which means that inevitably, things won’t go perfectly. You’ll mis-speak, mis-step, and make mistakes. If you view these stumbles as learning opportunities, however, you don’t have to lose all that trust you’ve worked so hard to earn with your team.
have humility
Recognize your opportunities to be humble. If you notice the team feeling a lack of clarity, direction, or sense of their purpose as a contributor, go back to them and try your “Direction” messages again. Here are some prefaces you can use to help kick off those conversations that might feel oh-so-awkward:
“I’m realizing I didn’t explain myself clearly…”
“I’m going to say it a different way because I’ve been getting a lot of questions…”
follow up/check in
Have a plan for measuring the uptake of the vision and direction you re-set. Hopefully you’ve made a commitment to regular 1:1s – these create the perfect space to get feedback from your team (remember, it’s a two-way conversation).
“Now that we’re all aligned, in our next 1:1 I’ll be checking in to see how you’re doing with ____.”
Fail fast
If something didn’t go well, acknowledge it, take care of it, and move on. Turn this into a learning opportunity for you and the team at large, then move quickly into the next purposeful project.
“As you all know, [project / direction / initiative] ended early. I wanted to take a moment to reflect together on what didn’t go well, what we can learn, and where we go from here…”
get feedback
Specifically ask a trusted team member to give you feedback. It’s okay to be transparent that you’re still learning – transparency builds trust!
“I’d love to go for coffee later today. I’d like to talk about your feedback on ________ because I’m working on ___________…”
Wrapping it up
I hope it’s obvious by now that leadership goes way beyond directing and decision-making.
A social approach to leadership involves a set of principles that include building relationships, understanding how the team is functioning as a whole and as individuals, and knowing how to get alignment and commitment from your team. When you understand these social dynamics, you can leverage your team’s collective strengths to unlock key elements of engagement, productivity, and success.
Lead the way,
