Vertical Leader and Team Development. Where to Draw From and How to Store Energy

In today’s pandemic and remote working environment, the old model of doing business is not viable. New management mechanisms and ways of adapting to the rapidly changing reality are needed.

Working remotely, it is difficult to understand when work begins and ends. An employee is under constant stress. Doesn’t feel the drive to work because he gets tired of the confusion.

Solving problems here and now is important to move forward. Where does a manager get the strength and energy to help his team, and to take an active part in his own family? And you have to work with huge volumes of information in conditions of multitasking and constant search for new solutions.

One of our speakers Jane R Williams shares the secrets of successful development, covering three areas:

  • Corporate culture and self-organization practices;
  • Vertical leadership development;
  • Working with personal and team energy.

Let’s consider each area in more detail.

Corporate Culture and Self-Organization Practices

Corporate culture involves core principles that form a picture of the world and make it easier to overcome adversity. “We are based on a spiral dynamic model. This is when an organization goes through certain stages of development and can’t jump to the next branch without working off the previous one.”

The basic levels of spiral dynamics model

Management culture in the world for a long time existed at red level, when the company was a staff with a leader at the head. All tasks and their solutions were locked into one person – the leader.

The next stage of the model is the blue level – the level of order and classic management, when the head delegates power to a group of people. It is they who make decisions in the company in a coordinated manner. At this stage all processes are adjusted, the team is formed, stable work without failures is achieved.

The orange level is the period when the structured company thirsts for the drive, the struggle with competitors, the evaluation of its potential in comparison with similar companies. At this stage, employee burnout is inevitable because of the daily struggle for supremacy.

Green level – the level of agreement, when companies-competitors unite in the name of a common goal, better results, exchange of experience.

Yellow level – companies united by the principle “do no harm to nature, build an ecological connection with the environment”.

Turquoise level – globality, when the companies in the process of their activity bring something new and useful to the world.

Self-organization practices

Circles are formed to solve certain issues. This is not the classic delegation, when the manager assigns a task and controls its implementation at all stages. It’s about something else: the employee himself chooses the way to solve the issue with his team. And provides the supervisor with a task that has already been completed. Such a principle allows:

  • to achieve the result;
  • to be successful;
  • to adapt quickly in a turbulent environment;
  • to relieve the centralized management of the company from excessive information flow;
  • to feel their belonging and involvement in the work process even in conditions of a new unfamiliar reality (remote work).

The leader of the circle always adheres to a common strategy. In the activities of the circle, facilitation methods are used, when any employee can disagree with the leader’s decision and speak out. Differences of opinion indicate that not all aspects in the solution of the problem have been considered. Then the team integrates a new solution or handles the objection of the employee, making him understand his value in the company and ownership. In doing so, it is important to solve the problem immediately and not to bring it to the point where “the whole organization goes stale”.

Company values:

  • Provide value to customers, shareholders, and employees. And always evaluate yourself by this indicator.
  • Drive, work with energy. Managers should charge their employees with positive energy.
  • Teamwork in the form of a team game. In this format, all difficulties are overcome more easily.
  • Always learning, adapting, retraining. Knowledge has no ceiling.

The company is a living organism, for the successful development of which the condition of each cell – its employee – is important.

Vertical Development of Leaders

The internal evolution of the leader is possible only in case of constant improvement of his skills. In the QIWI group, leaders are trained on the basis of Theory U. It is based on the principle that “the future already exists, only unequally distributed. And it is possible to adapt to the future. But to do this, you need to turn off the clichés and attitudes from past experience. Because they are the basis for decisions in the present. But when experience is absent, it is impossible to cope with the situation in the future. This is why it is necessary to disconnect past experiences in order to learn to listen to yourself and your inner voice. By being at the point of silence, one learns to sense the future. And in that moment begins to actively act to achieve it.

Personal and Team Energy

The modern leader must not only have leadership skills, IQ and emotional intelligence, but also be able to manage his or her own energy and attention. Not succumb to the interfering influence of past attitudes when making decisions. Be courageous and lead the team forward.

“We are our attention. Where we direct it, that’s where our energy is.” Stress response to excessive information flow interferes with thinking clearly. There are meditation practices during which one delves into the subconscious mind to find solutions. Meditation helps with stress, improves creativity and initiative, and increases awareness in the moment. It is easier to block out extraneous thoughts in this state.

Employees in professional activities mirror the behavior of their leader. That is why it is so important for a leader to be able to control his or her emotions and show empathy. Be calm, balanced and confident.

What energizes the team with positivity in the company:

  • An interest in the work;
  • understanding of the meaning of their work;
  • inner development;
  • successful results and usefulness of their activity;
  • public recognition in professional environment;
  • teamwork.

Of these sources, team spirit is the strongest motivator. And it is maintained by the employees themselves without compulsion with the help of intra-collective customs: online games, Friday music days, etc.

Another important point in the work of a manager as a carrier of positive charge for his team is to talk about good things more often. This strengthens the employee, gives him a sense of ownership and the importance of his role in the company, a sense of stability and a desire to develop with the team. In such an atmosphere everyone wins. And the company achieves the best results.

Every action and life as a whole must have meaning. The task of the leader is to bring it to the employee in each set task. Always support your team, charging it with energy and good humor. Develop yourself and your employees, appreciating their contribution to the common cause. And keep team spirit at a high level. Then the company will prosper and the people who make it up will believe in the leader and follow him.