Leaders, Are your teams energized?

Retired CEO Jack Welch once said, "We have to undo a 100-year-old concept and convince our managers that their role is not to control people and stay ''on top'' of things, but rather to guide, energize, and excite."

Are your teams excited and energized? If they are, you are probably doing some of the following leadership practices:

Guiding

The leader as "Guide" is like a sherpa, one who is familiar with the terrain ahead. As John Maxwell once said "The leader knows the way, shows the way, and goes the way." This means sharing the vision with the team and building their self-confidence by accompanying the team into the exciting unknown.

Coaching

The leader as "Coach" is there to support and motivate the team. This means boosting the capabilities of the team to meet the challenges they are facing. As Don Shula once said, "Your job is to instruct, discipline, and inspire them to do things better than they thought they could do on their own."

Mentoring

The leader as "Mentor" raises the sights of the team to begin to discern their own future possibilities. This means sharing your experience and wisdom to help them develop career perspective.

Liberating

The leader as "Liberator" is there to free the team from any shackles that will keep them from greatness. This means removing external obstacles (like bureaucratic "red tape") that may threaten to slow the team's advance, but also internal obstacles that might undo the team's effectiveness from within. Especially the danger of dependence on the leader.

As the legendary Lao Tzu once said, "A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." This is the outcome of liberation the best leaders look for.

If your team is struggling, take a look in the mirror. Ask yourself, what have You as their leader been doing? How have you contributed to their struggle?

Then read my previous post, "The Stop-Start-Continue Method" for a way to begin changing.

Terrence Seamon has over thirty years of business experience in leadership development, management training, team building, and organizational change, in both internal as well as external consulting roles. Terry has a Master’s degree in Education from Rutgers Graduate School of Education, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Human Communication from Rutgers. His main interest areas these days are change and transition, job search coaching, stress and wellness, employee engagement, and leadership development. You can find him on twitter at tseamonand on facebook at Facilitation Solutions.

Learn more about leadership, get Terry's book Lead the Way.