It’s a common scenario. A company identifies an employee who’s brilliant at their specific job, and marks them out as a rising star within the organisation.

Because of this, they keep being promoted through the ranks. But there’s a problem.

They’re not a good manager.

So they fail in their attempts at leadership. It’s not their fault – they’ve just never been taught basic leadership skills, such as good communication or how to give and take feedback.

As a result, the team below them starts to fall apart.

Mind the gap

All great things are built upon strong foundations, and businesses are no exception.

However, too many leaders make the mistake of wanting to learn advanced leadership strategies before they’ve tried to master the basics – with often devastating results.

If managers don’t get a good grounding in fundamental leadership techniques then it leaves a gap. And without this basic knowledge, they can resort to making it up as they go along.

This can lead to them making simple mistakes, which not only impacts the team – but also the wider organisation.

The solution to this problem lies in rewinding a little; going back and learning those early leadership skills.

Back to basics

Doing the simple things to a world-class standard creates a stable foundation.

And when this happens in business, it means that leaders are better prepared to handle the more complex demands being thrown at them, especially in today’s uncertain climate.

Fail to put the world-class fundamentals in place, and managers are setting themselves up to fail. Their leadership efforts will be hampered and ineffective.

Think of it as like trying to construct the Empire State Building on quicksand in a storm. That’s a situation that is never going to end well!

The serious knock-on effect

Increasingly, we find leaders want to learn things like advanced critical decision-making, microeconomics, and how to become an advanced negotiator.

But while they’re keen to advance themselves, they’re often still struggling with the essential skills. They’re lacking self-awareness and good communication. You can’t become a strong leader without these core skills – so there’s no point in trying to run before you can walk (the walk).

It’s like leaders willingly jumping into the deep end of the pool before they’ve even learned doggy paddle – and it’s a terrible idea for the business. At best, it results in reduced performance. At worst, it can contribute to a complete breakdown of the culture and mass attrition.

It’s important to remember that there’s a hierarchy of skills that need to be honed under pressure in the real world before moving onto the next.

Hitting the right notes

Leading a team is a bit like conducting an orchestra; every individual has a part to play, and they have to play it well.

But even the best teams can fail if they don’t have strong enough foundations.

Patrick Lencioni’s model – Five Dysfunctions of a Team – is a useful way of diagnosing and solving many issues in teams and organisations.

It’s a classic pyramid to explain the five main problems that a team may face:

• Absence of trust – for example, are people reluctant to ask for help?
• Fear of conflict – do colleagues avoid disagreements and debate?
• Lack of commitment – do individuals consistently fail to follow through on their work?
• Avoidance of accountability – are team members turning a blind eye to low standards and mistakes?
• Inattention to results – are colleagues more focussed on their individual goals than the success of the team as a whole?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above when considering the team you lead, then you could have some work to do. And this begins with you as a leader.

The five issues in Lencioni’s framework occur in a pyramid, with trust at the bottom and the results at the top. Each issue or behaviour impacts and supports the others. So, if you don’t get the first layer right – the foundational trust at the bottom of the pyramid – you’ll always struggle to resolve other issues.

If you want to be a successful leader, building trust in your team is a vital first step. So, how do you turn this situation around to build a healthy and successful work environment?

Tips to supercharge your teamwork skills

There are a range of practical actions you can use to build and lead a successful team.

• Begin with the first principles of leading a team – starting with the person in the mirror. Get 360-degree feedback on exactly where your skillset is versus the needs that the business has of you. Then level up and never stop. You can’t afford to be the bottleneck or single point of failure in the team.
• Create a consistent framework for success and develop your team to take on more and more responsibility. Do this until you are not needed for the day-to-day jobs. You’re then free to focus on the more strategic value work.

Making yourself redundant in this way will sound and feel counterintuitive. But it’s where the best leaders play the game.

Building a successful team isn’t easy. But by going back and learning the basics, you’ll equip yourself to be able to master more advanced leadership skills. And you’ll go on to see the rewards in terms of leading a more successful team, with increased collaboration, motivation, retention and productivity.