Top Social Skills Every Team Lead Should Have
Introduction
You’ve been placed in a leadership role in your company, which means that you’ll need to not only be an expert in your field of work but also a social adept. In the past, it might have been enough to get by with technical skills and a breezy personality. But today’s market demands much more than being able to get along with coworkers and charm customers.
Especially when it comes to remote team management, a brand new set of soft skills is required.
A team lead needs to be able to read people, empathize with them, and communicate effectively. Many underestimate the importance of social skills and the overall impact of leadership on organizational performance. Today, in the post-pandemic world, where growing remote work is going to make in person social interaction less frequent, it is becoming even more crucial that team leaders prioritize how to improve social skills.
So if you’re wondering how you’re going to master team lead skills on top of all your other responsibilities, don’t worry! In this post I’ll show you how to unleash your leadership potential…
What are social skills?
Social skills are the way we interact with other people. They’re a set of behaviors that help us get along with others and express ourselves. In short, they help us to be effective in our interactions with others.
Social skills are not just about getting along with others or simple verbal communication—they’re also about being able to express yourself and your feelings so you can understand what’s going on inside you, how you communicate with your body language and be understood by others (which is essential for being able to get along).
Why are social skills important?
You may be wondering why developing social skills is so important in day to day business, especially when you could simply use your smarts and management skills to get ahead. Social skills are much more than a way to make friends and influence people. They’ll actually help you move from a good team leader to a great team leader. They’ll help you get promoted, improve your health, and overall increase your chances of getting what you want.
A recent study found that people with strong social skills earn on average $29,000 more per year than those who lack them. This is because effective communicators have an easier time managing their emotions during stressful situations—and they’re more likely to rise through the ranks at work due to their ability to build relationships with other employees in every social situation.. They also tend to have higher self-esteem and greater confidence in themselves as individuals who deserve success in whatever field or role they choose!
Socialization is also critical for human beings’ health: it helps us reduce stress by building relationships with others who share similar interests or experiences (like being parents). But even if there’s no one else around (or if all your friends/colleagues live far away), talking out loud about what’s bothering you can still help ease anxiety by giving voice to feelings that have been kept bottled up inside until now!”
What is a team lead?
A team lead is a person who is responsible for the overall performance of a team. They are responsible for creating an environment where each member of their team can do their best work, and they need to ensure that all tasks get done on time and according to company standards. An ideal team lead has the ability not only to establish and maintain good relationships with others but also possess technical skills necessary for handling the work required by their job.
Team leadership skills can be learned through education or training programs offered by companies, universities or professional organizations such as Project Management Institute (PMI). Some courses focus on understanding how teams operate from an organizational perspective while others teach you how to manage projects from start to finish while building strong relationships with your team members at every step along the way.
What makes a good team lead?
An effective team leader is a person who has the ability to motivate and inspire others, as well as manage people effectively. Team leaders also have excellent communication skills, be it through written or verbal means. They are able to communicate with their subordinates clearly, efficiently and effectively without making them feel intimidated or uncomfortable in any way.
But what exactly makes up these characteristics? What do social skills have anything to do with how to lead a team? Social skills refer to the abilities that allow us to interact successfully with other people on an ongoing basis. These include empathy and interpersonal relationships such as cooperation; these attributes help build trust within your organization by showing genuine interest in your employees’ success stories rather than focusing solely on business outcomes only
What are the top social skills every team lead should have?
Teamwork and Collaboration
Approachability
Being approachable is a key skill and crucial aspect of being a great team lead, because it helps you foster a positive and productive work environment based on mutual trust. Advice for becoming more approachable includes being open to feedback from your peers, superiors, and customers; always being honest with your team members; making sure everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts with you; asking for help when you need it; and always looking out for others’ best interests.
Encourage a social environment
You should encourage your team members to talk with one another. You can do this in a number of ways, including:
- Encourage them to talk about their work with each other.
- Encourage them to start a conversation about their personal lives.
- If you work at the office, give them opportunities for socializing on the job, such as taking breaks together and going out for lunch or dinner after work hours (if it’s okay with their schedules). It’s important that you support any efforts your employees make toward building these relationships, even if they’re awkward at first!
- If you work remote, frequently organize virtual team building activities. An ideal team event that everyone can easily perform from home, while socializing with their remote colleagues is an online cooking workshop. Learn how ChefPassport’s Top Chef Instructors can help you socially connect with your colleagues, wherever they are in the world!
Enthusiasm and Positive thinking
Positive thinking is contagious. It can help you achieve your goals and build strong relationships with others. Positive thinking also builds self-confidence, which means that it will make you a more effective leader, more successful in all areas of life.
Positive people are healthier because they don’t stress about things as much. They see the good side of things, even when there isn’t a lot of it to see at first glance; so when something goes wrong or a problem arises, they’re able to deal with it without getting too upset about it because they know that everything will work out eventually—as long as we stay positive!
Positive thinking helps us be more productive at work because we’re more creative when our minds aren’t clouded by negative thoughts such as “I’m lazy” or “This job isn’t going well anymore.” If one person starts out being negative then that can spread throughout an entire team pretty quickly; but if everyone starts off being motivated instead then they’ll be able to accomplish their goals much faster than expected!
Respect Team Members
Respect is a two-way street. Respect is earned, not given. The best way to show people respect is to trust them and give them the freedom to make decisions on their own. If you want your team members to respect you, then lead by example and demonstrate that you can be trusted as well.
Respect also means being able to admit when someone else has done something better than what you could have done yourself—that’s part of the camaraderie that should exist within any good team environment!
Reward Achievements
The last but not least of the key social skills for leadership is rewarding achievements. Acknowledging and rewarding your employees’ achievements is a good way to motivate them, get them to work hard and show that you appreciate their efforts. When you praise people for doing good work, they will be more willing to do it again in the future.
ChefPassport offers hundreds of delicious menus and experiences to reward your team.
Conclusion
Even if you don’t have all of the skills we’ve listed here right off the bat, you can always work to develop them. You can never stop learning, and being a team lead means continually developing your own skills so that you can help your team do their jobs well. That’s why we encourage you to be honest with yourself about where you are on this list, and determine what specific steps you need to take in order to keep improving.
