| Canan Ünverdi, PMP – Customer Services Manager |
Organizations want processes they can measure and manage, and they want them ‘now, right away’. But do they give enough importance to building the right corporate culture for the leaders who will bring these processes into the corporate vision and become the architects of change?
Let's take a closer look at the team management traits of the visionary, transformational leaders that a change needs in order to succeed.
An organization succeeds, gives its employees pride and happiness, stays profitable over the long term and survives in a competitive environment only through teamwork and leaders who steer the team effectively.
According to Bob Hughes, leaders have three traits.
First, they have a vision and act with a focus on goals. Second is the ability to build a team that can realize this vision: they know how to rally people around a vision. Third is taking action, and for this they know how to build employee engagement.
We all know that the IQ of all managers and leaders is above a certain level. On top of that, leaders also have high emotional intelligence, which is why their communication skills are excellent and their empathy is high. Building a team and steering it are also areas where people with high emotional intelligence succeed. A leader stands out through the ability to bring out the creativity of the people they work with, raise their energy and broaden their perspectives.
Choosing team members is also critical to a team's success. Beyond technical skills, you need to make sure individuals are well suited to teamwork. People inclined to create synergy focus on solutions and results, while the opposite type focuses on problems and tries to show how something cannot be done. Instead of paying attention to ideas and events, such people get stuck on attitudes. Synergistic members find the positive traits of others and make progress by solving difficulties one by one.
You can certainly build a team from the best individuals, but making them work well together is still one of the skills of a good leader.
The most essential traits for a productive team are that the team leader knows the members very well, listens actively to the people they work with and can resolve conflicts that may arise between them. The team leader should set an example for the members through their behavior; besides motivating them with words, they should influence them through their own work. Leaders who influence and convince individuals make the team work with more dedication. In the traditional approach, employees are managed with rewards and punishments. Yet people who believe in their work, when under no pressure, look every day for ways to do their work more efficiently. This is exactly where the difference between a manager and a leader becomes clear. We can list some of these differences as follows:
1. A leader creates change. A leader is forward-looking, interprets the future and unites people around a belief. A manager simply follows the plan and does what they are told.
2. A leader is the team's compass. The leader's vision and message give direction to them and the team and keep things moving. Vision is a compass that keeps you focused on the direction you are heading so you can move that way without getting lost. A manager's direction is set, and when sharing it with the team they make no effort to get them to believe in it.
3. A leader unites. A leader helps people understand the vision and line up together to achieve it. The leader's background, reputation and reliability, and the consistency between what they say and what they do, affect their credibility. A manager's main job is to make sure individuals finish the assigned work on time; they do not think about influencing individuals.
4. A leader thinks analytically. A team leader with analytical thinking skills can see opportunities and resolve or prevent crises. A manager tries to resolve conflicts in a way that produces the best outcome for themselves.
5. A leader mobilizes. To bring the organization's vision for the future to life, the team leader must mobilize people in that direction. A manager's attitude may not always be encouraging, because at the end of the day what they look at is whether the individual did the assigned work; using active listening and empathy is not their priority.
6. A leader leaves a mark. Through their values and ethics, style and behavior, a leader sets an example for those around them and even for society as a whole. They offer those who come after them a model they can identify with. A manager does not try to be an original model; they try to do their job correctly.
7. A leader influences the outcome. A leader who knows their own strengths and strives to develop them to the fullest has a contagious effect on those around them. They make others want to develop their own strengths too, causing a leap in quality around them. A manager tries to develop themselves rather than individuals.
8. A leader simplifies the problem and focuses on the solution. A manager focuses more on the problem, and the solution is hard to reach.
You need to be ready for some factors that make teamwork harder. They can be listed as follows:
1. Groupthink: Groupthink means that a faulty decision-making mechanism develops within the group. Rather than analyzing the issue realistically, group members may tend to agree so as not to disturb harmony within the group.
Groupthink has various causes. The illusion that the team is invulnerable creates extraordinary optimism; the possibility of making mistakes is ignored and excessive risks may be taken. Group members see their own strength as greater than it is and the competitor's strength as weaker than it is. They ignore and belittle warnings from outside. Information and ideas that contradict the group decision are not voiced.
2. Social loafing: Social loafing means that the effort spent as a group member is less than the effort individuals would spend on their own. Some team members may work too hard while others work less, and some may push their own work onto others. The team leader should know employees' strengths and weaknesses and take the necessary measures.
3. Social influence: Social influence is when a person, under the influence of another person's judgments, attitudes and ideas, allows their own attitudes, ideas and judgments to change. Within a team, every member influences the others, which has a direct effect on teamwork processes. That is why a team leader who is aware of social influence processes can take precautions before problems arise and steer the team.
Where Does Leadership in Management Stand in Türkiye?
According to interviews and assessments carried out by the Institute of Behavioral Sciences with hundreds of managers, managers in Türkiye are very strong in terms of “technical competence”, but they still have a long way to go in “relationship management”. In other words, managers need to develop their emotional intelligence. Unfortunately, managers who generally rely on classic management techniques, saying “do this”, “don't do this”, “why did you do this” or “why didn't you do this”, do not give their subordinates room to grow. As a result, motivation drops and employee turnover rises.
Times are changing; generations and their characteristics keep changing. Now you need to be able to manage “Generation Y employees” in the best possible way. You need to understand the concepts of “Talent Hunting” and “Talent Management” and act accordingly. Every company is trying to find talent, hire it, make sure it works in the right way and not let it slip away. This talent is “Generation Y”. Generation Y does not like being managed in the classic management style; if they cannot find a working environment where they can express and develop themselves, they leave right away without waiting. The companies that will make a difference in the future will be those that can put this talent to work, and the more talent they have, the stronger they will be against their competitors. Because information is now very easy for everyone to access, what will matter is finding the talent that can use this information best and working with them.
Sources
https://hbr.org/2022/04/change-is-hard-heres-how-to-make-it-less-painful
https://hbr.org/2022/08/how-to-get-your-team-on-board-with-a-major-change
https://hbr.org/2025/06/leading-through-continuous-change
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_92.htm
http://www.baltasgrubu.com/Makaleler/ekip-liderinin-el-notlari.html
http://www.dbe.com.tr/Kocluk/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/isteinsan-21102012.pdf
http://www.personalogia.com/kurumsal/mizac-yapilarina-gore-etkili-takım-olusturma-ve-takım-yonetimi/
http://pdb.ormansu.gov.tr/Personel/Files/Y%C3%B6netim%20ve%20Liderlik.pdf
http://dergipark.gov.tr/download/article-file/187970
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