5 Engaging and developing your followers

As a leader, I think it's really important that you think about how to engage and involve your followers, because your followers will have all sorts of talents and initiative that they can give, beyond their formal role description. It may be that they've got particular jobs, particular roles in the organisation or in your team.

But we all have met people in the past who have been a kind of jobsworth sort of person who does exactly what they're asked and not a jot more. And they're entitled to behave like that. But you'll get so much more from your team if they feel appreciated, if they feel respected, if they feel you are eager to hear their views and opinions, their ideas about how to do the task better.

And often, if you're able to draw on the talents in your team, you will be able to bring in more perspectives than just your own. And your team will sometimes- quite often, in fact- provide ideas that are helpful, that, perhaps, you hadn't thought of. Or you didn't think a particular problem through properly, but they raise it or question it. So it's immensely useful. And it's a huge difference to be part of a team that is really singing, that's really working well, because that level of energy inspires other energy, both in you, in the leader, and in other people.

And you just contrast that with being in a sort of dead team where the energy is suppressed, the anger suppressed. The people don't communicate with each other. And it is so much harder to be a leader in a team like that. I think everybody would opt for the energetic, high-energy team.

You may have a task as a leader to shape that energy and stop it scattering all over the place and make sure it stays focused on the task, and caring for people in the team. But that's a much easier thing to do. You're channelling energy, then, and channelling ideas, rather than trying to control it.