How to Get Your Team to Follow You: 5 Essential Leadership Principles
How to become a Charismatic Leader
Introduction
You've made it! You're leading a team. But how do you get them to follow you everywhere you go? It's not that easy. You'll have to hire, fire, develop, and work through tough times to truly inspire and develop people. Some catch on faster than others. Reading leadership books helps, but nothing replaces experience.
I've read countless leadership books from the best of the best: Simon Sinek, John C. Maxwell, Stephen Covey, Patrick Bet-David, Michael Hyatt, Tony Robbins, and more. I love to read and have found that although everyone has their own style, it boils down to the same basic principles. What I am about to share with you is a layer deeper—it's more about the team and how you interact with them.
I will write in future posts about the books I love and why—so be sure to follow and share with anyone who may see value in hearing about it. Keep learning; it keeps you open-minded, vulnerable, and comfortable trying new things.
1. Get to Know Your Team
1.1 Show Genuine Interest
Like, actually show interest. Listen more than you speak. Find out where they are from, how many kids they have, and what makes them tick.
1.2 Discover Their Inspirations
Find out who inspires them and ask about them often. When people don’t know what they want to do with their lives, they need to remember what inspires them and what makes time pass when they forget what time it actually is.
2. Pay Them Well
2.1 Align Compensation with Market Rates
Listen, if you are working for a company that won’t pay people what they’re worth, then take the experience that you gain and move on to a company where you can pay people what it takes to get the job done. Some companies are pre-revenue, and that is one thing, but when you start generating revenue and becoming profitable, you need to size your team appropriately to the needs of the business and align your compensation with the market.
2.2 Offer Additional Benefits
I’ve run teams that pay less than market rates, but you have to give in elsewhere—uncapped commissions, unlimited PTO, travel perks, generous bonuses, etc. At the end of the day, people need to make money, and they all have lives to live. You can create harmony with a good work culture and work-life balance, but they also need to be able to live comfortably.
3. Help Them See What They Cannot
3.1 Challenge Their Goals
This is development. Some of your directs will come to you with a dream or a goal for themselves. Challenge it. Why do they want it? If someone else convinced them or they sensationalize a role, help them see what it is really like. Pair them with someone in that department or on that team—get them a meeting with the President or CEO. Let them see what their life is really like.
3.2 Provide Realistic Career Guidance
One of the failure points in our system is career guidance. As a good leader, you can help your team see what it is like to go where they think they want to go. Do you think that numbers junkie realizes that as the CFO, the entire weight of the company is balancing on their shoulders to get every single line item right? You’ll have to manage a team eventually, all different finance functions—do you think they are thinking about that aspect? Look, the job that you think you want rarely ends up being what you think. You need to experience it—so as a leader, with a team looking for growth, help them see what those lanes are like within the company.
4. Check In on Them
4.1 Make Random Connections
This is probably the lowest effort and most overlooked rule of being a charismatic leader. Don’t put routine calls on their calendar—do that if you are committing to doing something for them so they see that you’re going to pull through, but just randomly reach out. Send a text on a Friday to see how things are going. Make a random call when you have windshield time. Send an email; send birthday cards/notes, ask about their life and what their goals are (outside of work).
4.2 Be Present and Personal
I had a manager (of other people) tell me that when I called someone who was two levels below me on the org chart, it made their day. They loved hearing from me—they said that even though we have a weekly call to just talk and unpack things (anything), those random interactions were the best. Do you know why? It was about them—not me, them. When you have it on the calendar, it comes with formality, notes, expectations. Make a call, send a text or just check-in…better yet, go to lunch or happy hour. Just check-in and be present, even though this is hard for you.
5. Provide Clarity
5.1 Help Them See Through the Fog
Help them see what they cannot. Assist them in seeing where they want to go, even if they can’t quite see through the fog. Sometimes, you have to ask questions to get them to hear what they’re saying, see what they’re doing—to realize what is going on.
5.2 Learn from Experience
When I was an early manager, I was crushing my colleagues with our KPIs. I was top in almost all categories. My district manager (two levels up) took me to lunch and he sat a tape recorder between us at the TGI Fridays that we were at (this was a long time ago). He said, “I want you to listen to this while we eat.” We had been chatting and he was giving me advice on saving money while I was young because as you get older, it gets even harder. Our food came and he put the tape recorder down—there was a good 5-10 minutes on this, so we sat there awkwardly eating and listening to this recording. The recording was last week’s team call. This was pre-Zoom, Skype, Teams. We were on a desk phone at the time, I was in the office with my GM, and I was reading my numbers. What I heard while I ate my lunch was an arrogant sales guy bragging about his numbers. I was embarrassed. He paused it when he saw my reaction. He took a drink, sat back in his booth, and said, m“You see why I wanted you to hear this?” I answered uncomfortably, “I need to change how I communicate.” He went on to tell me that he saw me going very far with the company and actually ended up helping me get promoted, but in that moment, he handled a difficult conversation with grace. My numbers were great, but my delivery was the worst. I went on to pay attention to how I talked with people and, most importantly, sought to understand how they perceived me.
5.3 Perception is Reality
For most, perception is reality. Some will always trust data and ignore their emotion, and those people are rare. Perception is how someone sees it, hears it, feels it—and that may be different than what you expected. So, pay attention to how those around you react, base your moves on that, and you will be on the path to getting those around you to be with you. Over and over again.
Conclusion
Leadership isn’t a job; it’s a privilege. If you’ve been granted the ability to lead people, take it seriously and study leadership. It comes naturally to some and to others, it just doesn’t really click. It’s about you and it’s about them. You have to lay down your ego and put attitude aside and earn people’s respect. You must serve them when they need help and guide them toward their goals so that they help you achieve yours.
If you really want people to follow you where you go, follow these 5 principles and follow me for more tips on building great relationships, facing life’s fears, and becoming the best version of yourself.
FAQs
1. How do I get to know my team better?
Show genuine interest. Listen more than you speak. Learn about their backgrounds, interests, and what inspires them.
2. Why is paying my team well important?
Proper compensation aligns with market rates and ensures your team can live comfortably, creating harmony with a good work culture and work-life balance.
3. How can I help my team see what they cannot?
Challenge their goals and provide realistic career guidance by exposing them to different roles and responsibilities within the company.
4. What’s the best way to check in on my team?
Make random, personal connections outside of routine calls. Send texts, make random calls, and be present in their lives.
5. How can I provide clarity to my team?
Help them see through the fog by asking questions and guiding them to understand their own actions and goals. Learn from your experiences and help them learn from theirs.
“Leave every place, every person, and every situation better than you found them. It’s the simplest way to make a lasting impact.” - Mike
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