If you have more than one person then you have a team, and every team needs a leader; it might as well be you!

Every group, team, faction, organization or club has a leader. It doesn’t matter if it’s political, religious or social a team has a leader. They might go by different names such as President, Speaker, Chairman, Pope, Coach, Scout Master, Den Mother or Mom or Dad, a Team Leader is a Team Leader.

When you think about high-performing teams, the basic and obvious premise is that the head of the team leads the action. This sounds easy and simplistic but it isn’t, it is a very difficult role.

• You become the role model for all of the others.
• You go out in front.
• You continually look for ways to make it easier for your team members to do their jobs.
• You accept complete responsibility for the achievement of the overall goal.
• You start a little earlier, you work a little harder, and you stay a little later.
• You set careful priorities on your time and you always work on your highest value tasks.
• You never ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself.
• You always put yourself out in front and go to bat for your people in every circumstance.
• You are a leader because you continually lead.

In order to have an effective and efficient high-performing team, it is essential that all of your team members individually and as a group, continually evaluate their progress toward their goals and values. This is true whether it is a formal group, a social organization, a sports team or a family. They are always asking themselves, “How are we doing, and how can we do better?” They set incredible standards of excellence and they are constantly striving to be better.

Whenever there are problems, misunderstandings, or difficulties within the team, and there are and always will be from time to time, the team members must reexamine their values, their goals, their activities, their assignments, and their responsibilities. They should be more concerned with what’s right than with who’s right. They are more concerned with winning than with not losing. As the Team Leader it is your responsibility to facilitate this reexamining process. As a Team Leader you have the opportunity and obligation to put your money where your mouth is by improving yourself and by continually evaluating your own performance against the objectives and standards that you have set.

The wonderful thing about becoming a leader in your work, social and personal life is that you can practice the skills of influencing and persuading others toward a common objective. You can promote the principles of excellent teamwork by establishing your values and goals, determining your activities, and then leading the action

High-Performing teams run by excellent leaders, are determined to perform in an excellent fashion. All members know that their ability to work together in harmony and cooperation is the key to the success of every one of them.

One of the marks of excellent Leaders is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments and future potential. You can become an even more excellent leader by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to those standards. If you are only performing to the level that you did yesterday then you are not growing as a leader. If you are not growing, then neither is your team.

The more proficient you become at getting the results for which you set out, the more opportunities you will have to get results through others. And your ability to put together a team and then to lead that team to high performance will enable you to accelerate your career and your life and fulfill your goals faster than ever before.

As a Team Leader what will you do today to lead your team to greatness?