Leadership: Get More Out of Your Team by Multiplying

Getting more out of your team is pegged on the concept of a being a multiplier. The concept is that through strong leadership, you can multiply the output of your teams rather than constantly looking at growing headcount as the answer.

This concept is based on four styles of leadership; where you encourage the best work and you get people to think harder, think more effectively, and think more efficiently. That’s how you multiply them.

When you diminish people, you get less out of them. A person who's feeling uninspired only shows up with 60% of the effort at work. Imagine if you could get that extra 40% and get people thinking more effectively by multiplying.

Let’s look at the four types of leadership:

The Talent Magnet vs. The Empire Builder

Talent magnets empower, develop and fully utilize their teams while the empire builder just hires tons of people when they see a gap. They don’t empower their workers to fill those gaps or think bigger and differently.

Contrarily, talent magnets ignore the traditional norms of what you think is intelligent or genius. They look at unconventional talent. For example, for the traditional norms, MBA holders are always considered smarter. Talent magnets go beyond that and look at the skills of the people and bring in amazing people. Empire builders, however, don't recognize that talent. They simply hire for gaps.

The Liberator vs The Tyrant

The liberator creates an intense environment that requires everybody to bring their best thinking and work. This is an environment that makes it easy for release. This means the liberator shows restraint and holds back from the conversation, which allows everybody else to contribute, throw out ideas, and bring their best.

This is when a leader must shift from talking to listening. When you do that, you create a level playing field where ideas can come from anywhere and from anyone. This leader demands the best work and also defends the standards for the team.

The liberator generates rapid learning cycles by sharing mistakes and admitting when they're wrong. Insisting that we learn from our mistakes shows everyone else that they're able to make mistakes as long as they learn from them, therefore creating that rapid learning environment. When you create a space where people are free to express themselves, ideas flow freely.

On the other hand, the tyrant creates an intense environment, but that environment is more based on fear. People are afraid of making mistakes. They're afraid to let ideas flow. That isn’t what you want to do. You want people to be able to express themselves and think.

The Challenger vs The Know-It-All

The challenger pushes the team without barking out orders. It's more about giving context and having the team understand the challenge ahead. This person lays down the challenge, asks the difficult questions, then steps back and lets the team fill in the blanks.

The challenger also generates this confidence with the team. It could be a lofty task, but instilling that confidence in the team, laying out the challenge ahead, and letting them figure it out is the best way to empower and challenge teams to step up. It's quicker; you get full buy-in and results that you've never thought could happen.

On the other hand, the know-it-all lets everybody know that they know it all. They want to show off their knowledge, and they don't create space for people to make mistakes or answer freely.

They devised a plan to make the team more dependent on them. The team wastes their energy trying to think: "What does this person want from us?" Then they try to meet them. That's a way to waste people's time.

The Investor vs The Micromanager

The investors empower their teams and give them true ownership to make the decisions that need to be made regardless of the leader.

Micromanagers, however, are in every little detail, and they create this dependence on them. Unfortunately, they create more work for themselves by being involved in all details.

By investing in your team and having them be fully accountable for everything that they do, you can not only have confidence that they'll perform, but also that they’ll be hungry for more. By doing this, you're making scaling, growth, and development more achievable for the team.

In conclusion, people don't leave companies, they leave leaders. If you’re seeing a lot of attrition on your team, maybe you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself 'why'.

Be a multiplier. Expect your team to bring their best work; empower them, give them ownership, challenge them and let them surprise you. They will.

Learn more tips like this and more in my Prepared Leaders: Essentials for Effective Leaders course or my premium 6-Figure Leadership Course. Lay a strong foundation for leadership and get coached personally by me, Rico Nasol.