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Chief Executive Officer

06 de junho de 2019

The Power of Good Leadership

I once saw this quote: “A team is only as strong as its leader”. I would love to give credit to the person who said it but I can't find who it was. However it doesn’t diminish its truth and it’s something I, personally, believe in. I have worked in teams with good and bad leaders, the process and end results showed me how important it is to have a strong leader.

A leader who can inspire trust, who can create a safe space for you to share your ideas and offers constructive reviews of your work, who recognises and celebrates with you when you excel. But also, someone who doesn’t compromise their vision and knows when to say the word “no”, someone who is decisive and is not afraid to make a hard decision.

Under normal circumstances there is a group of directors, each knowledgeable in a specific area and all involved in the decision making of the day-to-day operations — this is where listening to someone else opinions is important, ideally the board should be in agreement before facing the rest of the team. So I’ll leave with some advice:

Know your Team

Learn about your team members (your pieces), how they work, what do they like to do and what are they good at, so you can improve their work environment and find out what is the best team for them to join.

Notice the Little Things

We like to feel validated and fell that people listen to what we say. Pay attention to what your team members talk about, if they have a problem reach out, ask if you can help or remember the milestones, celebrate their happiness with them.

You are The Leader

There is a Portuguese saying that goes: “Friends, friends. But when business is put aside”, meaning that it doesn’t matter if you are friends with your team, but when it comes to work you need to be the boss — the team is looking to you for decisions that need to be made.

Be Honest, with them and Yourself

Don’t be afraid to give your honest opinion, just don’t be rude about it, measure your words and be aware that you are talking to a person.

Recognise your Mistakes and Learn from them

Leader or not, you are a human being and you are allowed to make mistakes — just make sure you don’t repeat them. Learn, grow and improve from them and your team will grow alongside you.

In my short experience as CEO this is what I learnt:

• if you provide a good working environment your team will be more productive;
• if the board get along it’s easier to lead a team;
• if you are open to ear people opinions they will share more openly and feel more motivated to work.

To conclude, what i have been trying to say is don’t isolate yourself in the top position, alone you won’t get the job done — a team includes everyone, leader or not.

Starlight Software

By Catarina Cruz

CEO — Chief Executive Officer

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