How to become a leader in a cross-functional team

People who ask take the lead

As statisticians, we work in cross-functional teams, but many people, especially junior people prefer to follow rather than to lead – and that’s okay. Ask yourself:

Do you always take the position of the follower or a leader?
Do you need to train yourself to lead?
Are you seen as an implementer?
Do you have goals for your project?

You can lead as well. According to Forbes, the best leaders lead with questions, not answers. Leading with questions works because really good questions have a direct impact on the brain. When we are challenged by a question that triggers an insight, neurons connect in new ways. This releases neurotransmitters that create the motivation to act. The net result is that the other person not only likes the idea, but they also want to do something with it.

In today’s episode, Benjamin and I will be talking about:

• How success look like
• How to create a win-win situation
• How to get the team involved in creating the goal or at least tune into building relationships with people
• How to move backwards once you have the goal, and put action steps into place to drive the project forward
• How to drive things by one-on-one

Listen to this interview and share it with others, who might learn from it!