Feeling a little stuck as the captain of your ship? Find out how you can sharpen the tools in your leadership toolbox to show up better for your business.
Tool #1: Self-reflection
Self-reflection is not easy, but it’s imperative. Understanding your personality as a leader will inevitably make you better at leading your team. Self-awareness empowers you to pick up on leadership flaws that you may need to work on, and it highlights the strengths you should continue nursing.
Keep an open mind about how you react to certain situations in your business. Ask yourself whether your reaction is constructive for everyone involved. Stay aware to learn.
Tool #2: Assessing your values
Ask yourself this question…
What top 3 values are important to you in business?
For example…
- Integrity
- Punctuality
- Kindness
Write your values down and stay true to them in everything you do. And remember, this is a two-way street. If you want someone to show you kindness, you must show them kindness too.
Establishing consistency in your values will hand you respect, as your team will clearly understand your boundaries. Live by these values daily, and your team will reflect them back to you, limiting their uncertainty and enhancing their commitment to you.
Tool # 3: Clarify your expectations
Get crystal clear on what you expect from your team and communicate this to them rigorously in a positive & inspiring manner.
If one of your expectations is to have excellent coaching standards at your facilities, then hold this high in your books. The same goes for tardiness, cleanliness, professionalism or anything that you feel is important to upkeep the reputation of your business.
Your team cannot read your mind, so communicate these expectations. They‘ll appreciate this as they can set goals for success via your expectation guidelines.
Tool # 4: Active listening & leading with empathy
You’re either born to listen with heart, or you have to learn how to do it. Actively listening and understanding someone’s perspective empathetically will humanise your leadership. Your team will feel heard and understood and, therefore, be at ease and empowered.
This can be challenging for many people. Often we just want to shout our opinion, especially if someone has said something that puts us in defense mode. Active listening builds trust, creates transparency and fosters loyalty.
Practise active listening, show your team empathy, and you’ll have a happy working environment.
Tool # 5: Communicate intensely
If you’re not the best communicator- become one. This is the bridge to creating healthy relationships with your team and members. Again, clear communication manages everyone’s expectations.
If you start feeling like a broken record, you know you’re communicating well, and transparency is evident. In fact, communication also paves the way for new innovative ideas within your business because problems are solved better, and brainstorming happens here.
Tool # 6: Exercise your confidence
If confidence isn’t instinctual, then (as the saying goes) …
⬇️
“Fake it until you make it.”
Learn how to back yourself when you’re making tough calls and stop second-guessing yourself when a decision feels right.
Your team wants to be led through confidence. Exercise your confidence in the way you show up every day. Remember, confidence isn’t arrogance. It enables you to take measurable risks with little doubt and clouded judgment. This is a trait your team will value and take inspiration from.
Tool # 7: Empower your staff
Celebrate your team. Celebrate your team. Celebrate your team, and level them up when the time is right. Do this, and they’ll show up for you daily.
On the flip side is micromanaging. Stay clear of this. Micromanaging is a sign that you don’t trust your staff to handle things at the level you want something done. This breeds anxiety & disrespect. Give your team the space to grow and prove themselves. Beautiful things happen here.
Naturally, you’ll experience staff needing more direction & encouragement or even a strong nudge. However, humans generally achieve better results when given a chance to show what they can do.
Tool # 8: Become a diplomat
Developing your diplomacy skills will foster a healthy environment where everyone can work together, even when things get tricky. Instead of your team learning to defend themselves against one another, they work together to solve problems and gain solutions.
So what do these diplomacy skills look like?
- Effective communication
- Empathy
- Involving your team in problem-solving
- Listening to understand
- Being supportive
- Working with a diverse array of people
- Appreciate different opinions
- Be open to dialogue
(Much of what we’ve already spoken about)
Tool # 9: Become an agenda-setter
Ok, so we don’t mean get organised. Although this is important. What we’re really saying is to prioritise what problems need to be solved first and put these on the top of the agenda to tackle head-on.
In other words,
Write down the most crucial issue to resolve now rather than later. Get on this, resolve it and then check the agenda to see what’s next. The first on the agenda is usually the last one you feel like fixing because it sucks and may feel uncomfortable. But it’s first for a reason. Tick it off the list, and you’ll feel so much better.
Tool # 10: Move with change
Life is moving at lightning speed, which means new trends are here to stay. Whether you like it or not, moving with the times will benefit you tenfold. Especially when it comes to tech. As a leader, your members and team will appreciate this because tech is here to make everyone’s life easier.
For example, using tech to pick up on negative trends within your business.
Tool #11: Listen to your gut
When you listen to your gut, things become more manageable and clear. However, this is often easier said than done because that gut-kick signal is subtle. But it is there, and you just really have to listen.
Action things that your gut is telling you to action. Be intuitive about your decision-making.
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