10 Important Leadership Secrets

 

Team Leader | Fauxels | Pexel

I have been working in leadership for more than 20 years. One of the things that has remained constant throughout my career is that there is always something new to learn. I can learn a new skill or improve a strength. I can learn to mitigate a weakness. I can also learn to become a better leader.

We are surrounded by examples of good and poor leadership. Every interaction with someone else demonstrating leadership holds a lesson for us. We can look at their actions and the impact and draw conclusions about how they can be applied to our own workflows.  

Throughout my career I've had the opportunity to work for great leaders, mediocre leaders and leaders who were just plain bad. Whether I was happy or not to work for them, each leader taught me lessons about leadership that I took along with me through my career. 

Here are 10 Important Leadership Secrets I Learned Along the Way

Lead by Example

I had a leader that would walk into the office and directly onto the floor with everyone else. They didn't retreat into an office or hide behind a laptop for 8 hours. They walked down next to their team and took time to know us. They also were not afraid to observe and provide feedback and to roll up their sleeves and jump in with us if there was more than we can handle. This leader knew everyone else's job and how to do it and demonstrated it. We loved them for it and worked harder for them because of it. Lead your people by example. Show them what right looks like everyday. 

Care About Your People

One of my former bosses ran a book club for our team. At first it seemed silly, to be professionals, sitting around a table talking about a book and what we thought about it. At first. As we progressed through the book we learned more about ourselves and each other. Our leader learned about us and what we were good at and what we didn't like. They learned about who we were as both professionals and people. That helped them to be a better manager, tailoring their management style to each individual.

This leader also took a personal interest in each of us. Asking us about our goals, both professionals and personally and offering genuine support and help in both. They didn't forget what we told them and would often follow-up with us on how things were going both in work and out of it. You felt genuinely cared about every day. Even when you made a mistake and were feeling the heat of your actions, you still knew that you were cared about.

Care about your people. Show them that you have taken interest in them personally and professionally and are there to help them be the best they can be. Those little moments where you've shown that you know they are not just a resource, but a partner in execution of team goals is what makes teams willing to run through a brick wall for a leader. 

Focus On What Only You Can Do

Some leaders get fully involved in every bit of work their teams do while others are so hands off their team doesn't know what they do. There is a happy medium where, like goldilocks, the amount of involvement is just right. As a leader you should focus on those tasks that only you can do. Empower your team to go and do what they do best. Keep tabs on where they are, of course, but get out of their way and let them impress you with what they can do. 

Keep Meetings Effective

This could have been an email. I've been part of 2 day long meetings that could have been an email. When folks are in meetings that they know has no value, they start to tune out and the entire meeting becomes lost productivity. Keep meetings short (30 minutes or less) and highly focused. What are you trying to achieve in this meeting? How can you achieve that in the least amount of time? Focus on those when planning your meeting and stick to the agenda. Your team will leave with a sense of accomplishment, purpose and still feel refreshed. 

Learn From the Past

I've made quite a few mistakes in my career and I've had a lot of success. Take time to reflect on what has worked well and what you would do differently. Talking through that with someone else or writing it down can help to focus your mind and thought process on the lessons you've learned through your own actions impact. Use these as a way to make small improvements to your workflow, processes and behaviors. These add up over time taking you from a green new leader to a highly effective and confident leader.

Be Self Aware

Each of us have our own innate strengths and weaknesses. You already know what you are good at and what your weaknesses are. Develop strategies to mitigate your weaknesses and then focus on developing your strengths. Often you can use your strengths to make up for things that you are weak in. When you focus on your strengths you can move to becoming an expert. 

Keep Working to Improve

Learning is a lifelong process. Understand that whatever you are strong in, there is always opportunity to become better. There is always something new you can learn and apply. Never stop learning and never stop working to improve yourself. Invest in yourself first and that investment will always pay off.

Hire People Better Than You

Leaders should hire people that make their teams better. Don't fear that a team member will outshine you. Some leaders look for weak team members because they are worried that someone that might be able to outperform them will take their job. Instead, hope that your team will demonstrate they are better at something than you and encourage and develop that. The better your individual team members are the better you will be. The greater the performance of the individuals on your team the greater your performance. As a leader it's your job to get the best possible performance out of the individual and the team. Hire and develop the best people you can.

Be Open and Honest

Say what you mean and mean what you say. Be open, honest and direct with people. Your team and those around you will know when you are beating around the bush or evading a question. It turns people off and results in mistrust. Always be honest, even when the truth is uncomfortable. When you and your team have the right information you can make better, more informed decisions.

This also applies to your leader. Don't hide the truth of you or your team's performance. Don't put up a song and dance about performance. Good leaders will see right through that and judge you for it. Be honest about what you're doing well in and be honest about what you are working to improve. Be sure you're working to improve or mitigate risk and define your plan for that. That is far more impressive than smoke and mirrors that are obviously trying to obscure a problem.

Set Clear Vision and Objectives

I have had to work in jobs where I don't know what the goals are. I have had tasks assigned to me where I didn't really understand how they plugged into the bigger picture. Not knowing what you and those around you are fighting for makes it hard to know when you should take additional action or how to suggest improvements. Leadership is about getting others to struggle with you toward a common goal. As a leader you must define those outcomes clearly and communicate them to your team. Track progress and account for what you set out to do. When you do this you create an environment where people are empowered to do their best work.

I've worked for and been different types of leaders throughout my career. What about you? Have you had a great boss and poor ones? What was that like? Have you made leadership mistakes or learned lessons? I want to hear all about it! Tell me below or contact me!