This month we want to focus on leadership. With COVID still doing the rounds and staff off ill, people who work from home are reflecting on how to manage the situation best, and which leadership skills to call upon right now.
Let's look at a few tips that highlight some powerful methods to keep you at the top of the leadership ladder. We want to ensure your teams continue to flourish, even if they are working in different places, at different times, or stretched because of illness and backlog.
Be visible and set the mood!
Do your best to speak to everyone in your team every day, even if it is just to say hi. If this is not physically possible due to sheer numbers or locations, make yourself visible to as many of the team as possible at some point in the day.
We work with many businesses and are always shocked to hear how often the leader of the business speaks to everyone. The answer is normally "once a year" or "every now and then when I need to"
Leaders should speak to their teams on a regular basis.
Great Communication
Talking to your team, or even the entire company regularly, gives everyone the opportunity to engage with you. They feel motivated by speaking with you, are fully informed on your thoughts and aware of what is going on in the business.
During a recent project, we visited the team for the second time in our first week. A member of the team commented, “the previous CEO never came down here, it is great that you are showing an interest”. That team worked so hard and when the business needed them to go above and beyond the call of duty, they did it brilliantly.
Get your Team together
Hold weekly team meetings to understand your teams biggest worries, and their weekly priorities. This way you can nip things in the bud quickly.
Give them a Clear direction and strategy for them to follow. Share your 3 year plan and current year initiatives.
Give them Meaningful personal objectives that will help them develop and succeed for the year.
90 day plans to track performance and key milestones and hurdles to overcome (weekly review)
Celebrate the successes along the way. Office cake day or donuts and a team dinner or team building activity is a great way to get everyone together and have a shared experience.
As a leader, support your team and check in with them. Don't make it always about work. They are people too and have feelings and emotions and stuff going on in their lives.
Last but not least, Spend time thinking about you!
Yes, you!
When you are leading a business, it is easy to forget about your own development. Like a foreign language that needs to be practiced often to stay fluent, we must take time out of our busy days to continually develop ourselves.
What book are you reading to right now?
Who is providing you with inspiration?
What are you learning ?
Simon Sinek’s “Leaders eat Last” is a great read and has some fab advice about coaching, “we are not the victims of our situation, we are the architects of it”.
Build self-awareness of your strengths and weaknesses and build teams that complement them. Recognize and understand your deeply held beliefs and views and allow yourself to be challenged and open to changing your mind when necessary.
Motivate yourself and those around you. Enjoy their achievements. Build your empathy so that you take time to understand their emotional make up. Create strong rapport with others to encourage, rather than instruct.
Taking time to hone your leadership skills so that you will be remembered by a team, and the individuals in it, for the positive impact you made on their careers and lives is a fulfilling legacy to leave.
Develop and embrace a legacy that you want to be remembered for.
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