3 Ways Leaders Can Do Great Things
Are you ready to achieve great things?
I can imagine your answer to that is yes because the truth is, no one wants to achieve mediocre things!
Sometimes, as leaders, we want to be great but we don’t know how to get there.
One of the most important things about being a leader is your ability to lead your team to victory. The best way I know how to do this is through leading by example.
If you show that you are willing to do whatever your team does in order to get wherever it is you’re asking them to go, you’ll quickly establish trust and be a leader others want to follow.
Being a great leader all starts with you.
Choosing to be yourself, making sound decisions, and establishing trust with your team are three ways you can be a great leader.
Keep reading to learn more about the three ways you can achieve great things as a leader.
1. Be Yourself: lead with authenticity
First and foremost, you need to be yourself. Authentic leadership starts with you and it goes a long way with your team.
When you are able to lead authentically, not as a fake version of yourself, you really start to gain respect with those around you. So start by taking off some of your camo. You don’t have to rip it off all at once, but you can start taking pieces off.
Maybe, for you, you’re ready to shed the camo jacket you’ve been wearing too long. And that really means you are ready to shed a facade you’ve been holding up, a way of acting, being, or thinking that is not actually “you.” Whatever it is, find the right time to shed it, and let it go.
When you hold on to the pieces of you that are not true to who you really are, you’re not serving anyone. Your team will either see through the camo or feel uncomfortable around you when you’re wearing it.
It’s a little bit like a college professor wearing a clown nose to teach or a ballerina showing up to perform in big clunky work boots. It’s obvious that it doesn’t belong and does not contribute well to overall success.
As you learn how to lead with authenticity, you will shed old parts of you and allow new parts of yourself to be uncovered. When you stop hiding and find ways to integrate the real you into your life and in the workplace, you will command respect in any environment you are in.
Trust me, your team wants you to be yourself because through doing that, you allow everyone around you to be themselves too.
2. Make Solid Decisions
If you want to be a leader that can do great things, you will need to be comfortable making decisions.
“Great leaders understand how to balance emotion with reason and make decisions that positively impact themselves, their employees, their customers and stakeholders, and their organizations.”
- GBR
Oftentimes what sets leaders apart is their ability to lead during a crisis and make decisions even when the stakes are high.
In my experience, when a crisis (or high-stress situation) hits, the best thing you can do is stay cool and calm so that you can make a sound decision and do so in a timely manner. There’s a balance between making a decision too quickly and waiting too long. As leaders, we have to find that sweet spot between being rash and letting indecision “sink the ship”.
And sometimes, we don’t have all the information we need to make a great decision. I find that this is where your intuition as a leader kicks in. If you’ve done your best to gather all possible relevant information, you’ve taken a moment to breathe and re-center, and you’ve recognized and accepted the elements of uncertainty, then it’s best to go with your gut.
The more you can practice solid decision-making, the better prepared you will be to lead when the time comes.
3. Establish Trust
Establishing trust with your team always begins with you first, the leader. Once you know who you are and understand your authentic leadership style, you can begin to understand your team and who they are.
The best way to build and establish trust with your team is to give trust first. When you trust in your team, you give them the responsibility to own their task, mission, or goal and the authority to carry it out to completion.
When you trust your team, you don’t have to waste time checking in on them constantly. You can trust that they are going to use the resources and tools they have available to perform to the best of their ability, and for the greatest good of the company.
We are currently in the middle of “The Great Resignation” in America. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that
"low pay, a lack of opportunities for advancement, and feeling disrespected at work are the top reasons why Americans quit their jobs last year.”
This means that establishing and building trust with your team is important now more than ever. Employees are feeling like they aren’t getting the responsibility and authority they need to go and do what they need to do. Instead, they are being micromanaged, disrespected, or given little to no flexibility.
Leaders, this has got to change.
If we can, instead, treat our workers with respect, caring, and genuine interest we are building that bridge of trust that will help the whole team get to the other side.
The more trust you have in your team, the further you’ll be able to go. When a person feels trusted by their leader, they are more empowered to make better decisions and take action when necessary. This creates more efficiency in business processes and ultimately takes less time to achieve your goals.
Do Great Things
When it comes to doing great things, a leader has to know the way. When you are comfortable being yourself, confident in making decisions, and able to build trust with your team, there is no stopping the power behind you. You are on your way to achieving great things with a full team with you.
As leaders, it is our responsibility to pave the way for the future and begin building systems and infrastructure that support achieving the impossible.
I believe it is my mission to help others become the leaders they were meant to be and inspire greatness in those around me.
If you’d like me to inspire greatness in your audience, book me to speak today.
