Five Ways to Improve Your Leadership Skills by Keith Hicks, Rudder Business Coaching, Fayetteville
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
There is a difference between being a manager and being a leader. Managers have subordinates. Leaders have followers. As a business owner, understanding the difference and mastering skills in both areas so you can: 1) get the most out of you and your team and 2) have a positive, passion-filled life. Here are five ways to improve on your leadership skills.
1. Know who you are and where you want to go
Know yourself to control yourself. If you don’t understand how to get the most out of yourself how will get the most out of your team?
When you are aware of your life purpose you can plan your actions to support that purpose. When your daily actions are not congruent with your life purpose, your journey will be chaotic and it will be much more difficult inspiring others to follow you. The same principle applies to your business.
2. Decide to be positive every day
A positive attitude will attract people to you and help them to be positive as well. A positive attitude will provide the hope needed for your team to overcome obstacles.
3. Be bold and do the right thing
Overcome your fear about making risky decisions to become a strong leader. Evaluate the risk, quickly make a decision, and move on. If the decision is not correct, learn from the mistake and make adjustments. You are only defeated when you give up.
No matter what drives your moral compass, your team will trust you when they observe your integrity in making business decisions. Trust is mandatory.
4. Walk in their shoes and seek to understand first
Taking the time to deeply understand what is driving your team members will pay tremendous dividends in their productivity and loyalty.
5. Educate and improve yourself
Be willing to admit and learn from failures. No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. The most successful leaders know the key to success is not avoiding falling or failing, but to learn from their mistakes.
Never stop learning. Keep your razor-edge performance by seeking knowledge and staying open to receive.
Remember that everyone is a good example, but not everyone is an example of what is good. Find people you admire for their leadership skills then study and emulate them. Don’t settle for those who teach how not to act as a leader, but rather those who are good leaders.
Keith Hicks is a Licensed Professional Business Coach with the PBCA, is CEO of Rudder Business Coaching, and has 20+ years of relevant business experience that includes positions in large CPG companies and as an officer in the US Navy and Air Force Reserve. Emails comments to keith.hicks@rudderbusinesscoaching.com or via the web site www.rudderbusinesscoaching.com.
