No one is born a leader. While some may step easily into the role, for most of us, becoming a leader is a lifetime process that never truly ends. We’re always learning how to more positively and effectively influence, motivate, and support those around us.
Leadership isn’t an end-goal, and it doesn’t punch a clock. Becoming the very best leader depends on the continuous ability to learn, process, and adapt to new ideas and practices. We put together a few of those ideas that we’ve gathered over decades of hard work and close relationships both as CEOs and working with clients from any number of industries. Just like leading doesn’t stop when you leave the office, these are practices that go beyond business. Any good idea has myriad applications, and that’s the type of idea that causes real change.
Prioritize. To-do lists, goal-setting, even the alerts on your phone or laptop. All of these things reflect your priorities. Are they sorted how they should be? Early on, we learned that taking stock of how you spend your time should reflect that task’s value, and it isn’t just financial. Take a long look at every hour of your day and examine how it contributes to your biggest goal, how it supports those around you, and what that time might take you away.
Take Action: Instead of a to-do list, set out your day as a calendar and plan your tasks as close to the minute as possible. In the allotted time, knock that task out of the park. When the time is up, move on. Seeing the time-value of your work might help illustrate that reducing meetings, reducing travel, or focusing on certain groups is a better use of your most valuable resource: time.
Never Leave Your Notebook Behind. One fact haunts successful people that let rushing, hurrying, and scrambling keeps them from writing something down. That fact? You’ve probably forgotten more incredible ideas, important tasks, meaningful contacts, or amusing stories than you could possibly imagine. Notebooks aren’t just for meetings. Having something with you to jot dot the flashes of brilliance (or the more mundane) let you stay on task but circle back and pick up what made it to the page. Use whatever works best for you, although we’ve found using your phone or tablet as your notebook can increase distractions and change how you record your information.
Take Action: Grab a small pocket-sized notebook to start so that you never have an excuse to leave it behind. Once you’re in the habit, you’ll likely have no qualms about whipping out a bigger journal or notepad when you realize just how important note-taking can be.
Find The Smartest People You Can. Building a team is about finding talent, chemistry, and experience. As a leader, your job is to put the company in a position to succeed, but before you can help the whole, take the time to build it piece by piece. The company already has a ‘you’; don’t find people who only act, think, and work like you do. Look for experts, thinkers, and fresh faces that bring in new ideas, new ways to innovate, and new directions for the company and focus on putting them into a position from which they can succeed.
If you could pass along just one tip to other leaders, what would it be? Post in the comments, and share this post with a friend to help us build a resource for others looking to lead more effectively.