We are all seeing the hundreds of images and infographics on LinkedIn revolving around leadership vs. management. We nod enthusiastically, click like and share these bits of wisdom, but how do we as managers (by title) create an environment that leads by virtue instead of manage. Below you’ll find some of the tools I found to be most effective from my experience in leading people. I’ve marked in some instances how they all interconnect to each other organically. These little words below are tools, which can be used separately or combined but are effective either way.
Adapt
Being dynamic, flexible, and ready for changes is important for everyone but is critical for leaders.
Believe
There is very little drive without belief. In yourself, in the company, you work for and the team, in that order (but all three are critical). Without belief in yourself you can’t go the long haul, you are limited by your self-imposed barriers and you can’t expect your team to follow. Without belief in the company you work for, you wouldn’t be motivated to do your best for the success of the company. Without belief in your team, you’re not giving the team the freedom to go where you can’t.
Challenge
A good leader will challenge everything. Challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone, and challenge your team members to get out of theirs. Magical things will happen when you raise the bar.
Delegate
There is no better way to challenge people to get out of their comfort zone other than delegating. It will also help you evaluate challenges by providing a new perspective. A leader teaches instead of telling (a cliché but true), you heard it a million times, but in practice, this is the way to employ it. Delegate, teach, and support your team members.
Evaluate
Evaluate everything around you constantly and intuitively, instead of accepting past perceptions (including your own), evaluate if they are right, they might have been right at one point or another, but are no longer relevant. Challenge by asking yourself questions. If you don’t know the answers, gather the data/feedback to evaluate the accuracy of your perception. A gut feeling can only get you so far. Educated decisions require further analysis.
Focus
Don’t spread yourself thin. To lead you need to focus on what’s important. Choose primary objectives and split them into smaller objectives, don’t choose more than a couple at a time to tackle. Evaluate by setting clear goals for each. Work on a set of objectives, and only then move to the next set.
Grow
Focusing on growing the people you lead is the key to true success as a leader. If you delegate and challenge you will see results. You want people to be able to feel that growth.
Help
Your job is to provide the tools and support for your people to grow. Helping them achieve their goals by providing guidance and support will lead to magical results. This is the single most important quality of a leader. You mentor people by helping.
Innovate
It’s easy to let stagnation take hold after a while, but innovating is key to progress and progress is key for learning. As a leader innovating is simply allowing your team to help by bringing new ideas to form.
Joke
Joking bring people together and connect. It also induces the right atmosphere where creativity and innovation thrive. It is a great tool for breaking form and loosening up that manager façade which invokes openness.
