A warm welcome to the leadership tips and qualities section of the web site. On this page I list a number of tips, ideas, recommendations, leadership qualities and questions to ponder. All are related to the topic of leadership and self development.
Most, if not all of these ideas I have posted previously on my @leadanddev twitter account. However I thought it would be a good idea to put them all together on one dedicated page.
If you have any leadership tips or recommendations of your own then please share them with others by using the Facebook comments section at the bottom of the page. Many thanks and hope you enjoy.
Leadership Tips
- Spend the majority of your time on things that you enjoy – things that you are good at.
- Most of your meetings over the phone or Internet these days? If so – lay down some ground rules and try and stop people typing as you meet!
- Solicit honest feedback.
- Be self aware.
- Model desired behaviour’s.
- Make every decision, but don’t pretend to care about your employees opinions.
- Be a passionate leader.
- Challenge the status quo, take calculated risks, rock the boat!
- Try and provide feedback that simultaneously challenges and supports.
- One of your team members not doing something that you asked them to do? Get to the root of the problem and ask them why?
- As a leader be very careful using humor unless you’re extremely good at telling jokes!
- Tailor rewards and recognition to the person receiving it.
- What are you working on? Does it align with your company’s vision / strategy?
- Start a personal revolution!
- Drop your won’t do, can’t do attitude now!
- Who in your organization always seems to know what’s happening? How can you get to know them well?
- Don’t maintain the status quo – add new value. Now!
- Reflect on your day. Are people getting the “Best You”?
- When giving a presentation don’t bore your audience.
- Influential leadership is about motivating and engaging others in order to make things happen.
- True leaders don’t look at an unmotivated team and ask “What’s wrong with them?” They ask “What’s wrong with me?”
- Act as a role model.
- Guide your leadership with data.
- Leading when times are difficult gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your abilities.
- “Appreciation makes work meaningful. People feel what they do matters.” Harvard Business Review, November 2014
- People with a “growth mindset,” enjoy challenges, continue to learn and they seek to develop new skills.
- Creative leaders encourage creativity. They understand what is required to provide a climate for creativity to flow.
- If someone asked you “What should I do with my life?” How would you answer? I’d say follow your passions. – Mind Management – Steve Peters
- You can’t do everything yourself. Lead others!
- Take calculated risks.
- Be positive.
- Learn something new.
- Build on your strengths.
- Sit back, observe and listen to others – its a great way to improve your emotional intelligence.
- Think about what you’re doing at work. Is it adding value?
- Work for someone else? Act like it’s your business – you’ll go far!
- What’s holding you back? How can you overcome that obstacle?
- How you think determines how you act.
- “A leader with integrity does the right thing even when nobody is watching.” – Ashley Wright
- Delegating? Make sure the work you hand out is meaningful.
- Attract, recognize, motivate, develop and retain.
- To learn what people want, what they dislike, what their aspirations are, just ask.
- During difficult times be honest with your employees about what is happening.
- Take some initiative and make something happen!
- The next conversation you have aim to be supportive, energetic and enthusiastic.
- “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” – Vince Lombardi
- Willpower leads to leadership success.
- Don’t micro manage.
- For every negative have two positive comments.
- Listen and understand, it reduces future problems.
- Be flexible but don’t ignore your family.
- What’s more important? Getting the job done or getting the job done perfectly?
- Hold weekly one-on-one meetings with each of your team members.
- Ask: “When can you have that done for me by?”
- Let people know how their efforts fit in with your vision.
- Avoid being too serious. Keep it light and fun if possible.
- Smile. It’s contagious!
- Send a thank you note.
- Focus on results.
- Give feedback often.
- Got a poor performer? Deal with it now before it gets too late.
- Received help? Don’t forget to express your appreciation.
- Who can you help today?
- Make others successful.
- Don’t overload your team. Set stretch assignments but keep things achievable.
- Stuck? Stop and ask for help.
- Be willing and able to lend a hand. It can only do you good.
- Lots and lots of definitions for procrastination. Take a look its got to be more interesting than what you’re doing!
- Be a realistic optimist.
- Seek feedback. It easy just ask “How am I doing?”
- Surround yourself with people who are better than you.
- Delegate but don’t abdicate!
- Been developing your teams capabilities lately? Yes? Great – time to start delegating more then!
- Are you a good coach? Yes? Great – start working on developing your teams capabilities.
- Are you a great problem solver? Excellent! Are you a great problem preventer? Even better!
- “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nader
- Busy with work. Don’t forget to provide leadership for your team!
- Get your employees to do what they say they’re going to do.
- Increase your self awareness, improve your emotional intelligence.
- Do you love what you do? Great – stick with it!
- Always support employee development and career progression. It’s your job as a leader.
- Adopt empathy and consideration with your employees.
- Lead with integrity and consistency while remaining positive.
- Gather quality information and then make more informed decisions.
- Leaders don’t let technology replace good old face-to-face conversations!
- Don’t walk into a storm, lead your team around it.
- Help your people think for themselves. Don’t provide answers just ask more questions.
- When did you last assess your progress against your goals?
- Have a clear purpose.
- What needs to be done? Do it!
- Be action oriented.
- Put yourself in their shoes. Make sure you look at situations from different perspectives.
- Work to bring out the best in others.
- Adopt a solution oriented attitude.
- Pay close attention to what’s happening around you.
- What do you love doing? Do more of it. Get even better at it. Play to your strengths.
- Pick a product, service or process in your business and then arrange a brainstorming session for ideas how it could be improved.
- If you commit to something then make sure you deliver. Don’t commit if you don’t think you’ll be able to deliver!
- Empower people to think for themselves and make decisions for themselves.
- Listen to your customers and treat them with the utmost respect.
- Are the older leaders in your organization lacking an understanding of the benefits of social media? If so offer to act as their mentor!
- Connect, inspire, focus and get the job done!
- Is everyone on your team clear about the goals?
- Try to focus your people on just a handful of key priorities.
- Structure follows strategy.
- Think of your employees as customers of the service called leadership. HBR Jul-Aug 2014
- Leaders need a vision. A strategy to accomplish the vision and then they simply need to motivate a set of people to realize the vision!
- Charisma – “to inspire followers with devotion and enthusiasm” – Oxford Dictionary
- Procrastination is more likely to occur if someone is forced into taking on a task.
- Often people procrastinate because they find a task boring/uninteresting.
- People who procrastinate participate in activities that distract them from the task that they are avoiding doing.
- Procrastination tends to be problematic for approximately twenty percent of the adult population.
- Why do we procrastinate? Some people procrastinate simply because they work better under pressure.
- Gain credibility from your team by giving credit where credit is due.
- Don’t try and multitask. Focus on one task at a time and see it through to a successful conclusion.
- Information overload? Train yourself to quickly locate what is pertinent.
- As a leader you need to be meeting the short term needs of your business but also planning for the longer term.
- When giving feedback to your team how much is positive? How much is negative or critical?
- A primary tasks of a leader is to give constructive feedback. This should result in changed behavior
- Which behaviors do you need to change? Do you know? Have you asked those who work with you?
- What are the top three things you can do next week that will make a massive difference to your business?
- What motivates you?
- Don’t know what motivates each of your team members? Then ask!
- Win your own lottery by working on something you are passionate about today!
- Stop telling start asking.
- When providing employee feedback keep it positive. This will increase the likelihood of success.
- Schedule one-on-one, weekly team meetings with each team member. Listen carefully and make sure the conversation is two way!
- Provide positive honest feedback to your team members. They’ll appreciate it.
- How well is your team performing? Do you know exactly? Do you have performance metrics?
- Most people love to be given some responsibility.
- Energize your team by giving them meaningful work and allowing them to make decisions.
- What have you learnt today?
- Procrastination: The act of delaying starting or completing tasks that you consider important.
- When you fail don’t look to blame someone. Learn from the experience and move on.
- Leadership is a set of skills and abilities which anyone is capable of learning.
- Had any setbacks lately? Just think of them as a great learning experience.
- At the heart of a great team is trust. Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose.
- Growth mindset: active learners who consider the long term future. They promote a culture of “we” not “me”.
- Get your team to strive for a common goal.
- Create and communicate a vision to your team today!
- Give others courage to do great things by being an excellent example today!
- Live leadership. Provide leadership by being an example to all today.
- When dealing with difficult employees dig deep and find out what the problem really is.
- “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Take something you’ve been putting off and take a giant step toward starting it. Now!
- Self assessment is a process you undertake to learn more about yourself.
- Chopra (2002): “Motivation is getting the correct things done through people willingly.
- Happiness is a choice.
- We’re all in it together!
- Influence by listening.
- Act like an owner.
- Increase employee engagement by learning what your employees are passionate about.
- Find something to do, make something happen – do it before lunch!
- Determine if a process is needed by asking yourself if it makes the job easier.
- What is your competition doing? Have you checked lately?
- Reject perfectionism, go for the more simple solution!
- Me to we.
- Don’t say “because, I said so” – it’s not good practice!!
- Team member late for meeting? Don’t shout or complain. Ask them if all’s OK in private.
- Show commitment to your team through encouragement.
- Try and provide instant feedback.
- Let your joys and passions guide your purpose.
- Mentors are all around us. Pick one.
- Don’t just satisfy your customers – completely satisfy them!
- Encourage some negative feedback and listen to it.
- Reinvent everyday.
- Use social media to build a community and spread your ideas.
- Only qualitative goals are motivating.
- Emphasize strengths in employee feedback.
- Believe you can succeed. It almost always improves performance.
- Engage virtual employees by encouraging them to say what they are thinking.
- Your employees in different geographical locations? Use the video call feature on your smartphone to better engage.
- Don’t talk over people. It’s insulting.
