If you’ve ever questioned your leadership skills, good! It just means you’re paying attention.
Faithfully applying “rules to live by” can help guide us as leaders, but rising above the harried, complicated, and nuanced work-a-day world demands extra. Leadership involves people, which is code for one size doesn’t fit all. When there’s only so much you can do to control what happens around you, your leadership chops are going to be best served by looking within.
From Dave McKeown’s book, “The Self-Evolved Leader,” we’ve abridged six strategies that draw from our instincts. Growing as a leader, McKeown writes, requires self-awareness and mindfulness. After all, what we do for ourselves affects the people around us:
- Measure yourself by how much you have learned.
True leaders are never satisfied with what they know about leadership, as well as what they’re being hired to deliver. Leaders are also always in pursuit of learning, which includes seeking feedback, taking time for structured training, and looking for positive changes in the organization. Another piece is tackling areas for improvement. If feedback is telling you that you don’t communicate well, start tracking how many times you send out unsolicited notes about strategy, guidance, status, or praise for results—and adjust accordingly. - Be unafraid to demonstrate your vulnerability.
Without vulnerability, you can’t have an objective understanding of your effectiveness as a leader. Until you admit your weaknesses, your team won’t have the courage to step in to help. It’s a paradox, but vulnerability itself is never a sign of weakness: asking for help benefits the whole team. You may be surprised by how gratifying it is to enlist the innate strengths of others. - Practice deep empathy for everyone on your team.
With empathy comes compassion and an understanding of the impact your decisions have on your team. Seeing how others’ might perceive a situation creates a safe environment for everyone to develop into their best selves. During private conversations with team members, consider asking about the person’s feelings, but also be ready to share your own. - Foster a sense of connectedness between team members.
When one team member has a positive learning experience, they are more likely to help elevate and teach those around them. Teams are interconnected, so improving team performance is dependent on optimizing each employee’s role for their particular strengths. As the leader, you have a responsibility to reach out to people on the team, not the other way around. One of the best things you can do is to focus on forging bonds with everyone on the team, and help foster trust all around. - Understand what you can control and accept what you can’t.
No leader can control external circumstances, whether it’s politics, people, economics, or resources. And you won’t hear good leaders complain about stuff they can’t do anything about. Stick to the things that are within your control, especially what’s described in #1–4 above. - Enjoy the benefits of continuous learning.
Finally, spend less time on daily crises, and more time on the important things, such as your long-term job outlook, personal growth, and developing the careers of those around you. Also important is to help reduce your own stressors, improve business-family balance, and relish in the gratification you reap from hard work.