Category Being A Leader

I’ve been working with leaders for almost… a very long time. And in this blog, I’ve distilled down the “secret leadership habits” that define the best leaders I have ever met.

Before you jump into the 14 Habits, I want to ask you: Why do you want to be a more effective leader?

Your answer will be very personal to you. But I will tell you this: the best leaders have an answer.

I’m sure you’re asking, are these really secrets?

14 Secret Leadership Habits To Make You A More Effective Leader

Not really, because they’re in plain view. But since most people don’t follow these leadership habits, they might as well be state secrets.

So, what are these secret habits then?

HABIT #1: The best leaders are students of human behaviour.

They notice what people do. The best leaders read about human behaviour. They study human behaviour and pay attention.

They read books, not just about leadership, but also influence, communication and all manner of things about how the human brain works and why we behave the way we behave; because as leaders, we are leading humans.

HABIT #2: The best leaders are students of their behaviour.

They try to understand why they do what they do, when they do it, how they do it and what triggers them.

HABIT #3: The best leaders are students of organizational behaviour.

They are students of how teams work, of how large and small organizations interact and work; they study and understand the culture of organizations and what creates it and what it is and how it works. Because they are leading inside an organization, they understand the importance of continually studying and learning about organizational behaviour.

Speaking of organizational culture, here’s how to stop a work culture of harassment.

HABIT #4: The best leaders are students of communication.

When is the best way to communicate? How is the best way to communicate? Why do we communicate? They realize in the end, it’s not just about what they say, but how their message gets received. It doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes – quite the opposite. However, by being a student of communication, they’re continually getting better.

You’ll notice the first four leadership habits all use the word ‘student,’ so all those habits in effect are about the learning that leads us to skills.

HABIT #5: The best leaders are observant.

Being a student of your behaviour requires you to be self-aware, and being a student of organizational behaviour requires you to be observant. And it’s all about noticing what’s going on around you.

HABIT #6: The best leaders are self-aware.

They know about themselves; they know what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are. They are honest enough with themselves to be aware and to work on strengthening their strengths and minimizing the effects of their weaknesses.

(While you’re here, don’t miss 5 Leadership Actions That Will Drive A 7% Increase in Profit – And Who Doesn’t Want More Profit?)

HABIT #7: The very best leaders are extraordinarily reflective.

This takes us back to my original question, why do you want to be a more effective leader?

Being reflective is one of the keys to being more effective at anything, to allow us to learn from our experience, and it’s true for the very best leaders.

HABIT #8: The best leaders are proactive.

They act. They don’t sit back and wait.

This doesn’t mean they fly off the handle, but it does mean though that they have a bias for acting. The best leaders are proactive. They know there are things to do and — they are getting them done for themselves, for their teams, for their organization.

HABIT #9: The best leaders are accountable.

They are accountable to themselves.

They realize that for everything that happens, they have some influence on it. And they ask themselves and think about what they need to do to make this better, what part of this belongs to them. They help others be accountable, too, of course, but it all starts with them.

HABIT #10: The best leaders are learners.

They are learners first and foremost through building leadership habits (including the very ones we’ve discussed here). They’re aware of the power of habits, and they recognize doing that is an essential part of how they learn.

They also look for opportunities to learn. They’re looking at the world through the filter of, how can I use this to be a better leader.

And because they know training is an important part of their learning journey, they don’t assume it’s enough, and they don’t wait for someone to offer training.

They know their learning does not equate to how much training they have had. This doesn’t mean they don’t value training; it means they know it’s only part of the puzzle.

They’re willing to invest in themselves, whether that’s time or money. And even if the organization doesn’t initiate it, even if they must negotiate with their boss or organization to get what they want.

HABIT #11: The best leaders are readers.

Reading is a tremendous opportunity to learn (yep, that leadership habit again). Whether reading a blog post, whether reading a book, the best leaders are readers.

HABIT #12: The best leaders seek out feedback.

The best leaders want to know how to improve. They seek out feedback – from their teams and others around them. The reason they improve is they want to improve. And they improve through being open to, seeking out, and listening to feedback.

HABIT #13: The best leaders have high expectations of themselves.

And even if they don’t, they’re working to build them because they realize their belief in themselves and the expectations they place on themselves matter.

HABIT #14: The best leaders have coaches.

The best leaders, the best people at any skill, have a coach. Coaches provide so many things for us, and it doesn’t matter what the experience level or field of expertise – the best want to get better, and that hunger for knowledge drives them to look for a perspective outside of their own. They look to and have coaches.

The bottom line goes back to the question I asked at the beginning of this report: Why do you want to be a more effective leader?

The best leaders have a crystal-clear answer to this, and that clear reason drives everything. Period.

Now you may have thought I would tell you the best leaders were great communicators or have this set of skills or another. But the magic, the opportunity, happens when you combine skills with the habits we’ve reviewed here.

Put these leadership habits to work.

So now we come to the real question of – what should you do with these leadership habits? These secrets?

The first thing you should do is get started. Which of these leadership habits do you need to be practicing but aren’t?

Which one is something you’ve heard feedback from others on or is an area you can improve?

Whatever it is, pick one and act.

Did you like reading about leadership habits? Here are three posts to read next:

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check these out, too:

The High Cost of Poor Leadership
10 Signs You Have a Scary Boss
People Pleasing Leaders & Soup Sandwiches – 5 Messes You Make When You Try to Make Everyone Happy

For more help with putting these leadership habits to work, you’ll also want to have a look at my 1-on-1 coaching services.

This article was first published in 2018, but it was updated in 2020 just for you.

Who do you look to for motivation? For many of us, it’s our leaders we go to when we need that push to get things done. If you’re the leader, how motivated (or not) your team is, can come down to how you lead.

Motivation Sins

So ask yourself: are you guilty of these motivational sins?

1. Supervising by merely giving orders, especially in the form of emails

Remember: Positive personal and human contact raises morale. Lack of personal communication with employees will put you out of touch with the good ideas and creativity of your staff.

2. Using expressions such as “I do it this way.”

Remember: The jobs of team members are all different. And each requires a different type of person. As a result, you should encourage employees to stand on their own two feet and develop their approaches to doing things.

3. Falling into or encouraging office politics

Remember: Politics can destroy people’s spirit and enthusiasm. It leads to low morale and will lessen your ability to achieve your objectives. Making frequent personal contact is the most effective way to prevent jealousies and office politics from thriving.

4. Giving answers rather than problems to solve

Remember: Encouraging, even forcing, employees to make decisions is a great way to help develop the team.

In my conversations about leadership, I continually run into an interesting theme. People are frustrated in their role as a volunteer. Or conversely, people can’t figure out how to engage volunteers. Oddly, the frustrated volunteers are precisely the type of people the other group tends to look for.

After spending a significant amount of time in the non-profit sector as well as working with military reservists and cadets, I see several comprehensive programs designed and put in place to lead volunteers effectively. Quite frankly, those efforts kept those who didn’t know how to lead employed and gave consultants a decent revenue stream.

Another tool for being a great leader? Curiosity! Here’s how it can help you survive as a leader.

Volunteers vs. employees

In my opinion, the only difference between leading volunteers and leading employees is compensated.

At a staff meeting, a manager was describing the performance problems she was having with volunteers. An employee had delegated some work to a volunteer and, after some months, discovered the work was not done satisfactorily.

I spoke up and asked the manager, “What would you do if one of your paid supervisors left another employee for months with poorly defined tasks and then got angry when it wasn’t done right?”

The response? “I would discipline them!”

So, I thought to myself, “Really?” As the person assigning the work to these volunteers, is she the pot or the kettle?

A terrific friend of mine, who is a very accomplished businessperson and a community leader of the highest order, relayed to me she had been asked to take part in a membership drive.

A consultant sat everyone down and lectured the volunteers about proper protocol at the inaugural committee meeting. These volunteers are all very accomplished in their own right, so to be treated like five-year-olds would be very off-putting.

How would you respond if this were your boss talking down to you? Now, how might you respond as a volunteer?

I have served with volunteers who—when given authority and responsibility and held to account—led the responses to some of the most complex disasters of our time. I saw reservists who, if treated like the professional soldiers they are, can accomplish superhuman tasks.

Motivation and Money

I know first-hand money isn’t the most critical motivator!

Whether paid or unpaid, people want to:

• Have honourable and engaging work to do
• Receive clear expectations
• Feel they are part of something bigger than they are
• Be employed at or above their current capacity.
• Be shown respect and appreciation.

What Is Motivation?

The long-studied art and science of human motivation are complicated. It’s often the subject of debate by academics and business practitioners alike. One thing is sure: the ability to inspire others to perform is a crucial element in ineffective leadership and a key concern of organizations dedicated to quality and achieving results.

To motivate means to inspire action. What can managers do to encourage their employees?

To answer that question, we must know what our people seek from their jobs.

Many managers assume that all people want from a job is money. If this were true, then all we would have to do to motivate people is to give them more money to produce more, or better, work.

This rarely works.

It seldom has any long-term impact on motivation or performance.

Not sure what kind of leader you are? Take our quiz to find out.

What People Want from Their Jobs

If you want to get the best results from your people, you should know what rings their bell. To do so, you must know people’s goals and how they look at their jobs.

Do you understand the aspirations, ambitions, and competitive spirit of those you lead? How do their personal lives affect their work?

Managers need to treat team members according to their personalities. People are different, and no two people respond precisely to the same situation or circumstances.

So, managers need to get close to their people, understand them, and inspire them under varied circumstances.

If you’re on the other end of this and need to find a way to better partner with your boss, don’t miss this post.

Light That Fuse

In your efforts to inspire team members to achieve great results, remember that motives incite people to action.

This means, in effect, that all motivation is self-motivation. So, it’s your job to help your employees find a cause that compels them to act while achieving the organization’s goals. It’s also your job, as their manager, to get your people to want to do what needs to be done.

8 Actions to Get off the Naughty Boss List

Here are some ways to fire up people’s motivation:

1. Set clear, well-defined, and high (but attainable) goals. Be sure they understand and accept them.
2. When discussing goals with your people, get their ideas and suggestions. Don’t forget to review the problems they may encounter. People who are involved in producing plans and goals will usually work harder to achieve them.
3. Assure your people that you rely on them and have confidence in them. They need to know that the boss believes in them.
4. Back up, your people and fight for them when necessary. Public support, when appropriate, gives people confidence that they have the authority they need and shows that they have your trust. Show an interest in your people and listen to their triumphs, their problems, their ideas, and their grievances.
5. Demonstrate that purposeful, dedicated, and consistent effort leads to meaningful results.
6. Demonstrate how their work relates to their future and the advancement of the team.
7. Give deserved praise and recognition.
8. Get rid of “deadwood.” Workers are more productive when every one person contributes to the team effort.

What are you going to do today to stay out of purgatory?

Two things you can do if you need help?

Click here to have a conversation with Steve.

If you’re interested in going even deeper or moving your career to the next level, you’ll also want to have a look at my 1-on-1 coaching services.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check these out, too:

A Curated List of Crisis Leadership Articles
9 Stupid Management Practices (and what to do instead)
The 6T’s To Know What To Delegate

This article was originally published on December 8, 2018, and has been updated.

To some, this entire year feels like a storm of bad news. As a leader, you’re leading in a crisis and during unprecedented times. Naturally, world events might get to you. But are you taking this out on your team? They deserve better than you being an ass.

I have been blogging about leadership for a few years now. I draw the subject matter from my observations of other leaders, the questions readers and clients ask, and from my own experiences and mistakes. To protect the privacy of others – and my ego – I usually veil names and circumstances when I relate a story … but this one is all about me!

My own experience leading in a crisis

I spent a few years leading a public-sector organization. Things were going very well until a series of events pushed me into a place where I wasn’t sure who I could trust. I felt many of the people I was working with weren’t acting ethically and I began to feel undermined, paranoid, and under attack.

On the ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’ spectrum, I do not fly or freeze well. When threatened, my instinctive reaction to fight. In that setting and at that time, I felt my temper becoming quicker to light. I was in such a state that I once slammed a door so hard it nearly came off its hinges.

Not one of my finest moments.

Maybe, maybe my reaction was understandable. But it was unacceptable and inexcusable.

My personal and professional expectation is to hold myself to a higher standard. In times of uncertainty and adversity and crisis, any signs of leadership immaturity will make your employees feel unsafe and insecure.

I needed to be the paragon of composure and not an ass.

So, if you’re leading in a crisis, let me save you from these same mistakes.

Here are seven ways to maintain leadership composure during the most pressure-packed moments.

Get A Grip On Your Emotions

Grow up!

You are the adult in the room so learn not to wear your emotions on your sleeve. When you allow emotions to get in the way, your employees interpret this as you not being objective and too passionate about the situation.

Balance expressing concern and care while maintaining your composure.

Read more about demonstrating leadership even in tough times here.

Try Not To Take It Personally

There are lots of reasons why decisions and circumstances don’t always play out logically.

Remain calm and never start thinking that your moral indignation will justify your actions.

Keep Positive

Employees are always watching your actions, behaviour, relationships, and overall demeanour.

You must maintain a positive mental attitude and manage a narrative that keeps their employees inspired and hopeful–even when you’re leading in a crisis.

This is where your leadership and resolve can shine. Stay strong, smile, and demonstrate authentic compassion and empathy.

Remain Courageous

Fear is contagious. So, act like a duck! Calm on top and paddling like hell underwater.

No matter what kind of crisis you’re leading in, project a sense of steady confidence. That way, you will instill it in others.

Remain fearless and cool to communicate a sense of composure to those you lead.

For more on moral courage, click here.

Be Decisive

Maintain your composure and never show doubt.

Speak with conviction, confidence, and authority. This gives employees the comfort that everything is under control.

Be Accountable

You have chosen to assume leadership responsibility, and it’s more important than ever when you’re leading in a crisis. So take the required steps to problem solve before things get out of hand.

You Got This

The most effective way to maintain composure during challenges is to act like a leader.

You have solved complex problems many times before. Knuckle onto this one with the same compassion, elegance, and grace.

It’s easy to lose composure during times of crisis if you let worry turn into fear. By remaining calm and in control you can step back, critically evaluate what is going on.

Your composure puts those you lead at ease and creates a safe and secure workplace culture where no one needs panic in the face of adversity.

Leading in a crisis and beyond

Oh yeah, and don’t be an ass.

If you’ve been thinking about moving your career to the next level? Looking for support while you’re leading in a crisis? You’ll also want to have a look at my 1-on-1 coaching services.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check these out, too:

The High Cost of Poor Leadership
10 Signs You Have a Scary Boss
People Pleasing Leaders & Soup Sandwiches – 5 Messes You Make When You Try to Make Everyone Happy

This post was originally published in March 2017, and has been updated just for you!

Have you, as a leader, established a culture of safety in the workplace?

Leadership is not a position.

It is an attitude – management is the position.

One has nothing to do with the other.

Safety, too, is an attitude.

What is a culture of safety?

A culture of safety is a state of mind and a way of living your life. Safety is the result. Safety is the choice in every moment of every day.

Those with a safety leadership attitude who promote a culture of safety will choose to do the job safely at every moment.

Companies are waking up to the fact that people who blindly follow orders on a job site still get hurt. But safety leaders who choose safety in every moment save themselves from harm by the choices they make.

In the workplace, a culture of safety is quickly becoming a coveted element in any organization.

Developing a culture of safety

Here are the 7 cultural traits an organization with a culture of safety performers will possess:

Honesty

This comes wrapped in accountability and responsibility.

Any attempt to deflect accountability negates honesty. Honesty is the trait that allows leaders to be vulnerable and accept that they don’t know everything. You can fix what you don’t know, but you can’t fix what you cover-up. Honesty is a willingness to be who you are and make no excuses for it. Values and core beliefs are tied to honesty.

One of those core beliefs will be promoting a culture of safety and self-preservation.

Want to talk more about honesty? Please take a look at this post, where I discuss moral courage as a leadership characteristic.

Communication

This is the key to keeping yourself and others safe on a job site.

If no one is talking, then no one is listening. When no one is listening, instructions get missed, and people get hurt. Communication doesn’t happen by scolding or by lectures. People don’t respond well to scolding and being lectured. Communication involves conversation. People engage themselves in conversation.

When they are engaged, they are paying attention.

For more on communicating with your people, take a look at how to Improve Your Conversations By Not Talking – 3 Tips You Can Start Using Today.

Confidence

Anyone working without it is a prime candidate to get hurt. Some work is simply intimidating. And when a worker lacks confidence in performing the job, others are put at risk. When a worker is continuously scolded, they will lose their trust.

Lack of confidence is a distraction.

Setbacks happen on every job site. When a setback occurs, people turn to those who display confidence and an “I’ve got this” attitude–all commitment to a culture of safety.

Commitment

It’s perhaps the most contagious of all traits.

Working alongside those without the commitment to the job is tenuous. Knowing that a co-worker could quit at any moment leaves workers unsure and confidence on the job site wanes.

But when you are surrounded by those who have a deep-seated commitment to the job, it brings a sense of peace and sureness about doing the job safely. Commitment means to focus, and when workers are focused, they will act safely.

Positive Attitude

Regardless of whatever adversity you may face, your attitude is critical.

A positive attitude is what turns someone’s debilitating roadblock into a temporary setback that is easily overcome. People focused on the worst attract the worst. People who can find the silver lining will emerge as victors. They see what needs doing and take action instead of wallowing in fear. A positive, supportive worksite tends to attract those who will contribute to it.

Speaking of positivity, here are three 3-minute articles to discuss with your team to create a lifetime of positive change (for everyone).

Intuition

When you are plugged into your surroundings, you can see what is coming and prepare for it.

There is a quiet confidence in merely “knowing” what is about to happen. You can prepare yourself and those around you. You can address issues before they become issues. The tough decisions are easy to decide when you can depend on your gut instinct for answers.

Learning to trust yourself is as essential as your team learning to trust you.

Sense of Humour

There is no reason safety can’t be fun.

The benefits of being safe are happy and joyful. So why can’t we laugh on the job site?

There is little reason to laugh when you don’t feel confident, lack commitment, or frequently face safety issues. But when you and your workmates have a sense of self, have confidence, excellent communication, and a great attitude, there’s no reason that you can’t have fun at work.

Humour allows people to settle into their work comfortably.

Establishing a culture of safety is the new Leadership.

Start by looking for these seven traits in yourself and your teammates.

And if you want to talk about Leadership and a culture of safety at your next safety meeting, I can help.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check these out, too:

5 Steps You Can Use To Build a “First Team” Mindset
80% Of Projects Fail Because Of ‘People’ Issues … Here Are 6 Things You Can Do To Reduce That Risk
People Pleasing Leaders & Soup Sandwiches – 5 Messes You Make When You Try to Make Everyone Happy

This article was originally published in February 2019 and has been updated.

What is Your ‘First Team’?

Learn what happens when you are a ‘First Team.’ 

Imagine a group of people who meet every day to resolve the most significant problems our society faces. Now, imagine those same people being more concerned about the people they represent and their own self–interest than society’s most pressing concerns.

When this happens, and people advocate for their political interests first and foremost, the greater good takes a backseat.

Imagine when politics focuses only on personal issues and not on the greater good.

‘First Team’

This same phenomenon occurs in companies and organizations.

Executive teams are comprised of leaders from various functions – e.g. operations, sales, marketing, technology, human resources, finance – who are often more concerned about what’s going on in their own area than how the executive team as a whole is performing.

This is a very natural phenonium and something I often see in my consulting work.

To explore this idea, I always ask executive team members, “Which team is your first priority, your ‘First Team’?” Unfortunately, the answer is not easy to admit. If you want to ensure your leadership team is working as cohesively and effectively as possible, the question can’t be ignored or glossed over.

Most executive team members serve on two teams, the team they lead and the team they are a member.  To be truly effective and for the good of the organization, they need to prioritize the leadership team first. This team must become their ‘First Team.’

To truly be a cohesive leadership team, members must pay attention to the team’s collective results over anything else, including the results of the groups that they may manage personally.

This is difficult for many leaders because they see it as being disloyal to their direct reports. Remember, a leader’s direct reports are the people they hired, the people they spend most of their time, and the people they enjoy leading.

However, if every member of an executive team is more concerned about how decisions will impact their group rather than the overall organization, collective decision–making will inevitably suffer.

Collective Versus Siloed Decision–Making

If a leadership team is debating how to allocate a budget surplus best, each team member’s perspective will affect their suggestions and, ultimately, decision–making. A group that believes the team they lead is their ‘First Team’ will usually engage in debate with a departmental focus: engineering needs more developers, marketing needs more advertising budgets, etc. This jockeying for position and resources often causes frustration and resentment.

When a team approaches the same budget question with the leadership team as their ‘First Team,’ the debate completely changes. The team evaluates each of the potential investments in light of what would be best for the organization and not just their group. As obvious as this sounds, clarifying the distinction about ‘First Team’ can make all the difference.

Read more about bringing clarity to your ‘First Team.’

Make it Stick

To ensure that your leadership is adhering to the ‘First Team’ concept, I recommend reviewing the following with your team:

1. Point out the priority of ‘First Team’ before making any critical decisions. This will put leaders in the correct frame of mind. When entering an executive meeting, team members need to remove their functional hats and put on their executive team one.

2. Demand that team members prioritize the executive team over all others. When the executive team is truly cohesive and prioritized appropriately, their ability to face difficult challenges with confidence bonds, the team and models unity to the organization, this requires an absolute, unwavering commitment to the ‘First Team.’

3. Explain how the team’s direct reports will be impacted. Because if there is any daylight between executive team members, those lower in the organization are left to figure and fight it out.

4. Finally, change the agenda of the Executive team meetings from reporting on a functional or departmental basis to a goal or objective-based agenda. The organization’s goals and objectives should be the most critical work you do. The work that moves your organization forward and by each executive member reporting on how they are contributing to or have problems achieving the goal will completely change your ‘First Team’ meetings from silos to collective thinking.

Like many of the concepts I consult on, ‘First Team’ is as powerful as it is simple.

I have seen leaders with vast experience have an “aha” moment about this concept resulting in immediate impact on their team’s cohesion and their organization’s ability to succeed.

Learn more about how my consulting services can help you build a ‘First Team.’

Credit to: Patrick Lencioni & The Table Group for the “#1 Team” concept