Leadership Starts with You

Iconic basketball coach John Wooden said, “First be best, then be first.” This line gives the imperative to earn our place as leaders. Some might think leaders are merely appointed, and that appointment is sufficient to claim authority, but understanding leadership as merely positional misses the nature of leadership altogether. More tragically, understanding leadership in this singular way omits the secret to effective leadership. Appointments are meant to reflect a deeper dynamic, an authority not based on position, but integrity.

“First be Best, then be first.” - Coach John Wooden

Integrity Matters

But wait a minute, isn’t integrity just about being reliable and trustworthy? Yes, it is about those things, but in a leadership capacity, these traits translate to reliably embodying the skills, determination, know-how, and vision to reach the goals for the team. It’s about being the type of person your team can trust to take them to where you’re being called upon to go.

And being that person is not just about your team. When you are the best, when you are the person that can reliably take your team to where they need to go in a trustworthy, competent manner, they will respect you. But even more importantly, you will respect yourself, which will mean your manner will be in alignment with your leadership actions. At the end of the day, knowing you have given yourself and others your best helps you earn not just personal confidence but the confidence of those you seek to influence.

It Changes Others

People experience hope and garner inspiration when someone demonstrates how to overcome an obstacle or meet a desired goal. The greatest throughout history is regarded as the greatest because they not only cast a vision, they worked tirelessly to gain the knowledge and pathways to achieving it. They showed people what was truly possible in new and exciting ways. All effective leaders, through their own example, give people hope.

Do you want to reap the benefits of self-leadership for your team? Our weekly Leadership Lessons are a fantastic tool for helping you up your leadership game.

Self-Awareness Equals Better Relationships

The ancient Greeks enjoined us to “Know thyself,” and with good reason. A critical aspect of self-awareness is the understanding of how our behaviors, traits, and communication affect the people in our lives, which has a direct bearing on the quality of our relationships, both personal and professional.

And the key to self-awareness is emotional intelligence because emotional intelligence allows us to identify and manage our own emotions. This understanding of our own emotional states, moods, and motivations in turn allows us to better empathize with others, which is a critical leadership quality. Here are three ways to begin to enhance self-awareness:

Make an Appointment with Yourself and/or a Trusted Mentor

Self-awareness is the product of intentional self-examination. Sometimes we are surrounded by such noise that it takes an intentional appointment to make room for the stillness needed for contemplation and getting in touch with ourselves. The insight of other people who you trust and respect can also be invaluable as well. Be sure to make time for contemplation and conversations with key mentors.

Take an Inventory of Your Motivations

We can be motivated by many things: praise, fear, validation, security, purpose, competition, love, truth, beauty, goodness to name a few. And people can frequently sense our motivations and respond to them. Take a minute to think about what motivates you in life? At work? At home? In recreation? Why are these motivating you? How do these motivations interact with and affect the motivations of others around you?

Actively Notice How You Feel

Consider writing down how you feel in various situations, especially those associated with positive feelings. By understanding what gives you feelings of well-being and positivity you can more readily translate these same effects into the lives of others.

Because self-awareness is a decision, we can begin to authentically and intentionally gain a deeper understanding of ourselves in service of our team today. Our weekly Leadership Lessons are a fantastic tool to guide you.

One Ridiculously Simple Secret to Higher Team Productivity

While metrics and mantras are important tools in a team’s effort to meet objectives, research repeatedly shows that the most effective and endearing leaders are encouragers first and foremost.

Encouragement is a specific type of praise focused on behavior regardless of the outcome. It sees the person and the decisions made that are laudable and imports hope into any situation based on that which is praiseworthy or positive.

For example, you see a team member put effort into acquiring a new skill set that served the team well in the acquisition of a new account and say to her, “That skill took tremendous dedication to learn and it made a big difference in us landing that account, thank you for your hard work!”

Now imagine your team didn’t get the account, but you still praise her for the positive character she exhibited and bring hope into the situation based on her contribution by saying, “That took tremendous dedication to learn, and even though we didn’t land this particular account, your efforts have positioned us to gain other new accounts in the future, let’s stay focused!”

Why is encouragement such a game-changer?

1.)   Encouragement raises productivity.

Gallup research has found that 67% of employees whose managers communicated their strengths were fully engaged in their work, while only 31% of employees whose managers only communicated their weaknesses were engaged in their work. As leaders we frequently spend untold hours procuring trainings and seminars to improve metrics, but as the German poet and critic Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “Instruction does much, but encouragement everything."

Great leaders inspire their people by injecting a picture of hope into every challenge. When the focus is on what is praiseworthy in the situation, not particular outcomes, the result is more of what is praiseworthy, which leads to outstanding outcomes overall.

2.)   Encouragement forms authentic human connection.

Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, “Come friends, it's not too late to seek a newer world.”

The emphasis here is on the word “friends.” While a leader’s role is different from that of a friend, there nonetheless exists a measure of overlap between the two because authentic human connection is required for both types of relationship. Friends inspire hope by seeing the good in us and bringing it out. So do great leaders.

Do you want to reap the benefits of becoming a more consistent and creative encourager for your team? Our weekly Leadership Lessons are a fantastic tool for helping you up your encouragement game.

Controlling vs. Leading: Are You a Bottleneck?

I was new on a team one time and found myself partnering with a truly talented individual. Over time, she and I shared our thoughts on how the team had some inefficiencies. Soon after, I got curious and asked why she was not speaking up about the ineffectiveness. It turned out that she did not feel as though she could; she was never once asked for ideas and input, and additionally, her manager appeared to be very attached to the current process. Over time, this created a feeling for her that no one was interested in her opinion. Maybe you’ve felt that way before too? Perhaps you may have caused others to feel that way unintentionally?

Do you remember the last time you wanted to be controlled and monitored? Managing for results is an essential function, but managing by controlling can stifle creativity, the individual’s willingness to commit, and their drive to deliver exceptional results.

To lead is to focus on people first, mission always. Leaders who manage this way know that to deliver results, it’s about the people. Understanding their people’s motivation, heart (purpose and passion), and talent, they seek to drive a team’s motivation, knowing that at the end of the day, it’s a motivated team that accomplishes a mission.

At a basic level, people crave a sense of purpose and want to build trusting relationships; therefore, servant leaders focus on leading and inspiring. They know their responsibility is to take care of their people, and their people will then take care of the mission. When we lead, we should first engage the heart of those we’re leading, and then we can leverage the passions and talents of our people to get things done. This approach becomes empowering to all involved—our people deliver excellent outcomes, and the company thrives.

To quickly check and evaluate if you are managing or leading, download our free guide “Manager vs. Leader.” Join the Leader Momentum movement to learn more about servant leadership. Learn more at www.leader-momentum.com.