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.

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.