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Leadership means being in a constant battle to keep your organisation moving forward. It is hard to keep in front of the many things demanding your time and ingenuity. And often, we fall back into the same old routine of fighting fires and cajoling our team. We run the risk of becoming stale and formulaic.
Here are a few suggestions for you to try out to put back a little sparkle into your leadership role.
1. Revisit your vision
Yes, you and the team have put together a vision for the organisation. And of course, you went over it again at the last strategy breakaway. But it’s getting a bit stale now. This doesn’t mean that the vision itself has become clichéd. The way you communicate and support it might have become a bit humdrum.
Take time away from the desk with your team to re-examine the vision and the underlying strategy. Look at new ways in which to communicate it. What actions pertinent to the present time can be used to bring home the message in an inspiring and compelling manner?
Find opportunities to talk to your team about what the vision means to them, and what they are doing to contribute.
2. Walk the walk
Have a cold, dispassionate look at yourself to see if you still are on track and are still aligned with the vision, mission, values, and purpose. Can your team see you living the values of the organisation?
Can people look at your behaviour and see that you are leading from the front? Ask one or two trusted colleagues to give you honest feedback, and then do something about it.
3. Bring more fun on the run
Look at your current workspace. You will have people coming into the office, some working from home and some following a hybrid approach. Set out to create an integrated workplace where workers want to be, to see friends, explore ideas, make a difference, learn, and find meaning.
Do this well and you will keep employees during otherwise difficult times if they are engaged, learning, and increasingly enjoying themselves. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Do some crazy things and create some new traditions. If it’s possible, have a bring-my-pet-to-work day.
Have a 20-minute high-energy music blast at lunchtime. Start meetings with what-can-we-celebrate! Invite all staff to a short vigorous mid-afternoon [slump time] walkabout outside in the fresh air, and then back to the work.
4. Be kind
Take the lead in making the workplace more accepting. Create a culture of sharing the burdens, reducing toxicity and burnout. Introduce supportive conversations about colleagues’ mental and physical health.
5. It’s the culture, stupid
Broach conversations about the culture in the organisation. The real culture. Find the hotspots. Take the hard feedback on the chin and do something about it.
6. Deliberately build quality teams
Look at your team, what are folk really good at? Use them in those capacities. Do you have a capability gap? Don’t force-fit someone into the hole. They will hate it and you will lose a valued employee. Take a long-term view. Invest in formal courses, personal coaching, and regular how-are-we-doing conversations. Let your team know that you are doing this and draw them into the process. A high-relationship, trusting team performs wonders.
7. Put respek on the Tech
Technology is always evolving, offering new opportunities for you to transform your business. AI, IOT, big data, cybersecurity and ChatGPT are changing everything. [If you aren’t familiar with these acronyms, you are in trouble!] Look for innovators who want to explore and challenge the conventional. Persons who demonstrate responsibility, trustworthiness, and ethics. This bus is leaving fast.
8. Make a gap
Demanding, focused leaders naturally want to be involved in all aspects of the business. But sometimes you have to step aside and have someone else step up to the rostrum. And you have to trust them enough to let them do it their way. Sometimes you have to step back and watch. Don’t interfere. They will find their own unique approach. They will learn valuable lessons, and you will have shown complete trust.
9. Less of yes
In most organisations, you get the folk who go along with the boss. They don’t stick their necks out with outrageous views and instead meekly toe the company line. Perhaps they think the boss will like them more because they are always in agreement.
Successful leaders surround themselves with people who question them and provide alternative opinions, feedback, and solutions.
In conclusion
This is a time to bring the whole team together to support each other, to invest in upskilling, and to strive to create more flexible ways of working. It’s a time to build resilience in healthy and engaged employees, and in organisational practices that support people to exercise the autonomy they need to catapult the organisation forward to exceptional performance and reward.
Leadership requires fresh new outlooks and congruent behaviours. These nine tips will support you in achieving that. And you will make a difference and be a better leader.
.oOo.
