The effectiveness of leadership impacts every aspect of the organization, making it crucial to a company’s success. Evaluating leaders with a leadership assessment and providing feedback on key performance criteria can help leaders develop skills to improve their performance.
Leaders influence everything from strategic planning to everyday workplace culture. The best leadership styles for a particular environment are determined by the specifics of the work and the team.
Observe Your Team
Observing your team in action is one of the best ways to determine which leadership styles are most effective for you. Observe how they work together, communicate with each other and address challenges. Also, take note of any problems you see with communication or workflow. Then, consider how you can improve these issues.
While it’s important to provide constructive feedback, avoid judging your team members. For example, if one of your employees is consistently late to meetings, don’t make it a point to talk about their tardiness every time you interact. Instead, focus on the behavior and the effect it has on others and the project or business goals. This will help you maintain healthy relationships with your team members while still providing constructive feedback.
In addition, don’t forget to focus on what your team members do well. Even your grumpiest employee may be able to come up with innovative solutions that can help solve a challenge. Be sure to recognize this talent and encourage it to build a strong and productive culture in your workplace.
While conventional wisdom suggests you should develop areas of weakness, CliftonStrengths says that you should invest in the places where you naturally thrive to become a better leader. Using our Team Grid, you can discover how to bring your strengths to your workplace and create more confident teams. Download the grid today to get started. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with different leadership styles over short periods of time. You can learn a lot about what leadership style works for you by observing how your workplace morale, relationships and productivity shift with each different approach. Seek mentorship if necessary to guide your journey.
Ask for Feedback
One of the most powerful tools a leader has is feedback from their team members. This allows them to see their strengths and weaknesses through the eyes of others. While it can be scary to hear negative feedback, it is crucial for your growth as a leader. However, it’s important that you ask for feedback in a way that makes the person providing it feel safe and that you understand their perspective. If you get defensive, it will shut down the conversation and they may be less likely to open up in the future.
When asking for feedback, it’s best to focus on specific aspects of your leadership that you would like to improve. This can be a particular communication style, decision-making process, or even something as simple as your tone of voice. This allows the person providing the feedback to focus on a specific behavior that they believe you can improve.
It’s also helpful to frame your feedback requests in a way that encourages a positive response. For example, “How can I be a better leader?” is a more constructive request than “What do you think of my leadership skills?”
Finally, when receiving feedback, it’s important to thank the person for taking the time to share their thoughts. This shows that you value their input and that you are open to improvement. It’s also a great opportunity to discuss how you have already begun addressing their suggestions. For instance, if they said you needed to improve your communication style, you can start by scheduling more time for 1:1 meetings. This will allow you to focus on communicating more effectively with your team. It’s also a good idea to track any improvements that you make as a result of the feedback you receive.
Seek Mentorship
As leaders, we all learn through direct experience, but mentorship can help you take your professional development to the next level. Mentorship is a unique type of relationship in which someone with years or decades of practical industry knowledge helps guide and mentor another, outside the normal manager/subordinate line management structure. Mentoring is a great way to develop leadership skills, and it also provides role models that you can look up to and emulate.
As part of their mentoring role, the mentor can help the mentee understand how their values and beliefs influence their leadership style. The mentor can also offer insight into how to align those values and beliefs with the mentee’s goals and help create an action plan for growth.
When it comes to finding the right leadership style, the key is finding one that aligns with your personal values and beliefs, as well as your career objectives. One of the best ways to do this is to use CliftonStrengths to discover your natural leadership style.
For example, if your top strengths are Influence and Connecting, you may want to consider a more people-focused leadership approach, such as Transactional or Servant Leadership. This would be an ideal fit for your strengths and values, and it could be a good way to improve your overall productivity.
The best way to find out what type of leadership is right for you is to test different styles for short periods of time and observe how workplace morale, relationships and productivity change with each. You can even seek out strategic counsel and attend leadership training programs to further develop your skills. Just remember to be authentic and never try to copy another leader’s style. Expert advice from seasoned professionals can guide you in navigating complex challenges and enhancing your leadership effectiveness.
Create a Vision for the Future
Having a vision for the future is an essential leadership skill. A well-defined vision statement creates a shared understanding amongst team members, aligns efforts, and inspires everyone to work toward a common goal. It also helps attract like-minded individuals who are committed to helping you make your vision a reality.
When crafting a vision, start by writing down everything that you want to achieve. Be as specific as possible, and try to incorporate multiple goals that encompass your career, relationships, health, and personal growth. This can help you to identify what areas of your life require attention, which can then be used as a guide to set long-term objectives that will help you grow into the leader you are meant to be.
Once you have a list of your desired outcomes, look for themes and patterns. This will give you a clear idea of what your most important values and priorities are, which will then serve as the basis for your vision plan. You can then use this vision plan to create inspiring one-year goals that will challenge you while also filling you with purpose and meaning.
You can also take this opportunity to evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and see what you need to do to improve. For example, if you notice that you tend to focus more on the production side of things rather than the people side of things, this can be an indicator that you may need to work on your interpersonal skills. Similarly, if you struggle with emotional intelligence, this can also be an area that requires improvement in order to produce effective leadership. By learning how to evaluate and improve your leadership approach, you can create a more effective leadership style that will drive success in any organization.
Be Proactive
Leaders who have a proactive management style are able to anticipate problems and prevent them from occurring in the first place. They also take steps to ensure that employees are ready to handle any challenges that may arise. When a problem does occur, proactive leaders are able to quickly determine what went wrong and implement preventive measures to stop it from happening again.
To develop your proactive leadership skills, start by reflecting on any previous leadership roles you have held, no matter how small they may have been. Consider how you handled those situations, and identify any areas that could have been improved upon. Then, create an action plan to make those changes.
A proactive leader is constantly looking for ways to improve their team and processes. They are big picture thinkers who are always thinking about the future and how they can continue to grow their business. They also have excellent communication skills, which help them share their vision with their teams.
The best proactive leaders are able to prioritize tasks and delegate work effectively. They also regularly schedule meetings to discuss important issues. They are able to see how their team members are progressing and provide feedback and mentoring when needed. A proactive leader is a master delegater, and they know how to empower their team members and encourage them to grow.
Proactive leadership requires a lot of time and effort, but the results are worth it. By being a proactive leader, you can reduce the amount of reactive work that your team needs to complete and increase their productivity. This will give you and your team more time to focus on addressing any challenges that may arise.
