How To Be A Better Leader: 70 Tips

Back by popular demand...

The 70 tips below make for a good list for learning how to become a better leader when you don't have a lot of time to read books about leadership.

And, if you've been a leader for a long time, how about taking a few minutes to run through the list and scoring yourself on how well you carry out each leadership skill?

1. Don't micromanage
2. Don't be a bottleneck
3. Focus on outcomes, not minutiae
4. Build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes
5. Assess your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times
6. Conduct annual risk reviews
7. Be courageous, quick and fair
8. Talk more about values more than rules
9. Reward how a performance is achieved and not only the performance
10. Constantly challenge your team to do better
11. Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own
12. Err on the side of taking action
13. Communicate clearly and often
14. Be visible
15. Eliminate the cause of a mistake
16. View every problem as an opportunity to grow
17. Summarize group consensus after each decision point during a meeting
18. Praise when compliments are earned
19. Be decisive
20. Say "thank you" and sincerely mean it
21. Send written thank you notes
22. Listen carefully and don't multi-task while listening
23. Teach something new to your team
24. Show respect for all team members
25. Follow through when you promise to do something
26. Allow prudent autonomy
27. Respond to questions quickly and fully
28. Return e-mails and phone calls promptly
29. Give credit where credit is due
30. Take an interest in your employees and their personal milestone events
31. Mix praise with constructive feedback for how to make improvement
32. Learn the names of your team members even if your team numbers in the hundreds
33. Foster mutual commitment
34. Admit your mistakes
35. Remove nonperformers
36. Give feedback in a timely manner and make it individualized and specific
37. Hire to complement, not to duplicate
38. Volunteer within your community and allow your employees to volunteer
39. Promote excellent customer service both internally and externally
40. Show trust
41. Encourage peer coaching
42. Encourage individualism and welcome input
43. Share third-party compliments about your employees with your employees
44. Be willing to change your decisions
45. Be a good role model
46. Be humble
47. Explain each person's relevance
48. End every meeting with a follow-up To Do list
49. Explain the process and the reason for the decisions you make
50. Read leadership books to learn
51. Set clear goals and objectives
52. Reward the doers
53. Know yourself
54. Use job descriptions
55. Encourage personal growth and promote training, mentoring and external education
56. Share bad news, not only good news
57. Start meetings on time
58. Discipline in private
59. Seek guidance when you don't have the answer
60. Tailor your motivation techniques
61. Support mentoring - both informal and formal mentoring
62. Don't interrupt
63. Ask questions to clarify
64. Don't delay tough conversations
65. Have an open door policy
66. Dig deep within your organization for ideas on how to improve processes, policies and procedures
67. Do annual written performance appraisals
68. Insist on realism
69. Explain how a change will impact employees' feelings before, during and after the change is implemented
70. Have face-to-face interaction as often as possible

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Leading With GRIT

Feelings of being stuck, overwhelmed and frustrated plague too many of our workplaces says Laurie Sudbrink , author of the new book, Leading With GRIT . So, drawing on her over 20 years of coaching a wide range of organizations, colleges and Fortune 500 companies, Sudbrink provides in her book a road map to improve individual and organizational health . That road map includes teaching readers the principles of GRIT : Generosity Respect Integrity Truth Laurie Sudbrink "It is not only the concepts of GRIT, but how they are combined, that make them so effective," shares Sudbrink. Divided into three parts, Part I of the book is geared toward the individual, and is foundational to your success as a leader. Part II focuses on communicating with GRIT -- making communication easier, more enjoyable and more productive. Part III is how, in our role as leaders, we apply and sustain GRIT in the workplace, creating systems that help keep everyone on track....

Use TIPS When Providing Feedback

Eric Harvey and Al Lucia wrote a booklet called, 144 Ways To Walk The Talk . They provide the following great advice about giving feedback: 1. Make it timely -- give your feedback as soon as possible to the performance. 2. Make it individualized -- tailor your feedback to the feedback receiver. 3. Make it productive -- focus your feedback on the performance and not the performer . 4. Make is specific -- pinpoint for the receiver observable actions and behaviors.

How To Lead With Deep Purpose

Having conducted extensive field research, Ranjay Gulati , author of the book, Deep Purpose , The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies , reveals the fatal mistakes leaders unwittingly make when attempting to implement a reason for being. “My interviews with well over 200 executives across 18 firms revealed the secrets of these companies—not the usual facile frameworks, but new ways of thinking about business that allow leaders and companies to operate with heightened passion, urgency, and clarity,” shares Gulati. “I call this, deep purpose .” Furthermore, Gulati explains that most leaders think of purpose functionally or instrumentally, regarding it as a tool they can wield. On the other hand, deep purpose leaders think of it as something more fundamental; an existential statement that expresses the firm’s very reason for being. These leaders project it faithfully out onto the world. “Rethinking the nature of purpose should prompt you in turn to re-imagine ...

The 6 Questions Marshall Goldsmith Recommends You Ask Your Emplolyees

As explained in John Baldoni's, book, Lead With Purpose , Marshall Goldsmith suggests all leaders make it a habit to regularly ask their employees these six questions : Where do you think we should be going? Where do you think you and your part of the business should be going? What do you think you're doing well? If you were the leader, what ideas would you have for you? How can I help? What suggestions or ideas do you have for me?

How To Demonstrate Your Leadership Credibility

Demonstrate your leadership credibility by: Practicing what you preach. Walking the talk. Ensuring your actions are consistent with your words. Putting money where your mouth is. Following through on your promises. Doing what you say you will do. Good, quick tips from the book. The Leadership Challenge . Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me a copy of the book.

How To Lead With Purpose

“Purpose is the why behind everything within an organization,” says author John Baldoni, of the book, Lead With Purpose . Baldoni also believes that it is up to leaders to make certain that organizational purpose is understood and acted upon. And, to harness the talents of their employees, leaders must recognize their responsibility to instill purpose in the workplace. Other recommendations include: Make purpose a central focus Instill purpose in others Make employees comfortable with ambiguity Turn good intentions into great results Make it safe to fail (as well as prevail) Develop the next generation According to Baldoni, purpose forms the backbone of what an organization exists to do; upon which you can build vision and mission. To define an organization’s purpose, you must ask three questions: 1. What is our vision — that is, what do we want to become? 2. What is our mission — that is, what do we do now? 3...

The Six Dimensions Of Being A Healthy Leader

In Bob Rosen ’s book, Grounded: How Leaders Stay Rooted In An Uncertain World , he explains that there are six dimensions of being a healthy leader : Physical health : how you live. How you manage your mind and body – managing your energy and living a peak performance lifestyle. Emotional health : how you feel. This is about being self-aware and having positive emotions and the ability to be resilient, catching yourself when you have a counterproductive thought. This also includes seeking feedback from others about how you act and trying to be more reflective. Intellectual health : how you think. This is about asking questions, being deeply curious and seeing changes as an opportunity to grow, learn and reassess the way you see and talk about the world. Social health : how you interact. This is about authenticity. How do you build relationships? Are you being honest about yourself? Are you comfortable being vulnerable? Do you consider other people’s viewpoints? Vocatio...

Wisdom From The Book, The Art Of Being Unreasonable

Early on in Eli Broad's book, The Art of Being Unresaonable , he reminds us of the power of a child's instinctive asking, " Why not? " Unfortunately, most adults lose that habit and Broad goes on to explain that it was his continuing to ask "Why not?" throughout his career that brought him success. " The questions you're willing to ask when others think they have all the answers are doors to discovery ," says Broad. Other words of wisdom from the book, and my favorite takeaways, include : Most successful businesses have to begin by bucking conventional wisdom . Invention and innovation don't happen without it. Do your homework no matter how much time it takes. Big ideas don't happen in a moment . You can't do it all yourself, so ask questions and delegate . The trick to delegating is to make sure your employees share your priorities . Find the best people to whom you can delegate, and know their strengths an...

The Ordinary Skills Of Exceptional Leaders

New York Times - bestselling author, chartered psychologist and Professor of Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School, John Amaechi , has released It’s Not Magic: The Ordinary Skills Of Exceptional Leaders . It’s an important read for particularly managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders, and anyone else expected to motivate and inspire others to achieve great things. The book walks you through the seemingly obvious but difficult-to-nail mindsets and intentions you’ll need to adopt to influence and motivate others. You’ll learn strategies and techniques you can apply immediately, including: Easy-to-follow explanations of the straightforward behaviors you can model to improve your ability to lead others. Habits you can adopt immediately to motivate others in any setting, from the boardroom to the classroom or the battlefield. Data-driven insights into the tiny, little things that great leaders do every day and how to incorporate t...

Acknowledge Employee Milestones

Your employee will appreciate your acknowledging their birthday, advanced degree graduation achievement, wedding engagement, wedding, or other personal milestone event. If he or she shares with you information about any important event in their life, take the opportunity to congratulate them, honor them and acknowledge them. You can give them a card. Or, take them to lunch. Or, even a simple handshake can go a long way. Taking an interest in your employee goes a long way and it's one of the easiest, meaningful actions you can take. If you manage a large team, you'll likely want to create a way to help you remember upcoming milestone events for each of your employees.

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