If you’re reading this, then you’re probably already a good leader. You’ve been tasked with leading teams, hitting your targets, and delivering tangible results, and have been successful at it. You’re a good manager. However, in a world of constant change and disruption, business as usual just won’t cut it.
Real leadership greatness is different. It means rethinking who you are as a leader and digging into a transformation deeper than the numbers alone. Here are seven proven ways to take your leadership from good to great.
1. Lead yourself first: Discover your core story.
Before you can be the leader everyone is waiting for, you must find your voice, your identity, and your confidence. Leadership, at its core, begins with self-leadership. The heart of the storyteller is the heart of the story. When you personally invest in the ideas and dreams you are putting forth, your audience subconsciously interprets that emotional investment as motivation and grit.
2. Narrate the future.
OKRs alone are not the stuff that soul-stirring speeches are made of. If you want to be a next-level leader, you must learn to narrate the future by presenting your vision and strategy in undeniable terms. First, put context on the change—showing how change can lead to opportunity. Second, create emotion by painting a picture of the gap between where your people are today and where they want to be tomorrow. Third, present evidence in the form of supporting data and rational reasoning. This approach allows you to reframe radical ideas into a reasonable leap of faith for your audience.
3. Invest in soft skills and earn trust.
It’s no secret that managers must be invested in soft skills such as empathy, trust, and communication to find success. The human brain is hardwired for narrative. By being willing to let our guard down and be vulnerable, you connect with people on a deeper level. The next-level leader gets this. These leaders know that to get people to move, they must show people that they care about them as human beings and not just as performers.
4. Lead by example and model the behavior you expect.
It’s often said that leadership is a verb, not a noun. The culture you set is in the actions you take each day. Sure, you can slap a couple of posters on the wall, but in the end, it’s not about what the office walls say. It’s what you as a leader do and say every day that makes all the difference. Are you modeling the behavior you expect others to follow? If you aren’t willing to model the behavior that you want to see from others, why should they follow you when the going gets tough?
5. Embrace change and be willing to take risks.
Change is hard. Most people aren’t wired for it. It often means uncertainty and additional work to see things through. Innovation can be especially challenging, as it flies in the face of your preconceived notions and threatens the status quo and the normal way things are done.
Leadership, at its core, is risky business. You don’t have to be a great leader to take a risk—you just have to risk being great. If you stick to your guns in the face of uncertainty, you build confidence in your own ability to move the needle and move your team forward in the process.
6. Delegate responsibility and scale leadership.
Great leadership is not about doing everything on your own. The best leaders delegate both responsibility and authority to the people around them and hold their employees accountable. This practice of psychological ownership and accountability in your employees frees up your time to focus on strategic outcomes instead of the weeds of execution. The more you empower and develop people around you, the more impact you as a leader can have.
7. Focus on outcomes, not outputs.
If you want to drive your team and organization to next-level performance, you must reframe your thinking from a focus on outputs to a focus on outcomes. Outputs are about what you make or do. Outcomes are about the result or effect of some behavior change or innovation.
Get crystal clear on the business outcomes that you expect. Overcommunicate those expectations with your team. Remind them of what matters most on a regular basis. Leadership is the ability to positively change people’s behavior, change people’s circumstances, and change people’s competence.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
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Peter Economy
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