Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Leadership Lifestyle [Infographic]

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Top 10 WAYS  to improve your leadership lifestyle (INFO-GRAPHIC)
That Drive Results

 

There is a difference between “managing” your team and “leading” your team. One manages their team by bringing about accomplishment and having charge or responsibility for actions. While one leads their team by inspiring, motivating, energizing and mobilizing team members around a successful vision. The best managers are those who are also leaders, comprised of both qualities, especially the capacity to influence.

Where do you align, “managing” or “leading” your team? Read this infographic on 10 areas that are fundamental to strong leadership, and learn tactics to better perform the qualities or areas that are lacking

1. PEOPLE YOU HANG AROUND WITH

Jim Rohn, renowned businessman and motivational speaker, once said, “You’re the average of the five people you spend most of your time with.” These five people, who are closest to you, play a major role in determining your success. Often underestimated, it’s proven time and time again that the people you surround yourself with can have an intense impact on you in both personal and professional matters.

If you want to be successful, hang around successful people. Strong leaders spend time with other strong leaders and mentors. Find people who will challenge, teach, influence, motivate and drive you toward success. You need people who are going to encourage you to think outside the box and step outside of your comfort zone. It’s important to understand the influence of the people – clients, team members, colleagues, friends, even family members – around you and what that influence means to your performance.

 

2. MATERIAL YOU ABSORB

The content you are consistently intaking easily impacts your leadership qualities and abilities. What are you reading? Watching? Listening to? All of which can guide your leadership capabilities. With the advancement of the Internet, there is a plethora of personal development and educational materials at your fingertips. Libraries and bookstores offer copious amounts of books, magazines and documentaries to expand your leadership and business knowledge. Materials can even be absorbed in “live” forms such as conferences, webinars and seminars. The goal is not to be the smartest person in the room, but rather strive to follow the “learn something new every day” saying. Consistently finding educational opportunities, expanding your business knowledge and gaining self-development materials, will increase the impact you have on those you lead.

 

3. CLIENT SUCCESSES

Think about all the great work you’ve done for your clients. How have you helped them and their business? How have you influenced their success? When your clients complete a project or achieve their goals, realize that is because of your guidance, your leadership. Understand what your clients need and how you can align your leadership qualities to best help them fulfill those necessities. Once again, without confidence in your clients and inspiring them for greatness, chances are you’ll have low client successes. This, though, circles back to the people you surround yourself with. If you have clients that fit your culture and leadership style, the chances for client successes greatly increases. However, if you have clients who are unmotivated, then you’re less likely to achieve the client successes you want.

 

4. TEAM SUCCESSES

Similar to client successes, examine your team, their productivity, collaboration and engagement. Have you helped your team improve in these areas? How have you made a difference in their professional and personal lives? Does each team member strive for great success? Have you inspired potential leaders? Think back to when you hired each of your team members. Are they better off since starting work with your business? If you have difficulty providing positive answers to any of these questions, then it’s time to invest in your team. Share your knowledge and experiences with them, especially your stories of overcoming challenges to achieve your goals. Engage with your team, motivate them to drive for greatness and nurture them into leaders of the future.

 

5. THE WAY YOU DRESS

The saying “dress for success” is completely true. It’s also shown that the clothes you wear can impact your confidence, self-esteem, productivity and even the way you think. Wearing casual, workout-like clothes can make for casual work progress. Whereas, wearing more business-like attire can make for stronger work habits and can even make you think more expansively. Over the years, the meaning of “casual business attire” has taken on many forms, but it’s important to remember that clothes make a strong visual statement. The way you dress is the first impression someone receives from you. Wear what makes you feel good, but if you don’t feel successful or confident, others will get that sense too.

 

6. LOOKING AT YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

As a leader, your career is most likely filled with accomplishments. From awards and public recognition to certificates and testimonials, you should be proud of everything accomplished to date. This, however, should only inspire you to strive for more and challenge yourself to achieve more goals. How often do you reflect on the successes, both professional and personal, you have made? Take a minute to look at where you started in your career, realize how much you’ve grown, use those experiences to motivate those around you, learn from your past and believe in yourself to keep going.

 

7. BE HAPPY IN YOUR OWN SKIN

If you’re not happy in your own skin, how are you going to inspire others to be happy in theirs? It all starts with your confidence, self-esteem and self-belief. We are constantly pressured by outside voices, societal “norms” and the always-changing health industry to question ourselves. Whether it’s working out to relieve stress or watching your favorite movie for personal downtime, you need to ignore the outside factors and find what makes you feel good about yourself. Self-belief and being sure of yourself is crucial to success. Afterall, if you’re constantly questioning your decisions or leadership choices, how do you expect others to respond and follow in your footsteps.

 

8. GOALS AND AFFIRMATIONS

Goals are your guide to success. Not only is it important to create business goals for yourself, your team and your business, but you need to create personal goals for yourself as well. Do you have a list of values, affirmations and positive reinforcements to consistently remind yourself? What goals do you want to achieve as a leader? Set ones that are both attainable yet get you thinking outside the box.

 

9. POSITIVE EXTERIOR

This is all about how you carry or present yourself. What presence do you have when you enter the room? For example, when you walk in to lead a team meeting, how does your team respond – apprehensive, excited, tense, eager, etc. Do you often have a smile on your face or a constantly blank emotion? Nonverbals play a huge role in how people read your exterior representation. The way you dress can also impact the way you present your positive exterior. If you come into the office dressed in slouchy, casual clothing, people aren’t going to take your leadership as seriously as if you were wearing business casual. Remember that the way you present yourself affects the way those you lead present themselves as well.

 

10. SELF-TALK

How do you talk to yourself when no one is around? Are you constantly beating yourself down for making minor defaults or are you praising yourself when you make an improvement to cross a task off the to-do list? This comes back to the importance of self-belief and self-esteem. If you’re listening to that negative voice, chances are it’s encroaching on your business and personal development. Believe in your skills to lead a team to build a successful business. Once you have the ability to silence the negative, personal critiques, guide your team members to do the same. Cheer yourself on when you make that minor progress because every small step, means a giant leap toward greatness.

 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Colin Dunn
Director & Co-founder at PANALITIX

Colin is a Chartered Accountant who, having spent almost 10 years with one of the fastest growing and most innovative firms in the UK, has since invested over 20 years helping business owners to improve their businesses with a focus on attracting new clients, better managing existing clients, developing new products, building an engaged team and strengthening internal business processes.