We all have a plethora of leadership roles in our lives, from running our own businesses to leading organizations to managing our families. Leadership has a lot to do with confidence, and we might doubt our leadership abilities at times. Chances are, however, that you’re a much better leader than you might believe. What’s more, we can all continue to improve as leaders.
When it comes to leadership, we must first recognize the difference between management and leadership. A manager is someone that has people underneath them that report to them. A leader is a lot more than that. They are someone that people look up to and are inspired by. If you’re struggling to figure out what that looks like, remember both the good and bad managers you’ve had in the past. Consider what you liked or disliked about each and try to emulate the best parts of them in all of your leadership roles.
No matter who you’re leading, it pays to improve your soft skills. Soft skills include communication, professionalism, critical thinking, networking, empathy, and building rapport with others. Your job is to inspire your team members to achieve objectives and move themselves or the business forward. By leaning into your soft skills, you can help those who are looking up to you accomplish many things.
I typically recommend leading with both your mind and your heart. It’s important to balance feelings and empathy (which are critical in leadership) with facts and figures because you are trying to achieve results. When there is an equilibrium between these two areas, you tend to get the highest results. This applies to both leading organizations and leading families as well.
It’s also important as a leader to be able to network both inside and outside of the organization. You will become aware of more opportunities and better be able to support those on your team by doing so. Additionally, it’s vital to know when and how to delegate so that you don’t become burned out or overwhelmed. Your role is to help others grow and thrive so that they can elevate themselves.
I’ve also found that using your intuition as a leader is more than necessary. In a leadership capacity, you have to go with your gut in a variety of situations from judging the big picture to deciding whether or not to hire or work with somebody. Again, this requires a balance between gathering facts and using your intuition. Your intuition is often right, however, so if you get the feeling that something is off, you’re probably right.
A wonderful thing about leadership is that we can look to other role models for behaviors to emulate while still trying to be the best role model that we can at the same time. It can be helpful to also take a personality test to best understand our strengths and weaknesses and determine how we can leverage them for the greater good. Finally, one of the best ways to become a strong leader is by being kind, supportive, flexible, and empathetic. We must remember that our team members have other obligations so it’s necessary for us to allow them some flexibility at times so that they can attend to other areas of their lives. The same applies to our family members.
Overall, leadership is a balancing act. You are probably already pretty good at it, but you can get even better using some of the strategies that I’ve mentioned. You’ve got this!