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5 Keys to Being an Effective Leader

Good leadership empowers individuals to look up to you and meet their full potential, as opposed to forcing compliance with fear and punishment.

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The difference between a boss and a leader comes down to how you present yourself to your employees and teammates. Bosses rely on their position of authority to gain compliance, whereas good leaders use their influence to motivate the team. Good leadership empowers individuals to look up to you and meet their full potential, as opposed to forcing compliance with fear and punishment.

1. Seek to inspire others. 

When you inspire others, you seek to bring out the best in others.  Tyrannical management operates from a fear mindset, where team members fear harsh discipline for small mistakes.  This may seem like the best type of leader at first glance, but it only leads to high turnover rate and tension amongst employees. 

When you inspire others, you are empowering them to take initiative and achieve more.  When everyone is working towards a goal and achieving the success they want to achieve, it reflects solid leadership because you are having a positive effect on their mindset.  

Some ways to inspire others is to be passionate about the mission of the company, and to practice what you preach. This also means being honest and trustworthy, because your employees must believe in you to be able to inspire them.  Who you are as a person translates to your leadership style, so it’s important to lead and make decisions from a solid moral compass. 

2. Show High Emotional Intelligence 

Good leaders understand their emotions and the emotions of other teammates.  How you interact with and support your team reflects your emotional intelligence skills. 

This is why good leaders aim to inspire, guide, and advise their team, as opposed to barking orders and commanding/ demanding. 

They know how their team members are feeling and are considerate.  For example, good leaders understand that everyone will have off days, and everyone has different learning styles.  Some are visual learners, and some are hands-on learners.  These factors must all be taken into consideration when guiding your team as an effective leader. 

Leaders with high emotional intelligence know how to respond to situations, as opposed to simply reacting.  Reacting out of anger, panic, or frustration, can blur your clarity and cause you to make poor decisions.  Good leaders know you can’t control everything, just like you can’t force people to look up to you; respect is earned.   

Some people I’ve worked with in the past use the 24 hour rule, which means they won’t respond to or make a major decision until they’ve had time to hold space for and process the decision for some time.  This is not always possible in every situation, but it’s important to slow down and carefully think before making a decision.   You must make decisions based on clarity, and not panic or pressure. 

Greeting your employees, engaging in conversation, and making others feel valued demonstrates high emotional intelligence and fosters a sense of belonging where communication can take place without fear of judgment.

“Leadership is an action, not a position.” – Donald McGannon

3. Demonstrate hard work.

Hard work demonstrates dedication, which motivates others to do the same.  Leaders demonstrate hard work by being punctual, meeting deadlines, and completing projects from beginning to end. 

From a leadership perspective, hard work doesn’t mean only do what you have to do and disregard everyone else.  Effective leaders demonstrate hard work by helping other team members with their needs and showing initiative on all projects.  

When team members observe that you’re helpful, follow through, and show intuitiveness, it motivates team members to complete their work because they seek to be effective.   

A willingness to work hard shows that you, as a leader, are not above any of the workplace tasks, but rather you care enough to help teammates by reducing the workload through your work.  

Good leaders work hard because it inspires your workers, as opposed to giving directives on the sidelines and having everyone do the work you don’t want to do.  

4. Listen to your employees.  

Good communication is essential for a healthy workplace, as well as fostering employee innovation and improving morale. 

Contemporary society believes that a leader not knowing every answer is a sign of weakness, but this is not the case…. No one knows everything.  And that’s completely acceptable. 

A good leader puts their ego aside and develops a solid rapport with their staff so each and everyone of their opinions is valued and used to build the company as a whole.  This is why it’s essential to work as part of a team (even as a leader) because you never know who can solve an unexpected problem or offer advice from past experiences. 

Good leaders are patient and view situations from an empathetic viewpoint, because everyone has their own unique experiences.  

Following a boss is mandatory, but people follow and subscribe to leaders because they want to; they feel guided by them. 

People look up to good leaders because the workers are not looked down upon, but rather lifted up by the person leading.  This is key to developing solid rapport and being a relatable personal as an individual.

5. Good leaders don’t micromanage

Most importantly, good leaders allow free thinking and autonomy over their own work and creativity.  They don’t micromanage because they know it inhibits personal growth and creativity in their workers. 

Micromanage is about complete control, stemming from insecurity.  Micromanagement starves employees of their creative talents, leading to frustration, resentment, and a high turnover rate.   

This means they are not micromanaging, or controlling every little detail regarding their employees work and how they get the job done.  Just like there are different learning styles, there are many ways to get a job done and people have a right to do what is best for them.  What works for you might not work for someone else.  You might even learn a better way to do things if you keep an open mind.  

Micromanagement is dangerous because it creates dependent employees, who will be unable to make decisions on their own out of fear of scrutiny.  

Good leaders, however, instead build a team with people you trust and allow staff to use their strengths.   When you trust your employees, you’re helping to cultivate their creative talents and capabilities. 

You never know how far your team can take you… trust and compassion are a must for enhancing team productivity.

Derek Parks is a freelance direct-response copywriter with a background in digital marketing efforts. With experience in various industries including b2b, education, and nonprofits, Derek has the experience to create carefully crafted copy for your marketing strategy that converts like a charm.

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Change Your Mindset

5 Ways To Achieve Your Goals (With Examples)

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Setting goals is a crucial first step, whether you’re striving to reach personal or professional milestones. However, achieving those goals requires planning, determination, and focus. In this post, we’ll discuss five actionable strategies that can help you achieve your goals in 2023, and we’ll provide real-life examples to inspire and motivate you. By implementing these tips, you can train your brain to achieve your goals and make meaningful progress toward your aspirations.

1. Write Down Your Goals

The first thing needed to achieve a goal is to have one. A goal becomes very clear and precise once you have written it down most simply and easily to remember.

Here are some examples:

  • I am the world’s best dancer!
  • I am the greatest athlete!
  • I have created the world’s most innovative tech company!

They are all written with the belief that these things have already happened. Once you start believing it has already happened, other people too can sense your confidence and things start happening.

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.” — Andrew Carnegie

2. The One Page Plan

A simple one-page plan to accompany your goal is much more powerful than a detailed 30-page plan. After you have written your clear goal – write down all the things you will have to do to achieve it. Make it as simple and direct as possible so that you can refer to it every day and take action. A simple plan is easier to follow and keep up with.

3. Get The Right Skills

Once you have a clear goal that has been inked into your mind, and a clear plan in place, it is very important to invest in the skills you need to achieve your goal.

So for example, if you want to become a movie star, you should immediately start developing your acting skills. Observe how other actors perform, join an acting class, read about acting, and most importantly, start honing your craft by joining a local theatre group and going for as many auditions as you can. Practice is very important for mastering any skill.

Struggling To Achieve Your Goals? Here Are 9 Possible Reasons Why! 

4. Surround Yourself With The Best People

The best way to achieve our goals is to make sure we have the best people supporting us. People who succeed are always those who understand the power of people.

So let’s say your goal is to be an entrepreneur and you have developed your entrepreneurial skills, the next step would be to get the best people to join your team to help you achieve your goal. These would be people who you consider to be the best marketers capable of getting you the best customers and investors.

Once you have the best people supporting you, it becomes much easier and faster to achieve your goals.

“It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people’s lives.” – Clint Eastwood

5. Power of Faith

Nothing beats the power of faith and belief. Sometimes you might face challenges, sometimes things might not be going your way, and you might feel like giving up – these are the times when faith and belief will keep you going.

So many people give up, just a few inches away from victory. I am sure you are not one of them since you are investing time into self-development which gives the highest returns! Now go out there and start achieving your goals!

Need more motivation? Read our blogs on motivation and become your best self now!

 
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Change Your Mindset

This Concept Will Make You Happier and More Productive

While humans can’t expect to describe themselves as “always” happy, we sure as heck shouldn’t settle for “never” happy or even “seldom” happy

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It’s always tempting to answer one more email before bed or to reply to one more text from a friend during work. Nonetheless, numerous studies have shown that multitasking, which is actually just constant task-switching, is exhausting. As the American Psychological Association states in an article about multitasking: “Psychologists who study what happens to cognition (mental processes) when people try to perform more than one task at a time have found that the mind and brain were not designed for heavy-duty multitasking.” (more…)

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Change Your Mindset

Debunking 21 of the Most Common Leadership Myths

It has been proved beyond doubt that leaders are made rather than born

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Do you think leaders should be tall and handsome?  Do you opine leaders must know everything? Do you think leaders must have a magic wand? Do you think women cannot make good leaders? Do you think leaders should be intelligent with a strong academic background? (more…)

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Change Your Mindset

There’s Only One Thing You Need for Success

The willingness to ask and live and love and overcome and learn and grow and so many other things all stem from one thing. 

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I know, the catchy title has you rolling your eyes and saying to yourself obviously there’s not only one thing that leads to success, but hear me out. (more…)

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