Strong leadership is necessary for ensuring a company’s ongoing success. Of course, even the best leaders have room for improvement. In any venture, the only way to truly improve, however, is to keep track of your progress and adjust accordingly. Whether you’re trying to cultivate better leaders in your organization or improve your own leadership abilities, here’s how to measure developmental leadership progress.How to Measure Development Progress
How to Measure Development Progress
Identify and Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
You can’t measure leadership progression without knowing what to measure in the first place. This is where key performance indicators (KPIs) come into play. As their name suggests, KPIs are specific metrics that can be quantified in some way to track progress. In regards to employee management, for instance, KPIs might include things like revenue earned per hour, absenteeism rate, net promoter score (NPS), etc. To measure development leadership progress, KPIs should focus on factors like communication, employee satisfaction, team retention, and so on. If you’re attempting to track your own leadership progress, you might come up with more personalized KPIs. Equally as important as coming up with these KPIs is knowing how to review performance management data — if you can’t quantify or analyze performance over time, you’ll struggle to realize progress in yourself and others.
Set Specific Goals
Another way to measure personal and organizational leadership development is to set clear-cut, short-term goals. Goals are similar to KPIs in that they reveal a target to aim for, but they’re only aimed for one time (i.e., clearing a finish line) as opposed to over and over again (i.e., clicking a stopwatch to track how long it takes each time). Setting and overcoming well-defined goals allows you to track leadership progress in a more tangible way — the only way to achieve certain goals is to level up your leadership skills, after all. Plus, whether or not a particular goal is met, there’s always a lesson to learn that can further fuel leadership growth.
Conduct Surveys Periodically
Even subjective feedback can be translated into quantitative data that can be used to track leadership progress. Organizational surveys can be useful tools in this regard, giving employees at all levels the opportunity to reflect on their own place in the company, their feelings toward policies and leaders, and more. Not only do these surveys help adjust and enhance company culture — they also reveal areas of improvement for leaders on both the individual and group levels. It’s important to disseminate these surveys on a routine basis and keep them somewhat consistent (i.e., similar questions and rubrics) to get a clearer picture of development leadership progress, employee satisfaction, and more.
Use Modern Tools
If the methods mentioned above seem difficult to manage, don’t fret — modern programs like the Accelerate leadership development program by Leadership Resources remove much of the guesswork and streamline this measurement process with various resources. The Accelerate software allows you to watch leadership development in action, tracking various KPIs so you can see the long-term impact on your organization. This program also allows leaders to develop together, enabling participants to learn from one another and establish greater accountability. Every leader in the program also benefits from monthly one-on-one coaching with leadership professionals who know exactly what to look for when measuring and maintaining progress.
Accountability Is the Key to Measuring and Furthering Leadership Growth. At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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In our previous article, “How an Operating System Drives Profit & Growth,” we defined what a business operating system is and how the right one can bring your organization to new heights. To sum up, a company operating system is a sturdy yet flexible strategic guidebook for the company’s internal processes. Think of it as the core from which all planning within an organization stem. With the right operating system in place, employees and leaders can collaborate with more clarity and purpose at every stage of the game, resulting in leadership development, long-term growth, and increased profits.
Of course, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all operating system. Every business has a unique company culture and specific needs, after all. So, while there are many ways to approach your company’s operating system, the best approach synthesizes the best parts from multiple methodologies. Let’s explore why this fusion of various operating system components results in the best outcomes for entrepreneurs and businesses.
Why You Should Integrate Operating System Methodologies
Bridge the Gaps Between Different Ideologies
Among the various systems, tools, and philosophies that help a business thrive, each one comes with its share of holes. If you think of each of these different methodologies as a piece of swiss cheese, you can cover these various holes by layering different pieces with differently placed holes on top of one another, creating an impenetrable system that bridges all possible gaps. In other words, one company’s operating system might not work for another company, but the system may feature certain advantageous aspects worth keeping — and the same goes for yet another operating system, and so on. By leveraging the strengths of each of these systems, you can achieve the best of all worlds for your unique operating system. You’ll end up with a customized and optimized playbook for everything from employee management to succession planning to conflict resolution and more.
Set Yourself up for Success
Your operating system isn’t just about your organization — it’s also about your people (the two go hand in hand, of course). Ultimately, your operating system should enable the talent that already exists within your team and place people in the right positions so everyone in your organization shares the game goals. Cultivating this continuous leadership growth is only possible if you take an integrated approach to crafting your operating system. By addressing your company’s pain points and unique concerns, you can begin to build a systematic process for navigating all hurdles standing in the way of personal and organizational growth. For starters, you’ll want to define what “success” means for your entire company and its team members. From there, you can establish consistent accountability, clear goals, and deliver ongoing coaching to fortify these elements, all at the proper pace for you.
The Benefits of an Optimized Operation System
Before you begin crafting your own company operating system, it helps to know the many advantages that can come from this optimization. These benefits include:
- Scaling up your leadership and profit margins by getting and keeping the right people in the right seats
- Optimizing data to hone your business game and make intuitive decisions that benefit your brand and bottom line
- Managing cash with more clarity and control
- Meeting and exceeding goals by making the most of tailor-made tools tuned for your organization’s unique needs and ambitions
You might already know which factors drive your company’s growth, but receiving outside help from a provider like Leadership Resources allows you to illuminate where your energy and effort are consistently going. We help companies like yours problem-solve and see trends over time to make a real difference. We meet you where you are and help you achieve your vision, handpicking the best components from a wide array of methodologies to support and enhance our clients in their ability to achieve their vision.
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most!
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The history of the American workplace is complex but largely defined by a push toward better conditions, increased benefits, fairer wages, and more diverse and inclusive environments. Indeed, diversity education entered the U.S. workplace in the 1960s alongside the burgeoning civil rights movement, gradually developing into more rigorous training programs in the ‘80s and ‘90s. While these early days of diversity training primarily focused on issues of race, these programs began to expand to consider other identities such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnic/religious background, class, and more. Today, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have become three pillars of the modern American workplace, though some companies have done a better job incorporating DEI than others.
More than a buzzword, DEI has proven to yield practical benefits to businesses that prioritize these matters; a 2018 whitepaper by Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) entitled “Diversity & Inclusion in Corporate Social Engagement” shows that these organizations have been able to capture new markets with a success rate that’s about 70% higher than their competitors. Of course, these advantages don’t appear out of thin air. Providing your business with the benefits that DEI has to offer begins with committed, competent leadership. While we’ve discussed the importance of leadership training many times before, let’s now go over how diversity, inclusion, and equity should inform leaders in your organization and how DEI can change leadership behaviors for the better.
How to Lead a Diverse Team
Recognizing the Advantages of Diverse Viewpoints
A true commitment to diversity in your workplace is about gathering a multitude of perspectives, especially from individuals and groups that haven’t been given as much of a chance in the past. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t continue hiring the most qualified people, but rather broaden your scope and seek those who can bring new ideas and strengths to the table. Empathy is the bridge between diversity and inclusion. Leaders who actively cultivate diversity quickly realize how much doing so benefits their organization as a whole.
Developing intercultural competence contributes to a richer company culture by inviting employees and leaders to complement the workplace culture rather than assimilate to an existing, rigid one. In this way, employees and leaders are constantly learning new things and challenging themselves. In other words, diversity isn’t about ticking a box or paying lip service to “tolerance” — it’s about stimulating a more modern, creative, and competitive work environment.
Approaching Employees with Empathy
The term “equity” has many definitions and is often conflated with the related but distinct term “equality.” In this context, equity is about acknowledging that individuals can come from very different places in terms of education level, class, cultural background, lived experiences, and so on. In other words, we’re not all starting on a level playing field. While these differences inform our character and ambitions, business leaders should do their best to recognize the obstacles and opportunities that derive from these deviations with the goal of establishing a more equitable work environment.
Empathy is at the root of this leadership growth. The essence of empathy, in the context of equity, is the practice of The Platinum Rule: “Do unto others as they would want done to them.” Emotionally intelligent leaders are willing and able to identify the unique struggles of their employees by maintaining strong lines of communication. In doing so, you can provide the right opportunities for the right people, lifting everyone up to their highest potential and ultimately achieving greater equity across the board.
Empowering Employee Participation Across the Board
An inclusive workplace is one where every employee feels comfortable expressing their ideas and opinions without fear of judgment for punishment (so long as individuals aren’t intentionally saying or doing things that harm others). Leaders are largely responsible for cultivating this type of environment by actively engaging with every team member, asking questions, promoting openness, mitigating conflict and bias, and so on. This approach to team management will result in greater participation, which in turn leads to innovation (much in the same way that diversity does).
DEI Makes for More Adaptive, Effective Leaders
The workplace is always evolving, and leaders must evolve with it. As diversity, equity, and inclusion practices become more prominent and beneficial, they must become more of a focus in leadership development programs. At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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Most of us are familiar with the operating systems (OS) on our phones and computers. Just as these electronic devices require optimized software to handle a variety of important tasks, businesses benefit from a strategic operating system of their own. As it turns out, most businesses already have some sort of operating system at play — the problem is often that 1) it’s become background noise rather than a recipe for success, and 2) it could use a major “firmware update.” Moreover, in many cases, a company has several operating systems competing for dominance, creating chaos that hinders growth, profit, and leadership development.
Let’s define what a company operating system is and how the right one can drive profit and growth in your organization.
Benefits of a Company Operating System
Defining a Company Operating System
Simply put, a company’s operating system serves as a guide for its inner workings, compiling the processes, structure, and systems needed to achieve certain objectives. Unlike a rigid line of code or instruction manual, a company’s OS is a sturdy yet flexible strategic game plan. Leadership and staffers rally around their central OS to solve problems, make decisions, resolve issues, and prepare for future success. In other words, every procedure should stem from the operating system, whether it’s employee management, succession planning, resource/financial management, marketing initiatives, etc. When every action derives from the same source, a shared vision flows through and informs your entire organization.
How the Right Operating System Can Improve and Grow Your Organization
So, a company operating system provides conscious clarity to an organization by establishing a well-defined structure that removes the guesswork. Ultimately, this framework translates to tangible growth and profit. After all, achieving organizational and profit goals depends on a passionate group of people actively working towards a clear purpose. When leaders and team members know what to aim for and why they’re aiming that way, much of the “fat” is easily trimmed away, revealing a streamlined path toward continued success.
Neglecting your operating system or adopting an OS that doesn’t quite fit your organization will have the opposite effect, preventing growth, diminishing profits, and impairing your company culture as a whole. As leaders struggle to communicate their message clearly, team members will grow more and more frustrated, hindering morale and increasing turnover, which thwarts talent retention and succession planning efforts. The best way to prevent this self-fulfilling cycle from taking hold of your organization is to invest more time and energy into cultivating the optimal operating system.
Establishing an Operating System that Suits Your Goals and Vision
The question remains, then: how can you create and maintain an operating system perfect for your organization? Synthesizing the best aspects of various company OS methodologies is a great place to start. At Leadership Resources, we help our clients leverage the strengths of many ideologies, tools, and systems to bolster their operating system. When it comes to business and leadership growth, we don’t believe in “one-size-fits-all” solutions — we also understand the value of allowing companies to try new things for themselves. As such, our method starts with a deep discovery of an organization’s specific processes, needs, and strategic goals. This research then feeds into our selection process for the tools and strategies that will fit said business like a glove.
When all is said and done, an optimized operating system will help your organization scale up, optimize data, better manage cash, and meet & exceed goals.
Operating Your Business With a Better System
Most organizations know what factors drive their business and their growth. But working with Leadership Resources and building a company operating system creates accountability around these factors. This process illuminates the leading indicators, where an organization’s energy and effort are consistently going. It allows them to problem solve, see trends over time, and make a real difference.
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most!
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For more than 20 years, Leadership Resources has provided strategic advisory services for growth-focused organizations throughout the United States. We are proud to have assisted hundreds of organizations in planning for, and meeting their strategic objectives. Throughout the years, we have used many methodologies, strategies, and tools to customize our approach to what works best for our clients. We are now centralizing these services under the name Accelerate OS.
What to Know About Accelerate OS
The Power of Accelerate OS
Our executive coaching and consulting services focus on aligning leaders and organizations around a clear, central vision. When leaders within your company become aligned around vision and goals, they’re able to guide their teams at every step of the strategic planning and performance management process.
Sometimes, strategic coaching programs can be too rigid and lock a company into a particular set of rhythms, tools, and methodologies — even if they aren’t right for a company’s needs. Accelerate OS is different. It draws from the best of the best and is customized for each company’s growth path and goals.
At Leadership Resources, our strategies have helped the growth and development in leadership of countless companies by:
- Clarifying a shared vision
- Defining clear direction and priorities
- Establishing SMART, FAST goals
- Identifying key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Crafting success-bound strategic action plans
- …and more
Additionally, Leadership Resources has partnered with Pinnacle Business Guides (PBG). This partnership provides expanded opportunities for our clients through increased options of tools and a unique approach to processes, while providing our team with expanded resources, experience, and knowledge. This relationship only bolsters Leadership Resources’ custom client approach.
The Team Behind Accelerate OS
Dan Sedor leads our team of Strategic Growth Advisors at Leadership Resources. As Leadership Resources’ Co-founder and Director of Strategic Services, Dan has executed thousands of session days, including more than 500 EOS sessions with clients.
Sedor became a Certified EOS Implementer just five years ago, meaning he’s held an average of 100 sessions per year since 2016 with this specific distinction. While he is no longer affiliated with EOS Worldwide, he brings this past experience to every client he serves. Over the past two decades, he’s facilitated strategic planning meetings for over 100 organizations across many industries, including start-ups, mid-sized companies, and large enterprises.
In addition to Sedor, Andy Grant, Brian Olson, and Alex Garcia have led hundreds of Accelerate OS sessions themselves. They are firm believers that strategic guidance has to be authentic to the client’s current status and desired staff leadership development.
This diverse team’s work with clients of all sizes and industries provides future clients with a wealth of experience from which to pull.
Optimize Your Organization’s Operating System
The strategic consulting team at Leadership Resources believes that improving your business’ operating system or “OS” allows your organization to capitalize on its potential. Every Accelerate OS engagement is tailor-made for each client to optimize their OS by providing the tools to facilitate faster and more informed decision-making. A more efficient OS also improves teamwork, accountability, culture, and maximizes productivity.
In addition, with the help of our leadership development offering, called Accelerate OS, you can develop emerging leaders, create more positive outlooks, and even work on your own succession strategy.
Our Goal Is to Help Thousands of Clients
Strategy isn’t one-size-fits-all. We’ll help you tailor your strategic plan to your company for long-term success. By taking advantage of our strategic planning services, you can expect greater clarity of your company’s vision and purpose, as well as a detailed focus on realistic goals and plans of action. All of this should result in measurable growth in profit, productivity, and more.
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. As our strategic growth advisors continue to serve successful businesses in a manner that makes them even more successful, we also continue to grow and evolve our custom approach for the betterment of our clients. Here’s to delivering the next thousand productive, “needle-moving” sessions with our clients. Contact us here to learn more about Accelerate OS, what we do, do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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Generational gaps are inevitable in businesses that stick around long enough. These age-related rifts can be both beneficial and detrimental. On the one hand, people who grew up in different eras will have unique perspectives on current dilemmas, which can be synthesized into optimal solutions. Unfortunately, these varying perspectives can also create roadblocks, conflicts, and even feelings of resentment — a younger employee might feel like their ideas aren’t being taken seriously, while an older employee might feel undermined by an up and coming workforce that deems their ideas antiquated.
In many instances, leaders within a company tend to have more experience under their belts, which means they’re responsible for overseeing several employees who are younger than them. If such a leader isn’t tactful in their approach to employee management, they can end up pushing this younger generation away. This is a lose-lose situation, as both parties stand to miss out on key insights provided by the other. With that in mind, here are some ways a leader can properly influence a younger generation without judgment or major conflict.
How to Influence Younger Employees
Listen to Your Employees
We often think of a leader’s role as merely giving orders and overseeing projects. While delegation and oversight are key components of leadership, nothing is more important than communication. Leaders should listen just as much as they speak (if not more). Indeed, if you want to steer your younger employees in a positive direction, you must let go of your ego and truly take their ideas into account. You might have more experience, but this doesn’t mean you have all the answers. And if you dismiss your employees, they’ll begin to dismiss you as well. Communication is a two-way street, and if you want your wisdom to reach your younger employees, you must open yourself to their wisdom, too.
Appreciate and Utilize the Younger Generation’s Strengths
As you learn from the younger generation, you’ll quickly figure out that they’re adept at certain things you might not be, such as social media usage, coding, multitasking, etc. Rather than balk at these skills or deem them unimportant, use them to your company’s advantage. Allowing your people to play to their strengths will boost morale and benefit your business in multiple ways. You can then insert your expertise where it counts most.
Understand What Younger Workers Care About and Open Yourself to Change
One of the negative stereotypes younger workers often place on their older counterparts is that they’re stuck in the past and unwilling to adjust their point of view or methodology. Some leaders certainly fall into this category, and it’s natural to resist change no matter our age. If your goal is to reach your younger employees in a meaningful way, however, you must make an effort to understand their view of the workplace and adapt accordingly. Things were undoubtedly different when you were their age, after all. Today, most young people don’t want their work to be their entire life. This isn’t to say that younger people aren’t able or willing to work hard, but rather that they seek a healthy work/life balance. As such, millennials value companies that offer flexible scheduling, remote work options, an easygoing company culture, and so on. Whether or not you share these opinions, cultivating a workplace with more modern appeal will allow you to hire and retain top talent and create a stronger impression on your people.
Establish Common Values
Generational gaps are primarily fueled by perceived differences in values. When you dig a bit deeper, though, it often becomes clear that one generation shares most of the foundational values of the other. People of different eras might have different conceptions of what these values mean or look like, but just about everyone agrees that responsibility, respect, integrity, kindness, family, etc., are fundamental across the board. Simply discussing these values can bring people of all backgrounds together. You might be surprised at how much common ground there is between you and younger generations.
Cultivate Leadership Growth
Time doesn’t stop for anyone, and a new generation will always be there to take the place of the previous one. This can be difficult to accept, but coming to grips with this reality is key for proper succession planning. Simply put, if you want your company to have a lasting legacy, you need to cultivate new leaders and prepare them for more significant roles. In this way, investing in ongoing leadership development for the younger generation is essential to ensuring your business’ ongoing success. Additionally, investing in your people is a display of respect and encouragement. People of all generations like to learn and be recognized for their accomplishments.
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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The most successful businesses are always looking towards the future while focusing on the present. Indeed, your short-term goals and day-to-day actions should contribute to the bigger picture. The continuous development of your employees, then, should be a top priority. Spending time and resources on your people’s growth is an investment in your enterprise’s prosperity. Let’s dive deeper into why proper employee and leadership development leads to long-term success for both your business and your employees.
The Benefits of Employee Development
More Engagement
Some people truly enjoy their work, but you can’t (nor should you) expect all of your employees to commit their whole selves to your business. That said, you also don’t want your people to feel disconnected from or disinterested in your operations and vision. Ideally, your employees will feel like they have a stake in what goes on, that their contributions matter, and that a win for the company translates to a win for the team. Focusing heavily on performance management and employee development is one way to increase engagement. Recognizing your employees’ accomplishments and providing them with opportunities to grow with the organization cultivates investment — when your people feel like they can expand their skills, influence the company, and earn more, they will become more engaged in every aspect of their work and your organization will thrive as a result.
Increased Innovation
Every company requires fresh and diverse points of view to constantly adapt and improve. If your employees lack avenues for leadership growth, however, the old guard of leadership will eventually exhaust its creative capabilities, and the business will become stagnant. The best way to innovate in your industry is to build up young and budding employees, allowing them to take on new roles and truly listening to their unique perspectives. Of course, your people must feel confident in bringing new ideas to the table — this confidence stems directly from long-term employee development.
Raised Retention
Finding promising candidates for your organization is a challenge all its own; retaining these quality hires is in some ways even more difficult, especially in highly competitive markets. In our previous article, “How Long-Term Leadership Development Helps You Keep Your Best Talent,” we broke down the ways in which investing in your employees incentivizes them to stick with your company and improve your company culture in the long run. Indeed, businesses that regularly give their employees new opportunities and recognize their strengths have far stronger retention rates than those that keep their people in their lanes. Not only does proper employee development help you retain top talent — it also helps you attract other valuable candidates. When a potential hire is made aware of the growth opportunities your organization offers, they’re more likely to want to become a part of such a culture.
Lasting Legacy
Businesses that outlive their founders and make a mark on the community keep succession planning in mind at all times. Simply put, if you want your company to thrive for generations, you must always be on the lookout for employees with the potential to lead it into the future. The best way to ensure a strong transition of leadership from old to new is to constantly cultivate fresh leadership in your organization — the more leaders you have, the easier it will be to fulfill vacant roles and create new ones. In this way, proper employee management and development will help to secure your company’s legacy. At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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Strong leadership and strong communication are inextricably linked — you simply cannot have one without the other. The best leaders maintain a clear line of communication with their peers, partners, employees, and customers. In doing so, these leaders develop a deeper understanding of relevant situations, issues, shortcomings, and opportunities while delivering clear feedback and instruction that steers the ship in a purposeful direction. Let’s dive deeper into why communication is so crucial in leadership.
What Are the Benefits of Good Communication?
Communication Keeps People on the Same Page
Team management is a challenge for businesses of all sizes. Whether a team consists of a few people or dozens of individuals, leaders with strong communication skills are the glue that holds said team together through thick and thin. It’s worth noting that proper communication isn’t a one-way street, either. Leaders must be equally adept at delivering instructions and receiving feedback from team members in order to manage their team optimally. This reciprocity allows leaders to earn the respect and engagement of their employees and make informed decisions that garner maximum buy-in.
Communication Is Key to Understanding Problems
The ability to listen is one of the most important qualities of a good leader, and, as previously mentioned, half of the communication equation. If you fail to hear or comprehend the concerns of those within your organization, the smallest issues can grow into a rot that’s more and more difficult to expel over time. The best leaders actively check in with their people to uncover any nascent problems so they can resolve them as quickly and effectively as possible. New issues are still bound to arise — the key is getting ahead of them with masterful communication rather than ignoring them or missing them entirely.
Communication Drives Positive Change
The whole point of understanding problems in your organization is to discover weak points that you can fix and then make various adjustments that push your company in a better direction. In this way, then, strong leadership communication skills are the driving force behind constructive change. Your organization will struggle to grow or improve if its leaders don’t properly respond to problems and opportunities when they arise.
Communication Helps Retain Top Talent
In recent posts, we’ve discussed the importance of employee retention, especially when it comes to keeping top talent in your organization. While these retention efforts are multi-faceted, leadership communication remains at the heart of them. Those with the most potential in your company may seek other opportunities if they don’t feel like their ideas are being heard and/or if they don’t feel properly compensated for their contributions. In order to keep these valuable people around, leaders must help them grow with the organization — this might mean promoting them into new positions, guiding their own leadership development, giving them appropriate raises, and so on. Whatever the case, these decisions must be based on the mutual needs of these individuals and your company, which can only be uncovered through powerful communication.
Leaders who display strong communication keep their people on the same page, understand and resolve issues before they fester, improve their operations and culture, and retain the very best people to keep this cycle going. At Leadership Resources, our purpose is making the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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Taking on a leadership role is a major honor and responsibility. Much is expected of leaders, and many leaders have a habit of carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders to prove something to themselves, their colleagues, their team, or all of the above. However, being a strong leader isn’t about bearing all of your business’ burdens — rather, it’s about lifting up your organization through strategic decision-making, delegation, oversight, and flexibility. When things get too stressful (and this year has certainly been one for the books), your ability to effectively lead can get hampered, especially if you don’t have the resources and habits for handling this stress. In this way, strong leadership and stress management are two sides of the same coin.
With that in mind, let’s outline some effective stress management techniques for leaders of all stripes.
How to Reduce Stress
Prioritize Your Physical and Mental Well-Being
All of your decisions and behaviors stem from your physical and mental state. This means that being a productive leader begins with taking care of your body and mind. The following lifestyle adjustments help both prevent and relieve leadership stress:
- Get enough sleep (7-9 hours)
- Maintain a healthy diet (limit caffeine, alcohol, and sugar)
- Stay hydrated
- Exercise regularly (3-5 days a week)
- Practice mindfulness (meditation, yoga)
- Read for enjoyment and education
- Enjoy hobbies and/or mindless activities
Anything that promotes your physical and mental well-being will make you more alert, improve your mood, boost your decision-making capacity, and minimize distractions when it counts.
Get Organized
We’re often told that a messy desk is a sign of genius. While there may be some truth to this statement, a chaotic work space is also a major source of stress. If you can’t easily find folders, documents, utensils, etc., you’ll end up wasting time, causing you to fall behind and undergo even more stress. One of the simplest methods for managing leadership stress, then, is organizing your stuff, which includes not only your physical space but also your schedule. Make lists, label and alphabetize folders and files, streamline your calendar, etc.
Don’t Be Afraid to Delegate
As leaders, we often feel like we have to do everything. Not only is this an arrogant frame of mind, though, it’s also detrimental to your mental state and your organization. Simply put, some tasks can and should be handled by other people so you can focus on other things. The key to proper delegation is finding the right people to take on certain tasks. By establishing a strong rapport with your team, you can determine their individual strengths, which will allow you to trust the person (or people) you charge with a given task. You can always assess their performance after the fact and determine whether changes need to be made. Delegating tasks to your team members also grants them the opportunity to learn new skills and grow into leaders themselves.
Remember: Perfection isn’t the Goal
One of main causes of leadership stress is the nagging pull of perfectionism. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get things done right, but focusing too much on perfection can paralyze your decision-making, slow down your operations, and result in worse outcomes in the long run. You can reduce a lot of stress and work more efficiently by instead focusing on getting things done and smoothing out any rough edges afterward.
Wield the Power of “No”
To be a leader is to have a target on your back (for good or bad). People will constantly reach out to you, ask you questions, seek advice, cast blame on you when something goes wrong, and so on. While it’s important to maintain strong communication with everyone in your circle, it’s also okay to back away and take some time to yourself. You don’t need to attend every single meeting, hop on every phone call, handle every sudden task that crops up, work weekend, etc. Sometimes you just need to say “no” for your own good and, ultimately, the good of your organization. It’s better to deal with one task at a time than to stretch yourself way too thin.
Continue Developing Your Leadership Skills
No matter how long you’ve had your position or been with a company, leadership development never ends — at least, it shouldn’t. There are always new things to learn, new skills to acquire, and new techniques to try out. By continuing to hone your abilities, you’ll get better and better at de-stressing your life and the lives of your employees. Think of it as having more tools in your toolkit to tackle tough problems when they arise. At Leadership Resources, our purpose is making the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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Sourcing the best candidates for your business is challenging enough — keeping them around for the long haul can be even more difficult. In such a competitive global economy, employees that exhibit strong leadership skills are in high demand. As your people continue to develop, then, they may come closer to abandoning ship to explore other opportunities. While you can’t force anyone to stay, retaining your top talent is integral to the growth and legacy of your enterprise. So, how can you retain your employees as they grow professionally? Here are some thoughts.
How to Grow and Still Retain Employees
Continue Focusing on Leadership Development
If you adopt a cynical mindset, you might think that developing leadership talent will only serve to pry your best employees away from your business — after all, the more skills they develop, the more leverage they have in the workplace. As it turns out, though, focusing on leadership development is actually one of the best ways to keep your employees around. By offering ongoing, rigorous training and education, your company provides value to your employees, which they will reciprocate in direct and indirect ways. For instance, the more adept your people become, the more productive and creative they will be — these outcomes benefit your bottom line and broaden your business’ prospects. In other words, investing in your employees will encourage them to invest back into the company, ideally for the long-run.
Open New Doors For Top Talent
As your people grow professionally, you want to make sure they don’t outgrow the scope of your business — otherwise, they’ll likely move on. No one likes feeling stuck where they are or overqualified for their position, after all. If you want them to stick with you, then, you’ll need to expand the number of opportunities you offer your employees. This might mean creating brand new roles to better suit a specific employee’s skill set, shifting around teams, tasking top talent with fresh challenges and responsibilities to keep them sharp and engaged, and so on. These efforts tie directly into your long term succession planning as well — by challenging your people and letting them explore new positions, you can better gauge who is fit to take over key roles within the company.
Commit to Strengthening Your Company Culture
Never underestimate the importance of your organization’s culture when it comes to retaining your employees. Simply put, most people would rather stay with a company that respects them, recognizes their achievements and efforts, provides ample growth opportunities, and promotes a healthy work-life balance as opposed to the alternative (even if said alternative offers a slightly higher salary). This isn’t to say, however, that merely putting on a happy face and patting your people on the back is enough to keep them around. The key to cultivating a company culture that encourages people to stay is maintaining transparency, being flexible, and compensating employees for the value they bring to the company.
Growing With Your People
Employee retention and succession planning go hand in hand. While it’s true that helping your employees grow into capable leaders runs the risk of losing them to other opportunities, you won’t be able to secure the legacy of your company if you can’t foster the growth of your people and incentivize them to stay. By focusing on continual leadership development, granting your people with new opportunities, and cultivating a strong company culture, your business will grow right alongside your top talent, and vice versa. At Leadership Resources, our purpose is making the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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