Inspire Your Team With Your Example

Morning Leaders,

If you really want to inspire your team and do some great things you need to display the right behaviours, values and attitude yourself. This demonstration from you forms the benchmark and the expectation for everyone working in the environment to follow. If the leader doesn’t lead the way, why would you expect anyone else to follow?

You don’t need to be a leader to lead by example. It’s about doing the right thing, being respectful, treating people fairly, being human and leaving things in a better place than you found them.

Here are my favourite 6 ideas for how you can lead by example and inspire your team. These 6 ideas are transferable and you could follow them just as well even if you are not a leader.

1) Get your hands dirty - as a leader, you can’t always lead from the sidelines. You sometimes need to be involved in the work and help your team. Working alongside your team helps build trust while expanding your own skills and knowledge. Never delegate something you would not be willing to do yourself, and focus on stretch delegation where you look for delegation opportunities that will help develop competencies in your team member. Great leaders muck in when the going gets tough and things are on fire as they care and want to support the burden placed on their team.

Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash

2) Watch what you say and do - be mindful of what you say, to whom, and who is listening. You are in the spotlight as a leader, always be aware of how you present yourself to the audience. People will soon think it’s okay to do something if you do it yourself. You should also assume good intentions and remain diplomatic and positive when referring to anyone, careful vocabulary and remaining professional is paramount. You don’t know who is listening or who your message may be forwarded to. Always think to yourself, ‘If my CEO or Family heard this or received this email from me, how would that make me look?’.

3) Take Responsibility - as the saying goes, ‘it’s lonely at the top and blame roles uphill’. Great leaders know when to accept that mistakes have been made and they take it upon themselves to fix them. It doesn’t matter if one of your team members messed up or you did. Take responsibility, be transparent and map out a plan to correct it moving forward. Adopt a Growth Mindset and focus on the opportunity to improve, not blaming other people or departments.

4) Integrity - is best described as doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. It’s about keeping your word to your people and being consistent and congruent between what you say you are going to do and what you actually do. Communicating honestly and transparently will build you a lot of trust.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

5) Being Vulnerable - if you don’t know by now I would be surprised but leaders don’t have all the answers. What effective leaders do well is quickly admitting they don’t know something so they can focus on acquiring that knowledge and plugging that gap. The quicker you own it, the quicker you can move on. You’ll build far more credibility by being vulnerable and saying ‘Hey, I would love to understand this a little more, can you educate me on how this works?’.

6) It’s not about you - to be an exceptional leader you need to be a selfless figure, willing to relinquish your own best interests for the betterment of those you lead. Understand that the strength of the organisation comes from the people in the organisation. If someone is having a bad day, support them, put them first, the work is secondary. The people should always come first, which means there are times when you will go without. The credit your team will receive, the mistakes you’ll need to grab and resolve moving forward.

Hoping these ideas help you not only to be a better person but also a better leader. Always be on the hunt for ways to improve things and make everyone else’s life better. You’ll be surprised by the level of fulfilment you get from helping others and giving more.

All the best

David

Resources Of The Week

• Book - Stephen R. Covey - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This beloved classic presents a principle-centred approach for solving both personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and practical anecdotes, Stephen reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity.

• Book - Austin Kloen - Show Your Work. If you are looking to build a personal brand or contribute content online but are feeling uncomfortable with putting your voice out there, then this is the book for you. It’s a quick read with 10 very actionable principles. This book really resonated with me as I am currently working on my own belief system and sharing my work on a daily basis.

• YouTube Video - Simon Sinek - How Great Leaders Inspire Action. This is a classic speech from Simon on how leaders inspire action by starting with Why.

Quote of the Week

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means.” - Albert Einstein

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