21 Tips Of Driving Your Leadership Skills

Becoming a successful leader is an ongoing process of building up knowledge, skills and learning from the everyday practices we see. In different business realms leadership practices may differ but there are general tricks here and there that might be a one size fit all advice. As we kick start into 2022 and leave 2021 back, here are 21 tips that I've identified to pave the road to my coming year to become a better leader. The below is not intended to be a the full catalogue to master any of the skills, but rather an eye opener to pinpoint the areas every leader needs to dig up into for a better yer ahead.

1. Clear/Achievable OKRs and KPIs

Objective and key results, as well as key performance indicators are a cornerstone for becoming a leader with an impact. Before you start running around your team, make sure that all the key performance indicators are set for your team. Make sure that every team member is not only aware of their role, but also how are they going to be evaluated and what will be the the expectations from them. Clear objectives should also be identified and be kept S.M.A.R.T., specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.

2. 3Rs (Reporting/Review/Reiteration)

If you have got clear KPIs and OKRs set for your business and for the team, make sure that that you have a clear and explanatory reporting system in place that allows time specific reviews to be conducted. Make sure that these reports are reviewed regularly, discussed and most importantly scrutinized for required corrections and enhancement opportunities. Finally, make sure to always realize that reiteration is strictly a requirement for innovation and problem solving. Setting targets and the tactics to achieve them is not a linear passage, but rather a cycle. Make sure to always reconsider and retest your progress and your tactics so its never to late to adjust down the road to your objectives.

3. Flexibility VS Productivity

No more 9 to 5s or 8 to 4s. COVID has taught us that flexibility is not the opposite of productivity. It's been almost 2 years and there has been numerous businesses already giving up on their office hours and office rules, not temporarily, but even permanently. Its about time to give some weight to work flexibility as its has been eminent and that with the correct sense of ownership and target clarity your team will perform better when they have more say in their work routines.

4. Inclusion

Top down management philosophies are definitely not a trend in 2022 anymore. Work more on including less senior team members in setting targets and decision making. Forming steering committees from various job levels that work on different aspects and projects may be one way to grow a sense of collectivity and partnership. Take a bottom up approach and offer your ears to junior team members. Let everyone feel important and walk the extra mile.

5. Reverse mentoring

In sync with the above, a true leader would benefit from reverse mentoring. Reverse mentoring is when a junior team member enters into a professional friendship with a more senior member of the team. Both team members may work together to exchange skills and ideas. For the senior team member, this will help them stay up to date a stay in touch with the internal and external world, while the junior team member will get to learn by observation and get a feeling of being heard and influential.

6. Appreciate and Reward

This is is a simple as it seems. Make sure that all team members feel appreciated and rewarded for their achievements. Unfortunately, in the course of business, sometimes leader forget to show gratitude and appreciation for their team. Yes, financial compensation is crucial, but also make sure that your team senses pride in what they do.

7. Be Fast and avoid perfection

Niklas Oestberg, the founder of Delivery hero has listed down the most important 10 tips for success that he had to share after 10 years of founding his unicorn. On top of his list was "speed beats perfection." Be fast and swift, avoid procrastination. As long you learn to review and reiterate take fast actions. Always remember that the business realm is dynamic and the opportunities and problems if not tapped or solved will grow into a snowball that runs away from you and your business.

8. Train your staff

A successful leader would always let their team up to date. Just as important as reward and appreciation training is crucial. Invest in training your staff. It makes them feel important and updated, and it never fails to pay back. The best way to do this is to pre plan and dedicate a percentage of your business turnover to training. Make sure you spend it.

9. The sense of ownership

Your team will outperform themselves when they feel they own the business. Only when you succeed in making team members sense homogeneity between their success and the business'. Think of profit share schemes and stock options for your employees. This is a wide realm of employee compensations and benefits but its worth investing time in it.

10. Cross Functional Teams

When you've considered and applied the first 9 tips, no better tip to close the dozen than a cross functional team. Rather than have your employees work in isolated departments or as individuals form cross functional teams for applicable tasks and projects. Cross functional teams are a great method for exchanging knowledge and experience and also a very fruitful window for raising innovation among your business.

11. Policies and Procedures

The advised flexibility does not restrain you from having policies and procedures into place. A good leader will makes sure there are clear policies and procedures in place that govern the day to day operations of a business. P&P will always be crucial to make everyone understand what is done, how it's done and who does it. It also enhances both the sense of responsibility and the sense of accountability.

12. Marketing

Because marketing is a whole science with details and information that may need books to discuss, keep this tip very simple. Regardless of the type of marketing activities you need spend on marketing. Marketing is no longer a choice because a good leader is only as good as the brand and product/service they are offering.

13. Reduce your environemental footprint and increase your social contribution

Pay attention to corporate social responsibility as it not only gives your business a better image, but also adds to your legacy and influence as a leader. Also, work on decreasing the environmental impact of your businesses. Always have initiatives to pay back to the environment. It's crucial for your credibility and will definitely make a difference when your team senses working for a cause.

14.Digitalization

On google page one, the search result for digitalization is?the use of digital technologies to change a business model?and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business. Why is this important for you as a leader? Because the more automated your business is the better is the quality and structure of your business data. A good leader enhances processes in his organization and moving to digitalization is definitely the way forward.

15. Make Partners not Customers

Take leadership to a broader definition than just the relationship between you and your employees. To achieve this, one aspect is to work on is your relationship with your business customers. Have influence on your customers by practicing leadership and influence on them too. Offer experience and insights to your customers. Share knowledge and exchange know hows. It will definitely make you a stronger leader, even beyond the borders of your organization.

16. Shorter meetings

Because tip number 7 is of a remarkably broad span, don't forget adding speed to your meetings. A true leader will make meetings short and to the point. They will even work on eliminating meeting when other methods of communication can be put in place. Think also about the tip of digitalization. Shorten your meetings, as a leader you don't want boredom and monotony among your teams.

17. Talents and Experience

Don't put unneeded weight on experience when considering your hires and your team selection. If you are a good enough leader, who has decided to train, empower and mentor your employees work more on talent. A talented junior individual will almost outperform an older more experienced employee almost every time given you can be a true inspiration in an enabling work environment discussed above.

18. Accept Failure

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”?-?Robert F. Kennedy

If you don't accept failure as part of the process you are bound to limit your learning and improvement capabilities. Accept failure, discuss it with your team, work on avoiding its reasons and don't blame. “If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.”

19. Adopt a blue ocean strategy

Simply, competing in a blue ocean is competing in a market where there is no competition or very less competition. A true leader will always work with his team to move his business into the blue ocean. In this market a leader will make sure his business is widely differentiated from other competitors and competing offerings. To know more about blue ocean strategies you can check this earlier article.

20. Fairness

To become a leader, and a successful one in specific, you have to be fair. Make sure your teams are treated fairly, well compensated and experience equality in their career advancement. Everyone on your team needs to experience their career progression and they need to witness a clear path for it.

21. ASK!

A true leader never stops learning. Never ceases the opportunity to improve, and never shies away from saying I don't know