The 3 pillars of leadership - go from good to great!

When I reflect on the strides my clients have made over the last year relating to their leadership approach, impact, and business results, I noticed three key themes:

1.?Clarity?–?When you have clarity, you can focus your communication, get everyone aligned towards your goals, and see your business come to life with engaged employees.

As my client, David, found, when he got clear on the value of his business offering and what made their offer stand out compared to competitors, he managed to re-negotiate fees with key clients, beyond the contractual specifications, and way more than he expected they’d agree to.

2. Self-awareness?– Becoming aware of your zone of genius, BS (also blind spots ?), your drivers, motivations, sense of purpose and how that impacts your people and culture, means you make decisions that are empowering and help your business (and your life) run like a well-oiled machine.

My client, Harry, discovered that as a founder of his business, he was way more suited for a different role than CEO and made the decision to step down and hire externally. The chosen candidate is looking really promising while Harry is focusing on the stuff he really wants to do in the business and reaping the rewards of being able to stand back and guide.

3.?Decision making?–?I always say, the role of a leader centers around decisions. Almost everything that passes your 'desk' needs a decision. The trick is to know which decisions really need to be made by you and which decisions you can (and should) delegate. Letting things pile up means you land up being the bottleneck in your business because it takes too long for you to get around to making all the decisions. And there are those tough decisions that are just so hard?to make because you don't have all the information.

In both cases, moving past the blockage and making a decision is key!

As my client, Martine, discovered when she began delegating all the smaller decisions that filled her day and took her away from some tough decisions that were needed to focus the business. Once she stepped fully into her role as leader, she empowered her team to make more decisions which allowed her to focus the business in the right direction, instead of wasting time (and being the bottleneck) on decision-making that could be delegated.

Now, think for a moment about where you’re at in your leadership journey.

Would getting better at these 3 things - clarity, self-awareness and decision making - help create more focus, direction, and increase the speed of execution and momentum? And of course, build a sense of meaning and significance in your own life?

Is there a category you find challenging, that I didn't mention here?

In each of these areas, it's important to build your skills and habits so that you’re communicating with clarity and accuracy, leading with self-awareness and purpose, and making decisions with confidence. The results will then show themselves in interesting and often unexpected ways.

One last thing to think about is that as you work through these areas, it's important to know when to ask for help and get support. If you're not sure, reach out and let's have a conversation.

Rate yourself on a scale of 1-5 in each of the areas:

1. Clarity
2. Self-awareness
3. Decision making
4. Asking for help

Add up your score. How did you do?

How would building skills and habits in these areas help you?

Share your thoughts in the comments - I'd love to hear