How to Be a Good Leader: Enrolling Your Team in The Vision

Being a strong manager and being a great leader are two VERY different things. Managers focus on measuring, tracking, and holding people accountable to results.?

Great leaders combine all of those things with the deepening and strengthening of the people they manage. They inspire greatness in every single team member they come in contact with.?

At this point in your business, you probably know you can’t go at it alone. And with the new year creeping up, now is the time to slow down to speed up and focus on deepening that emotional connection with your team.?

We put so much effort into getting clear on what we want that we forget how to communicate that with our employees.

And communicating with your team about all the tactical things that need to get done on a daily basis is NOT the same thing as enrolling them in our bigger vision for the company.?

Sometimes, we tend to think that as we build our team they just begin to know and understand our vision that it almost becomes automatic - but that’s not always the case.?

It’s easy to forget that when your team gets bogged down by the hustle and bustle and day to day tasks.?

Even as business owners, we forget sometimes - right? We get SO deep in what we’re trying to accomplish that we forget why we’re doing this work or where we’re going next.?

And this is something that, as leaders, we need to work on improving year after year. It’s something that should start from the very first intern all the way up to the senior executive - no matter how many people are on the rocket ship with you.?

Here’s the thing:

The people that work for your organization are there because they believe in the movement, right? Because they care about the work and believe in something bigger than themselves.

But, if you don't consistently and frequently bring the conversation back to that, then to them, it will serve as just another job. And they could easily find another job that’s probably less stressful and pays just the same.?

You do this with your clients when it comes time to renew or upsell them, or when they’re struggling, and you want to get them back on track with their progress - and guess what?

It’s no different with your team. You have to resell them on the dream, too. Because, much like your clients, your team will have high highs and low lows.?

They’ll have their best years and their worst years. And it might not necessarily be congruent to when the company is thriving or struggling.??

If you want to become a great leader, if you’re committed to leading a team to greatness, there are 3 key components to inspiring greatness in your team.

Step one: communicate the vision.?

The first step in becoming a more effective leader is committing every single week, once a week, for maybe 30-minutes to an hour, to restating your North Star and vision for the company (AKA, talk about where you’re going and WHY).?

Think about it: your standard communication with your team, all week long, is likely around tactic and strategy. Checking the boxes. Day-to-day operations. The “how.” But what needs to be communicated above all is the “WHY.”?

What’s the difference you want to make? What’s the change you’re trying to create in the world? What is the movement and mission?

And ultimately, why are you excited to bring your team along on the journey? Why is now, more than ever, the BEST time for them to be on board with you??

Example: at Kelly Roach Coaching , our mission and vision is to become the number one business education and leadership development company in the world.?

And every Tuesday, we have a full-team rally that’s not dedicated to tactics or strategies but specifically to vision casting with my team. ,?

On every call, we cover 4 key areas:

• Team shoutouts. We express gratitude by acknowledging team members that have stepped up, made a difference for the company or a teammate and really went above and beyond in some way.?
• Client success stories. This is about remembering who we are. Why are we here? What’s the whole purpose behind why we work so hard?
• Resetting the vision. We talk about where we’re going next as a company.? How does it tie back to who we want to be?
• The call to action. So what, now what? What’s next? If everyone on this call were going to accomplish just one thing between now and the end of the week, what does that one thing look like? Keep it simple.?

When you communicate the why, your team begins operating from inspiration, energy, excitement, and passion vs. trying to just get through a to-do list of things on their plate.

Step two: enroll your team in the vision.?

Once you’ve communicated that North Star, it’s time to show each individual what their piece of that vision looks like. Where do they have the potential to take their career? How can they grow with the company??

This is where either you, or their direct manager or leader should be meeting one-on-one and helping them vision cast - help them to map out their 4X plan, and put together a dream board with their goals for the next year.?

If this isn’t happening already within your organization, now’s the time to schedule a reset with every individual in the company - especially with 2022 right around the corner. Whether that reset will be with you or someone else on the team, this is your opportunity to show every single team member, individually, what’s possible for them.

Step three: empower your team to drive the vision forward.?

The number ONE thing I see that holds business owners back from building self-led companies and self-directed teams is not trusting their team to drive that vision.

The key to effective leadership and gaining more freedom to step back from your business is getting people to own parts of the company without you and truly become ambassadors for the brand.?

Maybe that means they can execute a Live Launch without you. Or maybe, it’s launching a new product without you.?

Regardless, you have to first trust them to let them operate without you.?

That doesn’t mean giving away your power.? It means pouring into them, training them, preparing them, giving them the roadmap to reach their goals and then empowering them to do their thing. Your belief in them needs to translate into their belief in themselves. This ultimately, translates to your ability to go even further faster, elevate more quickly and scale because you don’t need to have your hands in every single thing your team is working on.??

Remember: good leadership comes down to your ability to drive results through others. It means inspiring and empowering others to perpetuate your message and mission and get others to the point that they can generate results with or without you. That’s where freedom comes from?

No one has ever been able to accomplish anything of great significance without people behind them.?

So, like anything else in your business: leadership comes down to serving first and working as hard at making your team successful as you expect them to work at achieving the goals you’ve laid out for them.?

If you’ve struggled with leading a team to greatness and still feel bogged down in your business, I’d love to invite you to an info session I’m hosting this upcoming Monday - I’ll be sharing more details about our Legacy Builders program for aspiring 7 and 8-figure CEOS who are building world class teams and self-led companies.?

You can add it to your calendar by clicking here .