10 Hints and Tips
It will pay dividends for any leader or aspiring leader who wants to fulfil their potential and deliver real benefit to their business to make a solid case for the value of executive coaching. The investment is a no brainer. While you are making the case for your organization to invest in executive coaching to support you in challenging times, here are a 10 hints and tips to keep you on track.
- Think about what is most important to you. Not what you do but how you behave. In a tough business environment staying true to your values will give you a guiding star on which to base decisions and choose priorities.
- Leadership is about values and behaviour – not about having all the solutions. Establish end goals and empower your team to come up with solutions – this will open up far more opportunities and motivate your team.
- Keep communicating. Explain you are thinking and keep up an ongoing narrative with your team about the progress towards your goals. Remember any good story has ups and downs, so don’t be afraid to admit to adversity. Being vulnerable makes you more real and accessible.
- Be consistent. If you set up new initiatives or new ways of doing things – especially if they relate to communication or team empowerment – then keep them going. Show real leadership qualities and stay steady regardless of setbacks.
- Be decisive. Far more damage is done to businesses by delaying decisions than by taking wrong decisions. If you find yourself unable to take a decision, ask what additional information you need to make the decision. If that information is not available, then staying true to your values will help make a decision.
- Remember 80% is good enough. Whatever the task, if it’s 80% good enough sign it off and move on. Striving for perfection or taking on too many tasks because only you can do them well enough is a recipe for bottlenecks, frustration, stress and lack of achievement.
- Flip negative to positive. When facing a set-back, make a conscious effort to look at the opportunities that a challenging situation presents you with, rather than just the problems. The results may surprise you.
- Focus on your team rather than yourself. If you focus on supporting your people and enabling them to improve their performance in tough times, you will find you are more likely to reach overall goals and less likely run into self- absorption and lack of focus.
- Be open to learning. Setting out to learn something new, to expand your knowledge or skills is life-enhancing, confidence-boosting and can have a positive effect on other aspects of your performance. Don’t close down in reaction to adversity; open up.
Finally, I have no hesitation in repeating point 1 because it is so important …
- Think about what is most important to you. Not what you do but how you behave. In a tough business environment staying true to your values will give you a guiding star on which to base decisions and choose priorities.
Becoming the leader you want to be: part 1