Make These Five Leadership Behaviors Your Daily Habit

Create your daily leadership to-do list with these tips from author Steve Rush.

Leadership over time has become a title. I’m often asked, “What does the typical leader look like?” My response is always, “Leaders are diverse, they are gender and race neutral, not linked to career grades or hierarchy, and by the way – there are no typical leaders.”  Just being the boss or having direct reports doesn’t make anybody a leader. Often, when I work with large organizations, their senior management may have even included leader in the title, so they perceive themselves as the leaders.

I believe that leadership is a gift given, granted and assigned to the leader by the people they work with. That also includes those who could be the same career level or even junior to them – leadership is a trait, not a job. Whatever they call their title, if they have no one on the journey with them, they are not a leader, right?

Here are my top five actions of daily behaviors that I’ve observed in great leaders:

1) Communicate effortlessly

They make everything relevant, meaningful and two way. They adapt their style and approach to match the recipient and evaluate so people understand their message. I call these leaders “communication adaptors.” Within a split second, they have the ability to flex their style according to their audience.

2) Foster trust

The authentic leader creates an open and honest environment where people can act and behave without fear. I have heard some senior leaders say, “You have to earn trust.” That could take some time and besides, how do you earn trust at the very beginning of a relationship? The answer is that you have to give some trust up front otherwise nothing gets done. Great leaders will tell you that trust doesn’t have to be earned; it can be gifted and then cultivated over time. It’s for them to lose, not to gain.

3) Live & breathe their vision

Congruence is when you observe something and your perceptions and gut reaction give you the permission to believe that what you are seeing or hearing is true. For the congruent leader, everything they do and every action they take is aligned to their vision and strategy. It’s just how it is: great leaders don’t deviate from their vision. Their people follow because what’s demonstrated is real and believable.

4) Create urgency, not panic

The urgency they display as leaders is structured, planned, supported and wrapped with great intention. This creates real change. It’s a fine line between urgency and panic, and many leaders believe they are being urgent when they are actually panicking. The difference is about how they create urgency. This needs context to as to why and what they are trying to achieve. They give context, they get buy in.

5) Say thank you

There are dozens of things worthy of thanks in a leader’s day; great leaders celebrate every time somebody has done what is expected and what is unexpected. They start with a thank you. It’s the most underused form of recognition; great leaders recognise it’s the most effective. Caution: I encourage leaders to only say it when it’s needed and deserved. Just saying “thank you” time and time again may lose impact and erode their authenticity as leaders if it’s not genuine.

Many leaders have adopted these simple steps, and now it’s habitual and part of the way they do things. Some studies show that you have to repeat something 21 times before it becomes habit. So write down these five daily themes, pin it up where you can see it and ensure that you demonstrate these traits everyday. In a month’s time you may transform your approach to leading others.

 

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Steve Rush is an author and leadership expert whose career spans global firms generating multimillion-pound revenues. He is the author of “Leadership Cake,” which combines his expertise and leadership lessons into a fresh perspective on leadership success. Live testing of “Leadership Cake” with leaders in both the U.K. and the U.S. inspired Rush to share the philosophy on the global stage. For more information, visit www.leadershipcake.com.

Rush is also Chief Executive Officer of Improov Consulting, a leadership, management and training consultancy based in Vale of Glamorgan near Cardiff, South Wales, U.K. It provides solutions tailored to ever-changing businesses and individual needs in the areas of learning and development; sales skills and buying models; sales leadership; relationship management; marketing; personal effectiveness and change management; communications skills; and financial services exam training. For more information, visit www.improovconsulting.com.