Do You Know the Best Practices for Effective Leadership?
What does it take to lead well? Surprisingly, to build a successful company, even in high-tech, high-powered Silicon Valley, it is less about technical know-how and more about some proven best practices for effective leadership. Effective leadership is really not rocket science, but it DOES take a powerful blend of skills that are infrequently encountered naturally in one person.
5 Best Practices for Effective Leadership
Here’s a list of five practices of the best leaders based upon data from our leadership simulation assessments. They are related to clarity of thought and expression, a sense of what motivates and makes people tick, and a willingness to ask good questions of the right people and to truly listen to their answers. How do your leadership development programs stack up?
Effective leaders articulate the corporate values that matter most and define the way business will be done on a day-to-day basis. Defining and communicating your ideal organizational culture comes first. Then you must not only model it, you need to hire people who fit your desired culture, reinforce the right behaviors, and put processes and practices in place that ensure organizational alignment and consistency.
To support organizational change of any kind, employees need to understand the rationale behind the change, know what their role will be in accomplishing the change, and feel confidence that management can affect the change in a way that puts everyone on a winning path. The goal is organizational effectiveness. Once that is understood, the majority will work toward the better future.
The best leaders get consistent feedback, seek differing opinions, and ask good questions. They listen carefully to answers from those they respect and are willing to change their own thinking from what they learn. Effective leaders are curious, eager to grow, and encourage challenging discussion to get the best results.
The goal is not to do more things in the time allotted but to do the most important things and, when time has run out, adapt the strategy to what can be accomplished within the available time frame.
The Bottom Line
We believe that it is the responsibility of every leader to create the circumstances for success for their team. If you want to help lift your team’s performance to the next level, follow these proven leadership best practices.
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