As a leader, your most direct impact is made with those you lead. The culture you set for them plays a big role in determining the tone, the expectations and the attitude they bring to work—and the results they achieve. For your people to do their best, you have to establish a culture that fuels them to believe they can excel.
As a leadership coach, I work with leaders around the world, and the best of them understand the most effective ways to build results-oriented leadership:
Create a culture of purpose. Begin by making sure everyone knows and understands the mission, purpose and vision. When you get everyone on the same page, they can feel competent and confident enough to contribute in their own leadership roles.
Create a culture of engagement. Help people discover how they can engage and connect with each other while making an impact as individuals. Everyone must see, feel and know the importance of optimizing their potential to benefit the team’s work.
Create a culture of honest communication. We often treat communication as an ideal state that exists in a perfect world but is often unattainable in reality. But a lack of communication can keep a culture from being effective and flourishing. As a leader, you need to understand and emphasize the importance of honest communication, because it is a key component for success and a direct line to getting great results.
Create a culture of integrity. How you do business—the way you treat all people—is at the core of great leadership and great teams. When integrity is part of the culture, you have an environment in which respect, trust and loyalty bring people together and create strong bonds between them. A leader who emphasizes integrity is a leader who is guaranteed the best possible results.
Create a culture of empowerment. The more you empower people the more committed they become, the more they produce and the better results they will achieve. Too often leaders want to control and keep a tight grip on what others are doing and how they are doing it. As a result, people don’t have the autonomy they need to create their own success. The primary effect of a tight grip or an overemphasis on control is to limit what can be achieved. Instead, lead with empowerment to bring out the greatness in others.
An effective leader must employ a collection of distinct leadership styles—each in the right measure and at the right time—to create the kind of culture that pays off every day with exceptional results. It is the leader who sets the tone for the culture, and the culture that sets the tone for every member of the team.
Lead from within: If you want great results, you have to create the kind of culture that makes people want to come and work with you and for you.
#1 N A T I O N A L B E S T S E L L E R
The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness
After decades of coaching powerful executives around the world, Lolly Daskal has observed that leaders rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches a point when their performance suffers and failure persists. Very few understand why or how to prevent it.
Additional Reading you might enjoy:
- 12 Successful Leadership Principles That Never Grow Old
- A Leadership Manifesto: A Guide To Greatness
- How to Succeed as A New Leader
- 12 of The Most Common Lies Leaders Tell Themselves
- 4 Proven Reasons Why Intuitive Leaders Make Great Leaders
- The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed
- The Deception Trap of Leadership
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Of Lolly’s many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc. magazine. Huffington Post honored Lolly with the title of The Most Inspiring Woman in the World. Her writing has appeared in HBR, Inc.com, Fast Company (Ask The Expert), Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and others. Her newest book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness has become a national bestseller.