7 Practices to Become a More Effective Leader

Leadership is an evolving journey requiring a continuous commitment to personal and professional growth. To help leaders navigate this journey, here are seven practices that can enhance your effectiveness and drive sustained success.

1. Clarify Vision and Priorities

A clear and compelling vision is the cornerstone of effective leadership. Why? It builds credibility, ensures consistency, improves communication, increases focus and fosters resilience.

Regularly reviewing and articulating your organisation’s vision to team members ensures it resonates with each and every person. Consider Apple Inc. under the leadership of Steve Jobs. Jobs had a clear vision of creating innovative, user-friendly products that integrate seamlessly into people’s lives. This vision drove Apple’s strategic priorities, from product design to marketing strategies. As a result, Apple developed groundbreaking products like the iPhone and iPad, transforming the technology industry and achieving immense success. Jobs’ ability to clarify and communicate this vision was crucial to Apple’s growth and his effectiveness as a leader.

By identifying and setting specific, strategic priorities, you provide a roadmap for decision-making and resource allocation. Holding quarterly and annual strategy sessions allows you to reassess and adjust these priorities based on current circumstances and market conditions, keeping your organisation agile and focused.

2. Optimize Time Management

Time is a leader’s most valuable resource. Let me repeat that. TIME IS A LEADER’S MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE. 

Conducting a time audit helps you understand where your time is spent and if it aligns with your strategic priorities. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook (now Meta), is known for her rigorous time management practices, which have been key to her success. She plans her day meticulously, focusing on high-priority tasks and delegating effectively. Sandberg’s disciplined approach to time management allows her to balance her demanding role at Meta with her commitments to public speaking, writing, and family life. Her ability to optimise her time has been instrumental in driving Meta’s strategic initiatives and maintaining her effectiveness as a leader.

Delegating tasks that others can handle allows you, as the leader, to time block and focus on high-impact areas such as long-term strategic initiatives and external partnerships.

Implement a weekly review process to plan your time effectively, ensuring you allocate time for strategic thinking, team development, and personal growth.

3. Foster a Feedback Culture

Do you have effective feedback systems in place? Do you encourage feedback within your organisation? An organisation that values giving and receiving feedback effectively helps promote open, honest communication and a positive workplace culture. 

Google is known for its strong feedback culture. They use various tools and processes to gather feedback from employees, such as regular surveys, one-on-one meetings, and the annual “Googlegeist” survey. This feedback is used to make data-driven decisions that improve the workplace environment, enhance employee satisfaction, and drive innovation. Google’s commitment to feedback has helped it maintain its status as one of the most innovative and desirable places to work.

To promote feedback, establish formal and informal channels, encouraging team members to share their insights. Regular 360-degree feedback sessions provide comprehensive insights into your leadership and organisational performance. Acknowledging and acting on feedback demonstrates its value and encourages continued openness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0fRaM7M_WU

4. Develop Succession Plans

Succession planning ensures your organisation’s future leadership is prepared and capable. It improves organisational stability, talent retention, risk management, strategic alignment and knowledge transfer. 

General Electric (GE) is renowned for its robust succession planning. Under Jack Welch’s leadership, GE implemented a rigorous succession planning process that identified and developed potential leaders well in advance. This approach ensured smooth transitions and maintained the company’s performance during leadership changes. For example, Jeffrey Immelt was groomed over several years before taking over as CEO, allowing for a seamless transition.

Begin with identifying high-potential employees and creating individualised development plans, including mentorship, training and rotational assignments. Regularly review and update these plans to reflect organisational changes and the progress of key individuals.

5. Evaluate and Align Talent

When did you last assess your team’s alignment with the organisational goals? Ensuring every person is in roles that best utilise their strengths allow you to build a dynamic, capable and motivated workforce that drives success.

Consider Zappos, the online shoe and clothing retailer, known for its strong focus on company culture and talent alignment. Zappos uses a rigorous hiring and evaluation process to ensure new hires align with its core values and culture. This alignment has contributed to high employee satisfaction, low turnover rates, and strong business performance. Zappos’ emphasis on evaluating and aligning talent ensures that employees are not only skilled but also a good cultural fit, driving the company’s success.

Provide coaching and development opportunities to help employees grow and succeed. Sometimes, making tough personnel decisions is necessary to maintain a high-performing team, even if it involves reassigning or letting go of underperformers. When hiring, consider methods such as TopGrading to ensure you recruit the best talent and create a team of A Players.

6. Strengthen Crisis Management Skills

Most of us have likely seen the devastating effects of businesses that were not prepared for crisis over the last few years. From the COVID-19 Pandemic, several large-scale cybersecurity breaches, major supply chain disruptions, social and political unrest, environmental disasters and the ever looming and threatening global recession. 

Developing a crisis management plan that outlines procedures and roles during emergencies, and practicing regular crisis simulations/training prepares your team for high-stress situations.

The response of Johnson & Johnson to the Tylenol cyanide crisis in 1982 is a classic example of effective crisis management. After discovering that some Tylenol bottles had been tampered with, the company quickly recalled 31 million bottles, communicated transparently with the public, and implemented tamper-evident packaging. This decisive and responsible action helped restore consumer trust and safeguard the company’s reputation, demonstrating the importance of strong crisis management skills.

From an individual perspective, building habits that improve personal resilience through stress management techniques and maintaining a balanced lifestyle can ensure you, as the leader, remain calm and effective during crises.

7. Commit to Personal Development

Leaders are made not born. Continuous personal development keeps leaders informed, inspired, and ready to face new challenges. 

Set yourself personal development goals and create a roadmap to achieve them. Some easy, quick and digestible ways to stay informed include regularly reading industry publications, attending conferences and networking with peers. Schedule self-reflection sessions to evaluate your progress on personal and professional goals, adjusting plans as needed.

Implementing these practices can help leaders build a robust framework for continuous improvement, ensuring they and their organizations remain agile, resilient and aligned with their strategic vision. By integrating these practices into daily routines and organisational culture, leaders can drive sustained success and growth.

TED BONEL, SCALING UP COACH – STRATEGY & EXECUTION BUSINESS ADVISORS

Need assistance to help your team achieve your objectives to grow your business? Contact me at tedb@strategyandexecution.com.au to schedule a free 30-minute discovery meeting.

ABOUT STRATEGY & EXECUTION

We have been providing organisations and their leaders with facilitation support and executive education focused on strategy development and strategy execution for more than 20 years. Using business models such as Scaling Up, Exponential Organizations, E-Myth Mastery, Outthinker etc, we support organisations seeking to create or refine excellent strategies and execute them quickly and effectively.

Our expertise is based on a mixture of wide business experience, effective tools as well as a great deal of consulting and executive education. Our approach to working with clients is as unique as our specialist focus. We always seek to challenge our clients’ thinking – but equally are unafraid to roll up our sleeves and help execute the ideas we help generate. Learn more about us here or view our upcoming workshops and events.

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