Top Quick Wins to Boost Your Leadership

By guest blogger Tom Jager

[August 13, 2018]  A true leader is an inspiration for others to continue dreaming, learning and improving themselves. The fundamental duty of a leader is to motivate others to work as a team towards the common goal. Leaders are also mentors, inspiring others to become more productive and committed.

But no one mentions that becoming a great leader requires commitment and hard work. Leaders need something to motivate them to continue moving towards the same goal, to improve themselves and perfect their knowledge.

Among the top qualities of a true leader is a great ability to manage everything, from time and schedule to employees and their talents. But even leaders sometimes need extra motivation. So if you want to strengthen your leadership and better understand what kind of leader you are or want to become, here are top 3 quick wins to boost your leadership!

#1 Figure out your leadership type

If you want to strengthen your leadership skills, the first thing you need to identify is your leadership type. According to Chron, there are 5 basic types of leadership:

1) Laissez-Faire Leadership – leaders that fall under this category often don’t have to pay much attention to supervision, because their employees are experienced and well-trained. However, there’s a very small chance that all employees possess these features, thus some of them lack supervision and mentoring. Laissez-Faire leaders don’t pay much attention to that, which can result in poor productivity.

2) Autocratic Leadership – autocratic leaders make all decisions alone and possess total authority over their employees. While such leaders think that they do well for the company, the complete disregard of their employees results in poor motivation and productivity.

3) Participative Leadership – democratic leaders value the input of their employees and always motivate their employees. Although the final decision rests with the leader, the contribution of the employees is highly appreciated.

4) Transactional Leadership – a transactional leader only gives tasks and reviews the performance of the employees. Such leader is a mentor and a guide but rarely takes part in teamwork.

5) Transformational Leadership – a transformational leader is always involved and present to work with employees as a team. Such leaders focus on a big picture while delegating smaller goals to employees.

Look through these leadership types and identify which one works best for you and your company. If you don’t know what kind of a leader you are, you can take a quiz.

#2 Be involved and communicate effectively

Seeing how much the leader is motivated and involved in the working process can completely change how employees approach their tasks. “Nothing is as motivating as working towards one goal”, says Jane Perkins, an HR manager at Proessaywriting. “But there’s a fine line between encouraging your employees and pushing them.”

Successful leaders communicate with their teams, using these 3 rules:

• Voicing the message in a proper way: before you start talking, identify the purpose of the message and voice in a proper tone. This rule is especially important when a leader talks face-to-face with an employee. If, for instance, a leader wants to talk about some work mistakes, it’s important to voice them in a calm, confident tone. No matter what the message is, there’s no place for yelling.
• Being brief and consistent: good leaders always know how to say it and when to say it, both when speaking and writing. You can pass the same message in only a couple of correctly chosen words. There’s no need to argue around the subject. Instead, it’s important to voice the problem right away.
• Being proactive: when communicating, great leaders always voice all the requirements ahead, before an employee even starts the job, especially when an employee has just been hired. Finding out about new responsibilities after the job has already been taken is not a very pleasant experience. That’s why a true leader should always be upfront and honest in communication.

#3 Be positive

A positive attitude is a great motivation booster, not only for the employees but for the leader too. Upbeat, optimistic attitude is contagious: the more positive thoughts you send out, the more employees will follow your lead.

Good leaders also take care of their employees. If you want to boost your leadership, make sure that you do the following:

• Encourage your employees to leave for lunch: no matter how much work they have to do, you need to encourage them to take a break for lunch. Besides, irregular eating habits can really harm their health.
• Be supportive: it doesn’t matter if you’re supervising someone, you should still remain a good, compassionate person. Supporting employees who are going through tough times is important for your relationships.
• Smile often: a frowning leader is a bad leader. If you want to encourage a positive attitude at a workplace, keep your head up and smile.

And one more thing…

A good leader should be the mentor to the employees. So if you want to boost your leadership, always be eager to help. This will positively influence your authority and make you a beloved leader of your team.

Tom Jager is professional blogger. He works at A-writer.  He has degree in Law and English literature. Tom has written numerous articles/online journals. You can reach him at G+  or  Facebook.