10 leadership behaviours to improve everyday

Every day is an opportunity to improve ourselves and the business; a chance to be better.

Better prepared, better informed, better processes, better teams and a better workplace; a workplace that enriches the lives of all who work in it. 

It’s not easy being a leader and manager, but it also doesn’t have to be complicated. Small improvements to our behaviours, that add up over time, results in better performance; for you, your team and the business. 

The trick is balancing this desire and need to improve, with accepting you are already ok. Be kind to yourself, but look to improve. Life is full of dichotomies.

10 Daily nudges to consider

Here are the 10 daily behaviours I work on, designed to help me lead better, manage better, perform better, unleash the potential in people and build a better performing business unit or company.

Small improvements in any of these is way more powerful than trying to change everything at once. 

Forget time management, energy and attention is where it's at.

Time doesn’t respond well to being managed. Time flows by irrelevant of what mood we’re in, how we feel, what we’re doing or what we wish to happen. 

Time is finite, and we all get the same amount. However, we do get to nurture and control our energy and attention to some extent.

Imagine a sand timer, like the one in the image above. The bottom half is time that has gone, there is nothing you can do about that. The sand flowing through the narrow part is time now; flowing, passing.

The top half is how much time is left. The only thing is, in life, we cannot see how much of that we have.

It's a somber point but it can help to guide what we do in the now, because the now is all we ever really have. Where should we focus our energy and attention?

I wrote an entire book about this subject called Forget Time Management. 

Attention

It's important to guard your attention carefully. Your attention is under attack; from social media, other people's agendas, shiny problems and a myriad of other potential distractions.

What needs your attention right now? What is your highest priority? Who needs help? Which problems require more attention than others?

Focus is key. The more we can learn to focus, the more likely it is the important stuff will get done. This also includes health, family, finances and other pillars of life too.

Energy

Energy is also created, given, depleted or consumed. Some activities give us energy, some deplete it.

We’re all unique and in different seasons of life, with different motivations and opportunities.

Work out what gives, and what takes, your energy. Work out when you work the best, or what times of day are optimal for certain types of work and activity. This is a personal journey.

Cultivate energy from energising work, rest, meditation, fitness or sleep. 

If you know when you have more energy, or activities that give you energy, schedule those accordingly in your day. For those activities that deplete you (that must be done), factor them into your schedule at appropriate times too. 

Maybe you do better work in the morning - factor that in. Maybe the weekly board meeting depletes you - don't schedule deep important work straight after that.

Schedule family time and commitments, fitness, learning and rest too. 

• Time blocking is an effective method.
• Energy and attention is where it's at (book).
• Playing in an unnatural work pattern will deplete energy.

Our work lives are typically governed by our calendars. Let your calendar reflect your energy and attention, and what is a priority for you. If something is a priority it should be in your calendar. And yes, that includes family, rest and learning too. 

With good energy and attention management, you will get more done in a day, you can remove distractions and you can start each day with a plan. The plan may not survive the day, but at least you’ve got a decent starting point. 

Knowledge is information in action.

The pursuit of information is worthy and good, but every day try putting new information into action. Information acquisition is good - but task acquisition could be even more powerful. Learn by doing the task, supported by information.

Consider a structured learning model that not only shifts behaviours but provides input, guidance and measures. The Activity Theory model is the one I use. 

Build a solid personal learning management system. My model has four stages; capture, curate, crunch and contribute. Try the system, or build an alternative that works for you. The goal is not to capture and acquire information - it's to put that information into action to create knowledge.

Use tools, software and learning methods that work for you. This will require trial and error, and plenty of refactoring.

In work, on-the-job training is a powerful way to lift the abilities of your team too. 

By role modelling learning you will also set the high bar that others will gravitate towards. When your entire function or business unit is in pursuit of gaining more knowledge everyday, you will be better prepared for mistakes, failure, pivots, changes and new demands.

Nothing will seem insurmountable when you have ingrained learning behaviours and an attitude of learning how to get better. Problems become opportunities to merely learn how to get better. 

It’s also important to widen your awareness and get company smart. Learn from mistakes, gain a deeper understanding of the business and broaden your knowledge about the system of work. 

The more you know, the more you can do - and that includes your team too. 

Be the leader that provides hope and spirit - even in difficult times.

This is not about shying away from the current reality, or problems, far from it. Instead, it’s about looking at the problems and challenges, and making them so compelling and interesting that talented people want to help solve them.

Try to avoid being negative. Don’t talk badly about your customers or leaders. Support the business strategy and company decisions (even if you have your doubts). You are in service of the organisation and you won’t always agree with decisions made above you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t support them; you should. 

Be positive about the direction of travel and paint a compelling vision and story of the future. Provide hope, spirit and belief in this bright future. Demonstrate this through positive action towards your business goals. 

Be kind to people, but hold them to account. Don’t shy away from hard conversations about performance. Get to know your team and work out what they want - and help to build a positive attitude towards achieving this. 

An attitude of trying to make one little thing better for your team (and of course the customer), will make immense positive change to the business. When people see little increments of change in a positive direction, it is contagious. 

Your attitude as a leader should be one of hope, improvements and the pursuit of personal excellence. This will rub off. It will show people that, no matter how bad your current reality is, there is a way through it. It may be tough, challenging and seemingly impossible, but that should not stop us trying. Or reflecting and changing course. 

This all comes from your attitude. If you think work is bad and there’s no hope, your team will too. If you think there’s a way through and a path to a better future, your team will too. 

It is a good time to be in business, to be alive, to have work. Let that shine through. 

Try to be a little bit better each day. Try to stick to your plan, your routines and your high standards of behaviours. 

When you’re disciplined and do what you say you will, you will develop a good habit but also build trust.

People will know they can rely on you, talk to you, share things with you and call on you when they need your help.

It will also rub off on others. People will see, through the results they can see in you and your work, that discipline is a worthwhile behaviour. They will see it leads to business results and personal development. 

There is rarely a time for "role power" when people see their system of work improving, are positive about tackling problems and have a clear vision of better in their mind. Discipline is how you get results - and results are rewarding for all. 

People like to see the fruits of their labour and their daily work adding value. They like to see how their daily work connects to something bigger. They like to know any tedious drudgery is getting removed from the system of work.

Discipline, around a focussed set of work, is the key to this. 

It’s not uncommon to hear people say “We could never do that here”, or “that’s not something we can change”.

Why not?

A good leader shines a light on what is not working and asks “how can we make this better?”.

A good leader shines a light on great work and asks “how can we do more of this?”

A good leader challenges people to think differently. Not through arguments, pushing their ideas on others, squashing what other people think and being dictatorial. Nope. But through questions and a good demonstration of positive change. 

Challenge your own beliefs too. We all hold beliefs that are holding us back. “I’m not that good”. “Nobody would listen to me”. 

If you’re improving each day and doing other things on this list, you’ll soon realise that you are good enough and people will listen to you, and actually, the only thing really holding you back is your own thinking. 

When the whole team thinks something can’t be done, then that thing won’t get done. Until someone challenges that.

Good questions, breaking down the obstacle, making a decision and then working through the problem, will show people it can be done. 

This starts with you as a leader.

It starts with looking at what you want, your purpose, the problems, asking tough questions, unleashing people’s potential and moving into action. This is enough, every day, to show people how our thinking has been holding us back. 

With my online course and workshop, I caveat that I cannot make you a good communicator, you must do this yourself.

I can provide insights, guiding principles, frames and tips that you can build on, but it’s on you to grow your own communication skills. 

Everyday is a chance to practice and get better. Start small and work outwards.

For one week try listening more than you speak. Next week, spend every day working on understanding your Purpose, Audience and Context - every time you’re about to communicate. 

Take a month to slowly build your communication / PR plan and work on one small aspect every day. 

One day try standing tall and smiling more. 

Every day is a chance to try one small step to improve your communication. Once you’ve learned and understood a new improvement, keep repeating it until it’s natural - and build on top of what you know and do. 

With effective communication skills you can move people into action, articulate your ideas and vision, influence people, inspire, provide clarity and alignment, learn by listening and build effective relationships. 

Communication skills are involved in every aspect of life; including how we talk to ourselves. Be kind to yourself. Identify tiny improvements you can make every day but don't put yourself down.

It goes without saying that your team will be more influential, better listeners and more impactful with effective communication skills too.

With improved communication skills they will know how to work more effectively with each other, develop their own strengths and be better placed to work as a team, supporting each other and mitigating each other’s weaknesses. 

Effective communication skills are also how you climb the career ladder, and boost your value (and pay) too. 

Effective routines in work make it easier to get work done, assuming these routines are helpful. If they're not helpful, fix them. 

Routines in work should be sustainable, effective and lead to better results.

Routines could be anything from meetings to a process for getting work out of the door. Routines are the power behind an effective Portfolio Management system, dealing with customer complaints and building a delivery model that flows. 

Routines are also personal.

Think about your own personal routines and habits. Are they serving you well? Or depleting you? Do you have your pillars of life dialled in, with routines to support managing the tension? 

At work, does your calendar reflect your routines and priorities? 

When routines don’t work for us, we get a chance to change them. Daily attention to our routines can make us better as individuals, or worse. At work, routines can either aid the team in getting good work done, or they can distract us and block people from doing good work. 

Once you have a routine in place at work - encourage people to have the discipline to follow it. If there are seven different ways to do something at work, how will you know which is the most effective? 

This is not micromanagement - this is about taking away the low level thinking about how to get work done - freeing up mental space for creative problem solving and value add work. 

People are essential to the success of any organisation and we must treat them well but we must also deliver value.

I have a mission to cultivate workplaces that enrich the lives of all who work in the business. But, you must have a business to work in - and that means we must deliver our results. 

The discipline, routines, attitude, learning and managing time will all help to get results, but results we must get. 

It starts with being clear on the results you’re trying to achieve, and then orientating your team around those with a focus on delivery AND cultivating a great place to work. It’s not easy.

Keep an eye on your progress.

Not just delivery measures but on the delivery of value. It’s not about being busy and delivering pieces of work, it’s about being productive on delivering the right pieces of work - the work that releases value. 

Make time for innovation and creativity as these will enhance your ability to deliver, or open up new revenue streams, or make the workplace better.

Value is external and created by customers buying what you sell. All costs are within the business. The "costs of production" is how much it costs to deliver that value. Track these measures, focus on them, “manage” them but not at the expense of purpose. 

Every day, spend time focusing on value and delivery. Track financials in real-time if you can, let everyone see and own these numbers. Balance these numbers with people, retention and a positive workplace. 

Without the numbers you’re at the mercy of Watermelon reporting and best intentions. With too much focus on numbers you risk being data-driven and ignoring spirit and passion. Balance is key. A daily look at financials is a trade skill. And trade skills will make you a better leader. 

We seem to be in a world obsessed with individual purpose. A quick internet search brings back millions of articles designed to help us find our purpose.

Purpose is essential, but as an individual it's not always easy to nail our own.

The reality is we likely have several purposes as an individual.

We may have a family and our purpose is to be a good parent, to provide for and guide our children into adulthood. We may have a grand purpose to become a writer, or live without fear, or dedicate our lives to charity. 

We may have several purposes in life, they may change with the seasons of life, or we may have yet to find ours. 

In my experience, we build our own purpose - it doesn’t come to us. We don't one day stumble across it and have a "aha" moment.

We build it, nudge it, craft it, create it through our own personal interests, skills and creativity.

My approach has been to simply become the best leader I can be, to teach others how to do this and try to make a living through my ideas and creativity. I’m still working on this. I’m still exploring it. I’m still building it. Is it my life’s guiding purpose? I don’t know. It feels like answering this question is too damn hard and impossible. 

What I do know is I have a direction to travel in - and that, I think, is purposeful enough. 

I’ve always tried various hobbies and interests, and taken on interesting sounding projects that will help me grow. This has worked for me, it may work for you. It's a personal journey.

I’m not sure I’ve found my purpose yet, but it feels close. 

At work, your purpose is a little clearer - it’s why people buy your service and product, and then the role you, and your team, play in delivering this value.

To excel as a leader it’s important you keep testing and understanding what your purpose is - and ensure you keep nudging your function or team towards it. Your company’s purpose is to serve society and customers - those who are buying what you offer.

You may be an internal function like HR and your purpose is compliance and people support - but all of that is still in service of your company's wider purpose. 

Your purpose is derived from your customer’s perspective and the value they unlock for your company.

A lot of leaders get this wrong and move towards internal functional reporting, or misplaced internal metrics, designed, with good intentions, to measure how much “value” you deliver to internal teams, or other departments, or how much you cost to operate your function. When you disconnect from your true purpose in business, you'll get weird behaviours geared towards meeting the wrong metrics and targets.

This is a mistake as value is only ever released externally - by your customers.

To morph your department away from customer value towards hitting an internal target, may mean you no longer deliver on your purpose to the customer. When this happens costs go up and it becomes more expensive to deliver value. 

Gratitude is a behaviour and emotion that is certainly worth developing.

Gratitude for having a job, being part of a company and for the opportunity you have in serving customers.

Gratitude for the work people do in the organisation, the friendships and even the challenges you face. Challenges build character and strength. 

Gratitude for family, friends and a place to live. Gratitude for the opportunities we have and the skills we’ve developed along the way.

Gratitude helps us move away from things we are missing (scarcity) to things we have (abundance). Gratitude helps us utilise what we have. 

Consider that gratitude is a positive emotion and it is contagious. We’ve been around leaders who are grateful for all that comes their way, good and bad. They face what is ahead of them and are grateful for the chance to grow, develop and learn. They are inspiring.

Gratitude, practiced daily, can help you appreciate what you have and where you are right now. It’s not at odds with having a dream and getting better, it’s part of the journey.

Every day, we get to say thank you for what we’ve achieved today and the opportunities we’ve had to make our work, ourselves, and our teams, better. We may also be grateful for what lies ahead as we embark on our journey to becoming a better person.

Your leadership behaviours will never be more than you as a person, so it pays to spend a little time each day nudging any of the above, to be better today than we were yesterday. Small incremental nudges and improvements stack up over time.