Nine Foolproof Ways to Become a Better Leader

Want to become a better leader? Any change takes time, but knowing where to start your journey starts with a look inward. Get real with yourself.

Easier said than done, right? If you can’t see the forest for the trees, ask trusted colleagues for their assessment of your leadership style. Better yet, ask your people! The results will humble you, regardless of how long you’ve had this role. Not ready for their tough love yet? Below we offer nine foolproof ways to become a better leader to set you on the right path.

1. Practice Empathy and Grace

These past few years have taught us just how delicate life can be. Research shows more and more people actively disengaging from work because of toxic work cultures or extreme burnout. Help your people through good times and bad by practicing empathy and grace. Nope, not the same thing.

Empathy meets a person where they are, stepping into their shoes, and feeling compassion for their situation. To the best of your ability, you understand their situation and how they feel. You cannot know their feelings completely and sometimes you cannot even really empathize because you haven’t had the same experience. Instead of feeling pity, consider offering them a little grace. Grace politely and kindly offers space. Leaders who validate their employees’ experiences — even if they can’t fully understand them — build trust.

Trust, built through sincere empathy and grace, can decrease employee stress and foster a positive work environment for everyone. 

2. Improve Your Listening Skills

Too many people — in business and in personal interactions — never really listen to the other person. They just wait for their turn to speak, often impatiently. Nothing makes a person feel less “seen” than not being heard when they speak. Great leaders make a conscientious effort to become better listeners. Sometimes you have to read between the lines. What is your employee actually saying?

To do that, you have to practice basic conversation etiquette, which, like common sense, seems to be waning these days. That means don’t interrupt the other person or finish their sentences. If in-person or on video calls, fully face them and disregard common distractions like phones or other people nearby. Ask clarifying questions to fully understand or repeat back what you heard.

If you really cannot spend time with an employee (good reasons include actual blood, fire, or death), schedule time to reconnect. Follow up. 

3. Communicate Expectations Clearly

Ever walk out of a meeting having no idea what actions someone expected of you? Makes you feel a certain kind of way, doesn’t it? Don’t let your team suffer the same ambiguity.

At the end of any discussion with your team, leave with clear expectations for everyone, including yourself. Clear expectations for action items should follow SMART criteria:

• Specific (What actions need doing?)
• Measurable (How will the team know they’re done?)
• Achievable (Is what you’re asking even possible?)
• Relevant (How does this activity advance team goals?)
• Time-bound (When do you expect this to happen?)

If your goal is to set behavioral expectations with your team, keep the conversation brief and to the point. For example, outline company core values and ways you see your team demonstrating them. Instead of waxing on philosophically, KISS it and move on.

Clearly outline specific actions or behaviors with your team. Have those accountable repeat back their roles. 

4. Learn How to Fail

Albert Einstein once said, “The only source of knowledge is experience.” Even the man whose name was synonymous with genius made his fair share of mistakes. Great leaders take a page from Einstein’s playbook, learning to admit when they’re wrong. And more importantly, learning from and correcting their mistakes.

Western culture has created a myth of perfection that serves no one. You cannot achieve perfection without first being a novice. And the best innovations happen when leaders learn to fail fast and fail forward. In the end, great leaders appreciate learning a thing or two about being just plain wrong. When you demonstrate how you handle failure with grace and humility, you give your team permission to do the same.

Celebrate losses as lessons learned and appreciate the experience your team has gained. 

5. Never Stop Learning

Much has been written on having a growth mindset, especially as the uncertainties of the world require more agility. Leaders who adopt a growth mindset identify opportunities for their team to do better and foster their love of learning. They believe that with dedication and hard work, people can continue to adapt to ever-changing situations.

Whether you’ve served as a leader for decades or you’ve just begun, you can always learn something new. You’re never too old or established to pick up new skills. As you display your excitement at learning something new, you empower your team to do the same. A culture that encourages lifelong learning leads to stronger teams and allows individuals to grow their careers.

Great leaders and their teams never stop learning.

6. Praise Publicly, Constructively Criticize Privately

You love the work your people do. Great leaders take great joy in bragging about their people. Lifting others up shows not only that you trust your team but also that you value them and the work they do.

One caveat: Take note of how they respond if you compliment them in their presence. Do they seem to like the attention? If not, find other, more subtle ways to make sure others learn about their accomplishments.

However, NEVER publicly criticize someone, even for dastardly mistakes in the moment. No one enjoys public humiliation. Most people know when they’ve screwed up and already feel bad. If you feel emotionally reactive, wait until you’ve calmed down to request a private conversation. Only then should you offer constructive feedback, with specific examples on how to improve.

Share the good things every member of your team has accomplished, even if you have to look a little harder. 

7. Trust the Experts

No one person can know #allthethings about any subject, no matter what your smarty-pants nephew or the office know-it-all says. While many managers get promoted for their technical knowledge, no one expects them to know everything about their field.

Insecure managers think not knowing everything there is to know about their industry is a sign of weakness. To soothe that insecurity, they make up facts or take credit for a real expert’s knowledge as their own. However, openly admitting when you don’t know something and relying on experts is a sign of strength. If you properly attribute information to the expert, you show the signs of a great leader. Also, when you trust the advice of those more knowledgeable, you save valuable time hunting down information or correcting errors.

Great leaders learn to depend on the expertise on their team. 

8. Get Great at Decision-Making

Nothing can be more maddening for a team than getting stalled at the decision-making process. We bet that as an individual contributor you’ve experienced your fair share of frustration with chronically indecisive management. This attribute goes hand-in-hand with giving clear communications.

Not only do indecisive leaders slow team progress on projects, but also their employees begin to worry about their own reputations. They may worry that — through guilt by association — colleagues will assume they cannot complete their tasks efficiently. It can also lead your team to adopt a blaming culture or to mistrust your knowledge. And the worst part: by not deciding, you may often get decisions made for you due to changing circumstances.

Learn to trust your gut and the input of your team to make decisions in a timely manner.

9. Exist to Serve Your People

Even when you want to call it quits, great leaders support their team. Your job as a leader is to break trail and block the headwinds for your team. You enable them to do their jobs better, even if they never see your efforts.

Simon Sinek’s Leaders Eat Last should serve as a primer on why leaders lead. Or John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, which advised, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” What can you do for your people to make their jobs, and their lives, easier?

Servant leaders put the needs of their team first to build better organizations and enrich their people’s lives.

Need more inspiration on How to Be a Great Boss? Register for an upcoming workshop through EOS Worldwide.