8 Tips for Becoming an Effective Leader

No matter where you are in your career, it's never too early or too late to start or continue to develop your leadership skills. Leadership is often described as a set of skills that can be enhanced and trained. Inspired by my work with helping business owners advance, here are eight tips for being an effective leader:

1. Learn to lead by example.

A good leader is one who leads by example and does what they expect everyone else to do. If you expect your team to be hard workers, then you should be a hard worker too. By practicing what you preach, you earn the respect and loyalty of your team, and before long, you'll see that they're following your example.

2. Be goal-oriented.

Instead of focusing on the problem at hand, an effective leader instead directs attention toward the solution. Instead of worrying and complaining about the issues, they focus on the objectives and then turn their energies toward creating a plan and strategy to achieve those objectives. An effective leader prioritizes so they can get the most important and urgent things done first.

3. Take responsibility.

Instead of pointing fingers and playing the blame game when things go wrong, a good leader takes responsibility for the team's actions and their consequences. By being willing to take responsibility, you prove that you're worthy of trust and respect.

4. Share the glory.

We've probably all had a boss who took all the credit for the team's hard work and success, right? This is not an effective leader. An effective leader is one who is team-oriented and more than happy to share the glory and credit for a job well done with the team. They admit that the success and achievements are due to the team's joint efforts. A leader is only as good as the team behind them. By sharing the glory, an effective leader can earn the admiration and respect of the team. After all, no one wants to follow a selfish leader.

5. Know how to develop a team.

One of the primary traits of an effective leader is the ability to develop team members through training, teaching or coaching. The team will not be able to achieve the goals of the organization without this training.

An effective leader can build people up and create a stronger team, which benefits everyone involved. They can do this because they pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of the team as a whole, as well as those of each team member. They have excellent communication skills, which they can use to build relationships with and among team members. By building good interteam relationships, they create a greater level of productivity.

6. Become a master of communication.

Excellent communication skills are necessary to become an effective leader. However, communication is not just about expressing what you want to happen -- it's also about being able to truly listen to others. An effective leader not only expresses their ideas and strategies persuasively and clearly but also truly listens to feedback with an open mind.

7. Be courageous and assertive.

In many cases, the leader of a team has to venture into new territory, which means they have to face the unknown and take risks or break rules. In order to do this, a leader must be able to speak up about the things that truly matter and be assertive about what they need and want from their team and for their team. An effective leader is willing and ready to face any challenges and obstacles so they can achieve their own goals and the goals of the organization.

8. Be confident.

Projecting confidence is probably the most difficult characteristic to develop. Some people are naturals when it comes to this, but you can develop a greater sense of self-assurance. Part of this confidence is having faith and feeling secure in yourself and not needing to be accepted and loved by others, as well as being able to prove that you have the competencies and the skills to be an effective leader and to lead the team to its common goal.

My prayer for becoming a great leader:  I was never sure I wanted to be a leader, I never had a plan to lead people or build a business, but here I am! It becomes more and more clear as I build my business, the more leading I am required to do. And the more I lead, the more people are watching. And the more people are watching, makes it clear how much I need you Lord. If you don't show me how to build my business and lead my team, I will mess it up! I need help making decisions, navigating and developing my team members. Lord, teach me to be a good leader! You are the best leader of them all! Remind me to run all my decisions through the filter of your word first. Help me to lead powerfully and purposefully. Help me have great team members because I have led well and I have led through you! Amen

1Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

2Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 

“Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself.” - Thomas J. Watson, Former Chairman of IBM

“The three most important ways to lead people are:... by example... by example... by example.” - Albert Schweitzer

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” - Jack Welch 

“A leader leads by example whether he intends to or not” - Steve Jobs

No matter where you are in your career, it's never too late to learn how to be an effective leader. I hope these tips will help you to become an amazing leader! Feel free to share with your team. If you have any questions or need help with anything in your business, please feel free to reach out to me by call or text at 612-208-9434. I am always here and always happy to help :) 

To your success~