Leadership is a tough role; the average tenure is approx. 19 months. Our title does not make us a leader. Our thoughts, actions and behaviours regardless of our role allow us to display leadership qualities. Working with many leaders, there are varying areas of focus, I am highlighting 3 that I come across regularly that when honed produce transformative results.  

Karen’s 3 Leadership Tips:

1. Ensure you are leading with your clear purpose. Know your “Why”. 

Chances are it has changed post-pandemic. Having clarity on why you chose your role, the company anchors you authentically in your choices, decisions, and behaviours. Inviting you to show up with an unwavering sense of certainty, conviction, and confidence.  

By modelling this behaviour, you are inviting your team to redefine their “Why” as well. Allowing them to show up authentically. Increasing their ability to connect and have meaningful conversations both internally and externally.

2. Give yourself and your team permission to pause and reflect. Great leadership stems from many things, one of them having a heightened sense of self-awareness. It is difficult to achieve this at high speed or with no pauses throughout your day. 

Intentionally create pauses / Points of reflection throughout your day. In between meetings, difficult conversations, and coaching calls. Doing this both before and after allows you to predetermine how you want to show up or re-set from the previous meeting. Allowing us to show up present and focused with no bias, judgment, or noise from your day. Practice active listening, be patient for things to come to you or your audience, and see what is fueling the behaviour. Look at why this is happening, we can only get to the root of the issue when we hold space, quiet our minds, and our environment and process what actually is.

3. Effective communication is critical.

‍95% of communication is informal - in passing, hallway talk. How can we ensure we are clear, brief yet memorable? As Dr. Keith Spicer states “Clear speaking is Clear Thinking. Is our communication universally understood? Are we creating undue effort for our team to decipher our intended message? Do we ramble, and add words and fillers that may confuse our listener? Have we thought of our questions, statement, and addition before saying them out loud? Can they replay it back in their own words? Our goal of driving results through people stems from their understanding of what we are asking.

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‍Clarity is king.