How cultivating these 5 habits can help you become a better leader in 2022
By Katherine Lewis
We’ve all internalized ways to become better at our jobs and most of us know what we should be doing. But it’s easy to become paralyzed by the sheer number of “shoulds” and then neglect to put our best ideas into practice. Or we start off strong and then let things fall by the wayside. (Goodbye, New Year’s resolutions!)
As you plan for what 2022 will hold, think about which practices you can cultivate daily, weekly and monthly that will add up to a stronger, more cohesive business unit at this time next year. In essence, when something becomes a habit, it has a much bigger impact. Here are five favorite ideas from my executive coaching practice that you can incorporate into your company culture starting… well, right now.
1. Put team norms into action
Many of my leadership clients go to considerable effort to develop team operating principles that are explicitly agreed upon by all members. Everyone gets excited, but if no concrete actions are taken to reinforce them, their great potential is lost. In this article, I explain how making them highly visible, reading them aloud at every meeting, reinforcing with quizzes and assessments and incorporating norms when giving feedback are all strategies for keeping them top of mind.
2. Don’t strive to be the perfect leader, but build the perfect team
Good leaders recognize they can’t be all things to all people. But what comes after that realization? Well, it’s not just what comes after, but what came before. Ask yourself which strategies you’ve been using during the hiring process to make sure your team is diversified, not just demographically, but according to strengths.
Chances are, you’ve spent a great deal of time on psychometric assessments, as I wrote last month. Have you also asked yourself what perspective your team is lacking? Have you made sure to seek out minority viewpoints when a big decision is on the table? These and other strategies can help ensure your team isn’t dominated by one viewpoint over another.
3. Encourage all team members to ‘voice the voice inside their head’
Fostering a culture where employees feel comfortable saying something controversial may seem counter-intuitive. But I’ve seen many of the strongest teams embrace this principle. As I wrote last fall, research has shown that one of the key factors in a team’s success is creating an atmosphere of psychological safety. When a colleague can preface something uncomfortable by saying, “Now I’m going to voice the voice inside my head,” it gives them permission to separate themselves from the “voice” and say something they otherwise might not. By incorporating this into your culture, it also alerts team members that they need to slow down, listen actively and give their colleague the time they need to feel heard. And that benefits everyone.
4. Practice giving better feedback
One of the hardest things for a leader to do effectively is give critical feedback. Many are either too critical or they sugar-coat their words for fear of giving offense. As I wrote in the third part of my Centered Leader series, the trick to delivering good feedback is to temper your insights with curiosity and compassion and ask questions about how the feedback was received. I teach my clients how to use haptic practices to achieve the right state of mind for this crucial leadership responsibility.
Another reason it’s so important to give feedback properly is to quash any concerns that you are treating someone who is different than you with kid gloves. As my colleague Misa Fujimura-Fanselow explained when we wrote about becoming a more inclusive leader, tiptoeing around the truth hurts your employees’ professional development because it doesn’t give them the same chance to improve.
5. Become a ‘centered leader,’ one breath at a time
In conclusion, I’d like to leave you with my thoughts on becoming a more centered leader. Teaching my clients to lead from the “center,” a place of focus and control, has been a hallmark of my practice. This introductory piece will show you how to use time-tested techniques involving light touch and deep breathing to circumvent the fight/flight/freeze reaction and approach every business task ready to get the best from yourself and your team. Continue your learning with the second piece, which details some common scenarios where leaders may feel the need to re-center. In the third part of the series, I explain how some other haptic techniques can help you tap into parts of your awareness besides intellect to unleash deeply creative solutions for common business roadblocks.
Harness all your inner strengths in 2022 and find the power you have within to shape your team’s success. Contact me at katherine@lewisrushassociates.com today.