The Good Men Project

5 Secrets that Expand Your Ability to Lead

Leadership Freak

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Successful leaders think more about relationships and less about technical skills.

Expanding your leadership is about people.

5 secrets that expand your ability to lead:

#1. Value casual interactions.

If you and your coworker are raising teenagers, for example, you have a connection point.

Small bits of personal information open your heart and increase your willingness to go the extra mile.

#2. Choose your best impact.

Questions to help you choose impact:

  1. What do you care about?
  2. What kind of relationships do you want?
  3. What strengths do you bring to others?
  4. What does the person in front of you care about?
  5. What kind of relationship do they want with you?
  6. What strengths do they have?
  7. What behaviors and attitudes might serve others well?

#3. Show up liking people.

Work is more fulfilling when it’s done with people you like.

7 ways to like:

  1. Show respect. What admirable qualities do you see?
  2. Notice work. What are they working to accomplish? How are they helping you?
  3. Recognize stress. What’s stressing them out?
  4. Acknowledge expertise and insight. What are they good at?
  5. Honor growth. How have they grown over time?
  6. Support aspiration. What do they hope to achieve in the future?
  7. Fuel authenticity. Who do they aspire to become?

Liking enhances your ability to serve.

The people you don’t like end up not liking you.

Tip: Leaders show up caring about the success of others.

#4. Believe you have a place.

Perhaps you hold back because you worry about bothering people.

You aren’t bothering people when you contribute to their success.

#5. Keep pictures handy. (For distributed teams)

View pictures of the people you work with to help keep them top of mind.

I go to the website of the teams I work with and scroll through the pictures. It reminds me of our conversations and helps me care about their success.

What behaviors and/or attitudes expand your ability to lead?

Bonus material:

How to Grow as a Leader (CCL)

Are you a boss or a leader? These characteristics will strengthen your leadership skills (SmartBrief)

10 Ways to Become a Better Leader (Business News Daily)

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This post was previously published on Leadership Freak and is republished here with a Creative Commons license.
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Photo credit: iStock

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