Great leadership means being able to instill trust and respect in your team. A team works better when the mentality, attitude, and habits of its members are in sync. A leader can foster this synchronicity by identifying the practices that work for him or her and then encouraging the team to adopt them, too.
Here are five shared habits that CEOs say have helped them become better individual leaders and allowed their teams to excel:
- Inbox Management. Email can be one of the most time-intensive distractions of the modern office. By adopting a distinct set of rules to deal with this phenomenon, staff can minimize the disruption without compromising on communication.
- Regular Exercise. The relationship between a healthy body and a healthy mind is an established medical fact. It is also evident from research that spending hours at a desk in front of a screen is extremely unhealthy. Whether it is an office gym, organized outdoor activities, or paid gym memberships, sweating it out as a team is a fantastic productivity tool.
- Stress Management. Just like a chain is only as strong as the weakest link, overworked staff members can bring down the collective performance of the entire team. A business leader must maintain a clear insight into their own susceptibility for overwork and address it as a team as well. Like exercise, company getaways and retreats are ideal for reenergizing and maintaining optimum performance standards.
- Time Management. You are definitely not the only work who believes there are too few hours in a day. You may be able to manage your own schedule but if the entire team is not on board with that mentality, all your efforts will be thwarted by a company bottleneck. Encourage everyone to discover where they should invest more time and where it can be saved. The results may differ for individuals but the practice comes together beautifully for a team.
- Mindfulness. An office is a hub of constant activity with many people attempting to fulfill their individual roles in a shared space. Minor conflicts are inevitable. Business leaders and team members have a shared responsibility to each other. Express gratitude when things go right but also appreciate the effort when they do not. Offer to help when you can and set in place a domino effect of paying it forward.
How many of these habits do you and your team practice? Please read my blog article Great Leaders for Great Organizations for more examples of how to lead your organization.
