5 Leadership Tips to 10X Your Effectiveness

As business owners and top influencers, it is up to us to set the DNA and culture of our companies. Think about the challenges that we have been through in 2022. How about the ones we have faced already this year?

In the midst of these obstacles, personal challenges, financial stress, and health issues seem to compound. Instead of going into a downward spiral, we must choose to ELEVATE mind over matter. Our current state is not how it will always be. We must determine to implement new best practices in the areas of our life that feel like they are unraveling. In these moments, we decide to only have positive thoughts and always see the silver lining. We follow the advice of highly successful people and write out a grateful list every morning and evening. We change the culture by practicing mind over matter. When we celebrate the small wins, all of the sudden they become huge gains.

Next, we make critical decisions early. Have you ever heard of decision fatigue? It’s a real thing and it happens to most of us. At the end of the day, we have made so many decisions that it is difficult to continue with a top high-performance mindset. Studies show judges often make more mistakes on cases later in the day than early in the morning. Leaders understand the value in offloading the small decisions to others or making decisions in advance so they do not use vital brainpower on the small things. This may include pre-selecting what we wear for the entire week and pre-planning meals. Small decisions can make a big impact on our brain power. We must protect and use it wisely.

The fourth tip to 10X our effectiveness is to partner with others. When we find others in our local area or industry to collaborate with, we are inspired to scale up and duplicate quickly and effectively. Leverage is being able to offer more services to more people. Finding those we can trust and creating a working agreement helps us build an empire faster.

Speaking of an empire, let’s make sure our empires are protected. Those in our close inner circle impact and affect our leadership. If we have to continue to correct, give excuses for, or cover up the bad habits of others, our empire will not grow as quickly and will be exposed to threats. Let’s take into account the relationships we currently have on our teams and in our circle. Great leaders only have positive people who are building them up and speaking life into them. Let’s teach those around us what positivity looks like and lead by example.

Finally, listen to the real questions. Listening is an art form in itself. Most people would rather hear themselves speak than listen. The problem is we never learn when we’re talking. If someone on our team is asking questions, we should work to understand what they are really saying.

What is the real challenge?

How can I truly help?

How can I teach them how to handle this in the future so it does not become a question again?

Most of the time, when someone comes to us with a question, it is a sign that we have not taught them properly. We must understand where training and leadership are lacking and fill the gaps. Questions are a sign there is more to teach. They also provide the opportunity to train others how to solve the problems themselves. Leaders ask great questions and when we ask a team member how they would handle something, we allow for them to share their opinions and observations. This is vital to empowering them and modeling the behavior of problem-solving.

As we move forward every day and continue to build our leadership skills, we need to take into account our daily effectiveness. Here is an impactful exercise: For every great decision we choose to take an obstacle and turn it into an opportunity, we give ourselves a “+1.” In turn, we give ourselves a “-1” if we could have done a better job.

At the end of the day, we add our scores, and if we are positive, we celebrate the wins. If we have a few negatives, we choose to reflect on the opportunities and their purpose should the situation come up again. Every day is a new day and this exercise helps us reach a new level of leadership.

Here’s to better decision-making, better alignments, and better experiences.