4-2-2 These intentional changes will make you a better leader

Hi!

I heard some great news this past week that Belfast was named the happiest city in the UK! A title like that doesn’t come about easily. It takes time, consistent habits and contributions from the whole community. The same can be said when you’re building your business. Hopefully, the simple steps below will help you to do this.

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Small Steps = Big Wins

Many people think, that to reach a world-class level, you need to set big goals and take huge steps forward to succeed. However, the reality is the exact opposite. World-class performers get to the top by breaking down their big goals into bite-sized steps.

This ensures that they’re:

• Never overwhelmed.

• Never trying to learn too much at once.

• Focused on the process, not the goal.

This allows them to make steady and consistent progress towards their goal. It’s no different when it comes to the world of business either. Break your long term goals into small achievable steps.

Your Thoughts Are Your Future

The way you think about yourself, will become your reality. Every world-class performer believes 100% in themselves and always have confidence that they will succeed. So, if you want to reach a world-class level in business, you aren’t going to get there by having negative self-talk.

Which is why it’s important to focus heavily on talking to yourself in a positive and genuine way. That simple shift will fuel more success than you think. The truth is, the way you see yourself in your head today, is the person you will become in 5 years time.

Can You Handle Boredom?

To reach a world-class level in anything, you will need to face boredom. All the top performers in the world treat dealing with boredom as a very important skill that they have to master.

The same goes for business too, if you want to reach that top 1% in your industry, boredom can’t be an obstacle. You need to learn how to deal with it, how to embrace it and how to thrive in it.

Avoiding Failure = No Growth

It’s every human’s natural instinct to try and avoid failing. Truthfully, in business it’s even more frowned upon to fail. However, nobody reaches a world-class level in sport or in business without failing countless times.

So if you want to reach that world-class level too, you need to let go of your fear of failure. Fail fast, learn quick and grow even faster.

No Superstars

In all the greatest sports teams in the world, there are plenty of players that are at a superstar level. However, just because they’re a superstar doesn’t mean that they’re entitled to any special treatment. In fact, the reason these teams have such a great dynamic is because everyone is treated equally.

So, if you want to cultivate a world-class team, everyone needs to be treated fairly and equally, regardless of whether they’re your top performer or not! Otherwise, the team dynamic will crumble.

Play The Long Game

Many business leaders will cultivate their team but then when things don’t go smoothly from the get-go, they start to panic. However, 9 times out of 10, if you hire the right people, there’s no need to panic.

The reality is, the best relationships take time. They don’t happen overnight. Yes, there may be some tension or awkwardness at the start but with time, this will become a distant memory.

So, if you want to cultivate a world-class team, give the team time to grow and don’t rush them into building strong relationships.

Build Trust Before Tough Feedback

Many business leaders make the common mistake of giving tough feedback before they’ve built a strong foundation of trust. Resulting in:

• Hurt feelings.

• Potential long-term grudges.

• Loss of respect for the leader.

The reality is, as a leader, you can give tough feedback but only once you’ve taken the time to build a strong and trusting relationship with that team member. Otherwise, that tough feedback will be doing more harm than good.

Every manager I played under gave me tough feedback. However, none of them did it before they had built trust with me. That’s what made them world-class leaders.

One Fight At A Time

As a business leader, there’s no hiding from the fact that part of your role is being someone who can put out fires. However, it’s not about putting out all the fires at once.

The best leaders in the world will look at all the problems they need to solve. They’ll work out which one is the most urgent and they’ll focus solely on that one issue. Allowing them to give 100% attention and effort to that issue.

If you want to be a world-class leader, don’t make the mistake of juggling too many things at once. Order things by level of importance and tackle each issue one by one.

Small habits really do make a difference- I know that from experience. And when it gets tough, don’t be afraid to lean on the people around you. Knowing this is part of what sets good leaders apart from great leaders. So go out there and be a great leader!

Have a great weekend and keep getting after it.

Paul