7 Ways to be an intentional leader
What is Leadership Intentionality? Have you ever been asked what Leadership is? Better still an even more challenging question is:
‘How could you go and do Leadership right now?’
At RLC, we have been asked this many times in workshops and with Leadership teams worldwide, and we are amazed at some of the answers we collect:
Communication
Send an email about the future
Write a newsletter
Call a meeting
Yet to do Leadership properly, there is an easy way, a simple filter change, in our outlook – it is Leadership Coaching.
In 2021 this has become more important than ever before. Today we want to ask you a question-
Are you intentional with your Leadership in 2021?
WHY
What could you do?
We have 7 Daily Leadership Principles at RLC. They were designed through in-depth research, years of experience serving clients of all shapes and sizes. They provide for us today, a set of start points, they will show you what you could be doing with your Leadership at any moment.
The last 12 months have been challenging for many businesses that we face organizational fatigue at the start of 2021. Have you ever started a brand-new year where the people in teams report more significant increases in fatigue, anxiety, worry, emotional trauma and many more things, like never before?
We are experiencing the world as a global community, and all of its challenges, for the first time since the last major catastrophe, which was war. This common ground has left in its wake all sorts of things. Right now, though, at the start of 2021, it has left fatigue all around us.
Our people need our Leaders to stand up and raise their own game, to lead those around them. We need to all stop and look at how we are leading, how we are coaching, how we are working with our people, placing their wellbeing as high on our to-do list, performance, production and other key metrics.
RLC Daily Leadership Principles
Principle 1 Model the Leadership you expect of others tomorrow, today, yourself first.
Ever asked someone to do something, not a task, maybe a project or process. They then look at you not very convinced. The unspoken words in this exchange displayed in the form of dis-belief. Meaning they simply do not believe you, let alone the fact you have asked. Because they have identified that you are asking them to do something you do not even do yourself.
TOP TIP: Want to influence better in a situation like this, model the leadership required, you show you can do it, or understand it – likely outcome is, they would accept and most likely take on the things you talk about, willingly.
Principle 2: Have a story
Not merely about having a vision, a vision is the leader's responsibility and the Leadership Team. To make sure you all know how to tell the story in two specific ways.
Firstly, in the way, that matches the audience you are talking to
Secondly, in chunks with consistency, i.e. Chunks being 30 seconds, a statement, 60 seconds, 90 seconds or a 3-minute story.
Each of you is owning the story in the same way. Do you link the operations of the day-to-day business to the story and ambition at its heart?
Principle 3: Enable your people to act.
When decisions are made, several layers of the organizational structure away from the decision moment seldom work. An example is, your team member is serving the customer, (the point of contact between your customer and your brand). Can decisions be made at the moment within a set of boundaries? Yes or No?
If like in many large companies, there is process, red-tape or barriers in the way, the individual’s ability to do the role you employ them for is impaired.
Enabling your people to act, is spending time, implementing the decision-making ability at the point of contact with your clients or customers, enabling great experiences.
Principle 4: Remove obstacles from the way of the people you serve
In leadership, if you spend time, focussing on this rule, our people will connect and respect you more every day. Why? It is because you are pro-actively putting ‘making their job easier at the top of your daily focus.
Principle 5: Encourage the heart of the organization
Are you like many of us? Do you notice things going wrong before you see things going right?
We are taught from a young age to focus on things going wrong. Example: we are taking a spelling test at school, at the age of 6 or 7. There are ten words to spell, and the teacher reads them out, you write them down, the test gets marked. We then focus on the amount we got wrong rather than celebrating the ones we get right.
Ken Blanchard wrote ‘Catch people doing things right’.
This is as true today as it has ever been. Our ability to see the good takes practice—daily practice at that.
We use SoulFood at RLC, and it follows three simple rules. It must be:
A] Genuine
B] Positive
C] Specific
When you deliver the SoulFood to the individual, we encourage people to ‘Write it, Say it, give it’. That means you write it down first, ask the person for their attention, say it to them, and then give them what you have written down to keep.
Encouraging people takes practice, there are so many things that get in the way each day, operationally, tasks, performance expectations and more.
Great leaders take the time, to notice the good because it inspires hope, beliefs, faith, and harnesses your organisation's culture.
Principle 6: Recruit, retain reward and develop our people
When working with our largest clients, it is one of the most frustrating things to see talented people leave an organization primarily due to the disconnect between the story sold about vision and culture, and the execution gap.
Each one of these is a vital step we can take to be intentional about our leadership.
Be intentional about your recruitment
Recruit to the DNA of the person your organization needs
Match it to Culture, beliefs
Values and behaviours
Skills and competency
Be intentional about reward systems
Reward the right things
Things that get measured and rewarded appropriately get done
Be intentional about retention
Align salaries
Commit to the people reviews, well-being chats, support tools and more
Be intentional about yours and others development
Support your team with coaching
Support your team with training
Take the time to improve mindset and skills
Pay for it
Principle 7: Execute the plan
When we researched rule 7, we found no business said, write a plan, always had one. In 2018 RLC made an observation of all the effective programs being run at that time. [7 large corporate programs / Small Business Programs and Coaching] there was a problem with execution.
Execution is about the plans you have made – execute them and learn
It is about people commitment – show up in the meetings you book
It is about execution to best self
It is up to you
Each of these leadership principles is stretching, designed to help you be intentional with your leadership. To do the things that make the difference.
Linking these principles to 2022 and beyond for Wellbeing.
Let’s take these seven daily principles and look at WHY they work with well-being and mindfulness too.
LINK 1: If you are modelling strength only on not showing vulnerability, empathy or compassion, you may find that people will mirror what you are modelling.
TIP: Be honest and transparent at where you are at right now. The small business arena does this better than anyone else. Be candid about what and how you are feeling. You will notice that others are more likely to do the same if you do it first.
LINK: Our ability to recognize the energy levels of the people we lead will become truly important this year. The fuel gauges of our minds have been challenged immensely. FUEL GAUGES AT RLC: Spiritual / Emotional / Physical
TIP: The more you make available the time for our people to stop, reflect, consider the more you will find they will remain connected to the mission of the organization.
LINK: When people feel under pressure, are under extreme anxiety or have built up levels of anxiety that are too high, creating space for people to deal with this is vital.
TIP: The action here is to seek help. It is easier to do this if you have the right support tools around you and the teams. Stop and assess what else you could do, to support the teams you lead?
LINK: Wellbeing and Mindfulness may still seem an obstacle for many. A taboo subject that makes it a conversation that people will choose not to have.
TIP: Take the time to connect with our people and make space for conversation.
LINK: The body has three critical functions it relies upon to work: Breathing, the Brain and the Heart.
The heart here impacts many things about our people. Their beliefs, their attitude, their outlook and what they are expecting to happen.
TIP: Take the time to encourage the team you lead. Spend time having candid conversations about the challenges you are facing. Inspire hope, through story, action, SoulFood and successes.
LINK: if we know that people will have levels of fatigue, that has compounded throughout 2020 and is being carried into 2021. Provide ways to keep your people engaged with the mission you are on.
TIP: Support conversations that are one-to-one and regular will help keep our people close. At RLC, we work to a framework that prioritizes Culture, Beliefs and behaviour alongside a 24-month track. Everyday conversations about this, keep people in the right space to drive their growth and progress.
LINK: have an execution plan, have a mindfulness plan, for well-being and be ready to support your team and peers with the help needed.
TIP: include your team in the process of working out what help is needed and start today.
Reminding people that rest is rest, recovery is active movement, and our nutrition will affect us for good or bad. Our beliefs and self-esteem need encouragement – the better and more open they will be too good stories about what is going to be required.
At RLC, we talk about a principle called iCHAT, a simple short discussion focusing on asking two core questions.
Is there anything you need me to alter, adapt or change to support you better?
Are you okay?
iCHAT
Simply is having a clear conversation with the structure to support
i -Be ready, prepare, plan and be aware of the other
C- Connect, understand the situation, no assumption
H -Have a reason
A -Ask questions and Listen
T- Take action, even if is only encouragement.
There is one thing about leadership we all know to be considered correct. It has to be practised daily. This blog's goal and objective are to give you some leadership rules that if you applied them consistently would deliver leadership intentionality.
ARE YOU BEING INTENTIONAL WITH YOUR LEADERSHIP? The answer to the question will be found in the choices you make daily.
As you work through these leadership rules, find ways to add incremental improvement to your leadership, one thing at a time. If you need help with any of the areas above, reach out to us at RLC direct. Join the Leadership Principles program.
Many of our clients around the world apply these rules through our Best Version Business Framework. This framework helps you map out the future, even in uncertain times. It builds your culture and lays out the foundations that will enable and develop your business.
If you want to build your framework with us – get in touch at info@rlc-global.com
