Perfecting Your Leadership Style to Create an Effective Team

Leadership from essence is not an event, nor is it a one-time thing you do to make you and your team feel good. In today's business environment, paying attention to market dynamics, competitors, your customers' needs and your internal team takes lots of brain power.
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By: Simone Sloan

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Image Source: ThinkStock

Leadership from essence is not an event, nor is it a one-time thing you do to make you and your team feel good. In today's business environment, paying attention to market dynamics, competitors, your customers' needs and your internal team takes lots of brain power. As you work together and guide your team to support them in managing these segments, goals and objectives are important, but so is the leadership style that you choose to embody to move your team in the right direction.

Your leadership style has an impact on your team's culture. If your work environment promotes an empowered culture where employees are valued for their contributions, not penalized for failing/taking risks, professional development is encouraged and supported, or it is not a stressful place to work, chances are the experience for your employees will extend to the customers' experience with your company.

What is Essence?

Essence is really peeling away the layers to reveal a core. The core is what drives your intentions and purpose with regards to what you do. Your essence helps to present you to your team and customers. It can be a source of inspiration, what makes you authentic, and supports your integrity.

What is Leadership from Essence?

Leadership from essence, from the core, is made up of connection, trust, and ownership.

Creating a connection to yourself and your team is dynamic and rigorous. You're taking a pulse of your team's changes and demands and creating solutions together for ways to improve. It comes to life when you as leader are aligned to what you think, say, and do. It is reflected in your communication of your vision, goals, and expectations. The proof is in the pudding when you can put your team and customers needs first, before your own wants and needs.

Developing trust in yourself and team can take time. As a leader, it is getting out in front regardless of the outcome, knowing your stuff, and communicating the expectations for positive results. It is being OK with the unknown and being comfortable to take your team into to the space of uncertainty, even when the risks are high and you may not know "how" to accomplish it. These risks ultimately lead to some type of breakthrough in your business and for your team.

Ownership is essential. As you make decisions as a leader, really owning the good and bad of those decisions shows your grit. Being responsible for your actions, giving acknowledgements when due, and creating opportunities for others to grow shows elements of your leadership style for others to emulate. Ownership is distinguishing your "why" for being in business and communicating your "why" so others can develop theirs. As you develop your leadership style, you may find there are gaps that may make you feel vulnerable or may create a sense of unease. Gaps are normal. Choosing not to own those gaps by not addressing them and brushing it under the table, is not normal.

As leaders, think about your core, what you are present to as a leader and what inspires you. Consider where you will you choose from as leader, head, heart, or both, to inspire your team to create unexpected breakthroughs in your business. Be authentic and have integrity. How you manage your team or run your business is a reflection of who you are and how you feel at some level.

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Simone Sloan is a Business and Leadership coach, an entrepreneur, pharmacist, mentor, & writer. As a Business and Leadership Coach, Simone brings balance and energy to support her client's professional and personal goals. More information about Simone can be found at www.YourChoiceCoach.com, @AimInspireGrow.

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