Why Lead by Example?
As a business coach, it’s been my privilege to partner with several successful professional leaders breaking through their limitations with accelerated success strategies.
Thankfully In my 16 years in Fortune 500 engineering & sales roles, I’ve had the pleasure to work with a few leaders. Said leaders made me feel like our work was a purpose-driven mission to bring great solutions to our internal and external customers.
They carried themselves in a way that made each of us feel like a vital part of the team. We were all working together – driving the leader’s vision from idea to reality. As a result, we passionately pursued the best results possible and celebrated proudly together each milestone.
This resulted in true win-win outcomes. I learned to push my limitations to grow my skills plus I earned commissions and big awards like stock options and President’s Club.
As a team, we drove productivity to record levels, created global best practices, and outstanding revenue growth which contributed greatly to our organization. It’s a wonderful experience that I know is sadly not a common experience.
Gallup Organization Employee Engagement Survey
A recent Gallup Organization Employee Engagement survey found that a shocking 87% of employees are not engaged at work. The survey also found that companies with highly engaged workforces outperform their peers by 147% in earnings per share.
This is a costly problem that leaders have to address to achieve growth in the rapidly changing world. Gallup found that highly engaged teams have four times the odds of success compared with the least engaged team.
Just like sports teams, it’s tough to predict success just from picking the best employees for your team. While team dynamics and organizational culture definitely influence how engaged people are at work, you have a huge influence as a leader.
People are watching their leaders and rising stars in their organization for cues in how to respond to challenges, resolve problems, and even how to treat co-workers. Through their actions, they can become a person others want to follow and support or inspire people to leave the organization.
Here are 10 ways you can lead by example today:
1. Take responsibility. Blame costs you your credibility, keeps team members on the defensive, and ultimately sabotages real growth, morale, and motivation.
2. Be truthful. Inaccurate representation affects everyone. Show what honesty and integrity look like within your organization.
3. Be courageous. walk through fire (a crisis) first. Take calculated risks that demonstrate a commitment to a larger purpose. Teach others how to do the same through mentorship and training.
4. Acknowledge failure. It makes it OK for your team to do the same and defines failure as part of the process of becoming extraordinary. You often learn more when you reflect on why things didn’t work than when they did.
5. Be persistent. Build up your resilience to stress and challenges by taking action. Go over, under, or around any hurdles to show that obstacles don’t define your company or team.
6. Create solutions. Don’t dwell on problems; instead, ask your team for solutions and give your ideas afterward.
7. Listen. Ask open-ended questions. Seek to understand. You’ll receive valuable insights and set a tone that encourages healthy dialogue.
8. Delegate liberally. Encourage an atmosphere in which people can focus on their core strengths. It’s far easier for someone to work on mastery than learning whole new behaviors.
9. Take care of yourself. Exercise, don’t overwork, take breaks throughout the day. A balanced team, mentally and physically, is a successful team. Model it, encourage it, support it!
10. Roll up your sleeves. Like Alexander the Great leading his men into battle, you’ll inspire greatness in your company.