Leaders ALWAYS Grow Faster When They Do This

Paul Leon: I'm going to share five leadership tips that always help new leaders become great leaders. Based on interviews with over 20 experts in technology, education, and award-winning presenters, and everyday working people like you and me. There is a secret sauce to being a great leader, and I'm gonna give you those ingredients now. Ask for feedback. It can be really easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need to have all the answers like AI. But even AI has developers. So if it's good enough for AI to need help, then it's good enough for you too. Plus, if you're starting new job or you're joining a new team, this is a real easy way to show people that you're a lifelong learner. Because what kills productivity is staying stagnant. And to avoid this pitfall, encourage a culture of feedback. And that starts with someone modeling. So let that person be you. Work backwards from a goal. It can be easy to get going, start doing task after task after task, but that can leave you feeling aimless, juggling too many projects, and feeling overwhelmed. instead, want to step away from the computer and ask yourself, what does good look like? Then come back and map out the key performance indicators and the milestones or checkpoints, as I like to call them, which is how my video game mind works. Once you have these answers, share them with stakeholders or team. Once that is done, the feeling of building the plane while flying it will start to fade away, helping reduce stress and improving quality of life. Being real, you will still have that feeling from time to time, and that's totally normal. normal. But by developing the skill of achieving goals, this will help you out reduce the feeling of stress and possibly some of that anxiety. Understand how each person wants to be led. You've probably figured out by now that no two people are the same. And if you are struggling, a really great solution is learning a human behavior framework like DiSC It's something I train teams to help build better relationship skills and spot traps kill rapport There one caution I will give With any human behavior framework, use it as a guide, not a gospel. ⁓ I feel it's unhealthy. When people say that DiSC doesn't work, it creates a culture of excuses. be fair, sometimes these people are right. But for the majority of people who learn it and understand that human behavior is a skill and leading people is a skill. disc will help you expedite your leadership skills. But you have to keep of DiSC So can communicate the number one thing people care about most, which is intent. and the more people feel you care, they will care about you, and as a consequence, care about the company you align with. Get clear on goals. Before you ask your team to move fast, make sure they understand the goal, priority, and what success looks like. Confusion slows teams down. Clarity speeds teams up. Even though it can take a little longer to get there. And that's okay sometimes. Have structured one-on-ones. New leaders often avoid difficult conversations because they don't want to damage the relationship. But forget boundaries are a non-negotiable in business, and structured one-on-ones help avoid damaging conversations. If someone is missing expectations or acting out of alignment, Or creating friction on the team, address it early, directly, respectfully, and privately. Great leaders do not avoid tension, they leverage it to benefit their team. Click on the playlist here for more leadership experts that I hang out with, and I'll see you over there.