Dear Entrepreneur – 9 Essential Habits to Shape Yourself as a Leader

Every effective leader has an exclusive routine with key habits and processes they live by daily. While most of them have heard about Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, some prefer to devise their models of shaping themselves as leaders. They create and develop a personalized set of habits that guide how their days go, how they handle things, and how they can maximize productivity.

That said, what are some of the essential habits and practices that define great leaders? Here are 9 patterns of behavior that every leader should adopt to make them more successful in the long run.

1. Take Time to Plan

A great leader is organized, and he keeps it together. He formulates, organizes, and plans time. Of course, combing through countless scenarios to find the best actionable solution is no easy feat. It requires analytical thinking. But to make the process a bit less overwhelming, plan in a way that aligns your passions with your thinking. Lead with your head, and your heart. Also, give clear responsibilities to everyone in the team.

2. Inspire Others

However great a decision-maker you are, it is worth noting that you won’t succeed if you don’t inspire those around you. As such, always value everyone’s perspective and give actionable feedback that improves performance.

It’s not just your vision that will build your business or organization for whatever future goal or purpose you hold dear. It is how you express your vision and how you inspire and bring everyone else on board. Of importance is how you excite people to be equally engaged and uplifted at being part of something bigger and better. Something backed with strong beliefs and values that count.

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3. Lead By Example

A good leader helps others grow and achieve. The one who excels serves both as a coach and a teacher in pursuit of specific set goals. Don’t just delegate work and sit back waiting for your juniors to accomplish them. Be the handyman, the one who gets his hands dirty. Someone who works side by side with everyone else. It takes working with individuals to understand their position, distinct needs, abilities, and goals. This will help you plan better, make decisions that matter. Therefore, before anything else, work with people to help them uncover what they do best and ways to strengthen their assets.

4. A Persuasive Communicator

There is no doubt that most leader can argue their case through stellar and persuasive communication. This is a precious habit that helps them make decisions and steer everything in the right direction. A persuasive communicator has a knack for imparting the right messages at the right time.

Leaders strive to deliver messages that inspire, motivate, reassure, and, when required, direct. Their ability to stir an otherwise idle organization into action with their communication skills is what contributes to their long-term success.

5. Self-Awareness

Great leaders are self-assured, confident, and highly assertive. Other individuals are naturally drawn to them as they impart a bold sense of self-confidence. This trait helps leaders not to shy away from challenges, and during the hard times, it helps them be mindful and remain aware of every situation before they commit to a specific course of action.

Developing situational awareness helps leaders see the bigger picture, and anticipate problems before they occur. This ability to foresee and provide suggestions for potential problems is invaluable to any leader. It also helps them recognize opportunities that other people ignore or don’t consider, and is exactly what distinguishes them from the rest.

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6. Reward Achievement

Recognizing the efforts of others is an equally important habit that great leaders have in common. This only makes sense since no one likes to see their hard work wasted or go unrecognized. A leader is quick to praise and slow to criticize. He calls out individuals who make remarkable contributions to a business or an organization, and they do so in a timely and appropriate manner.

While recognizing such persons, the reward could be a tangible reward or public acknowledgment. This shows that a leader delivers what he or she promises when a goal is met.

7. Supportive

Another quality that defines great leaders is their genuine concern for the welfare of those who make up their organization. They offer guidance through myriads of challenges and are always on the lookout for solutions that helps foster long-term success. When you support another individual, say an employee, come up with a modified work schedule to aid them in getting through personal challenges and you don’t burden others in the process, you’re supporting both the employee and the organization.

In a nutshell, identify the hidden strength of everyone, use their strength, outsource their weakness, and stand by your team during problems.

8. Determined to Achieve Success

If you are determined to achieve success, are willing to take the risks, and still push through amidst challenges, then you possess one of the qualities of a true leader. A true leader sees things to completion and he or she pays attention to what may seem insignificant to others while keeping a larger picture in mind. Such leaders factor in everything that helps them achieve their set objectives. They do not give up even when everything else seems to be failing.

Moreover, they encourage innovation while welcoming ideas and supporting those that are aligned with their overall objective. They take on more responsibility, and they step out of their comfort zone to maximize performance and better the results.

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9. Accountability

Leaders who are accountable lead the way for teams to follow. They are defined by how they own their actions for accomplishing a goal or assignment. If approached appropriately, being accountable can allow a leader as well as his team to produce positive, measurable results for a business or an organization.

Being an accountable leader demands honesty and courage. It doesn’t mean blaming people. It means you own what you do and what you need to get other people to do. Its benefits include:

• Improved performance
• Better participation and employee involvement
• Increased sense of competency
• Better commitment to work
• Increased innovation and creativity
• Higher satisfaction at work

And like a true leader, in your quest for standing out from the crowd, always ensure that you are ready to lead and that you have chosen the right team. Share credit and reward others’ successes as you also focus on building your own personal strengths to lead successfully.