5 Steps to Boost Leadership Effectiveness

Simply put, leadership is the art of winning hearts and minds to achieve a common purpose. Leadership effectiveness is a goal that many people have, but often we don’t realise that leaders must be agile and able to respond to change promptly to stay at the top of their game.

5 key strategies to enhance your leadership effectiveness include:

1. Know your industry and competitors inside out

This might seem like an obvious one, but it is really key. Leaders need to be able to anticipate what is going to happen next; whether it’s changes to the business environment, changes to customer’s needs or wants, changes to internal processes, or even changes made by competitors. Being reactive to these changes can even be ‘make or break’, so having the knowledge and ability to make the relevant decisions based on these factors is really important.

2. Take a strategic approach to leadership effectiveness

Building on that last point is having a business strategy, with clear aims and objectives.  “Where do we want to be in the next __ years, and how are we going to get there?”

Building this strategy requires the knowledge and agility mentioned in the last point, and a team that is on board with said vision. The team can be an important influence when building this strategy as they are often “on the front line” and experience/understand your customers along with how best to meet their needs.

“Leaders need to effectively communicate the company’s vision, lead their teams, and facilitate change to retain employees, satisfy customers, and enhance productivity.”

– Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio. Forbes 2023.

3. Create a team of intrapreneurs

Sure, we all know that an entrepreneur is an individual who tends to set up their own business, facing the risks financially in the hope of a renewable business proposition and profits.

But what’s an intrapreneur? This was a term that I was a bit naïve to until a few years ago, but simply put, it is integrating that entrepreneur mindset, internally within your established business. So what does that actually entail?

• Allowing creativity
• Encouraging collaborative working
• Inspiring your team to come up with new ideas and solutions

Having a team that often has innovative thinking helps your business have effective solutions and, therefore have the toolkit in place to stay one step ahead of change.

4. Maintain focus on the goals set in place

Of course, there are going to be setbacks along the way, but the best teams have the persistence to find solutions to overcome these challenges to reach what they set out to do.

If the leader is engaged and focused on the steps required to reach the goals, offering support where needed, their team are likely to be successful. But sometimes, leaders are required to focus on the current status of projects rather than what’s coming next. This could suggest there might not be much point looking at the next steps if the previous ones have yet to be achieved.

5. Create a good relationship with people

It’s all well and good having a good relationship with your team – I mean they are the people carrying out the day to day duties, your best asset.

But what about the other stakeholders? Suppliers, Customers, any associates you work with, all influence business and contribute to the overall success.

Take customers for example… a key stakeholder, they have an interest in your business, purchasing your goods and services. In addition to this support, they help guide the business based on their purchasing patterns and even influence the community around them.

Customers are the best advocates for your business, I’m sure that’s a saying that you’re all aware of… and it’s true. If customers have had a bad experience somewhere they are likely to tell their friends and family and take their future customs elsewhere.

So taking the time to build a strong relationship and service with every customer has a huge role in ensuring business prosperity.

So to sum it up, businesses perform the best when the leaders are in tune with their team as much as possible, creating an environment where teams can challenge and “think outside of the box.”

Achieve leadership effectiveness in your business

For almost 50 years, Leadership Trust has empowered leaders to excel through experiential learning and leadership development. Our proven methods support CEOs, managers, and entrepreneurs in honing their skills for success. To find out more about how to lead your team effectively, contact us on info@leadershiptrust.co.