Leadership - Empowering Habits

Posted on June 06, 2022 by Lana Sheppard, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

Being a leader is not what a lot of people think it is. There is a certain romanticism that many people associate with leadership. They think it means being fearless, in charge, and the ultimate authority within a power structure. Thus, leadership tends to appeal to people who enjoy power; often this results in leaders who wield said power unwisely to such an extent that they – and sometimes the company they represent – crash and burn.

Just as common is the unwilling leader is the leader who has a leadership role forced upon them by their organization. This person may have been selected to become a leader because of good work they have done, or because of their loyalty to the company, but the decision is usually not made on the basis of whether or not they would actually make a good leader.

Just like programming, accounting, and project management, leadership is a skill; one that you can have a natural affinity for or one that you can develop and cultivate. While this skill is an innate trait for some, it’s also possible to train and develop this skill in those who may not have been born with a predisposition to lead.In this short report, you’ll learn five habits of empowering leaders.

Remain Calm

One of the single and most powerful habits of a truly empowering leader is to stay calm no matter what is going on. What is important to understand is that it is the leader’s job to set the “tone” for the office. A leader’s followers will always look to them for the appropriate response to any given situation.

For example, imagine that you have just learned your company is in serious debt, and that there are going to need to be lay-offs. You have two options now: one is to panic, shout, and potentially even blame your staff (this is an example of poor EQ, which will be discussed in a moment). The other option is to remain calm and collected and deliver the news honestly but optimally.
Your choice here is extremely crucial because it will define the way that your team reacts as well. When you are in a financial crisis as a company, the last thing you need is for all your staff to panic, which negatively impacts both the wellbeing of the team and the quality and quantity of work.

This is why it’s the leader’s job to remain calm and to communicate to their team that it is okay to also be calm in the situation. Incidentally, this is also one of the traits considered to be an ‘alpha trait’ – the ability to control your own emotions in any situation and make the decision that is best for the group as a whole.

Make Quick Decisions

Already we can see that the genuinely empowering leader is nothing like the traditional notion of leadership as a power-hungry, self-serving individual that we discussed at the start of this report. As discussed, uncontrolled emotions create ill feelings, which are not conducive to a highly productive and happy team.

In addition to remaining calm in any situation for the health of the company and the well-being of the team, it is also a leader’s job to take responsibility when things go wrong. It is this requirement that prevents many people from becoming natural leaders.

Let’s step back for a moment and look at a mundane, domestic example. Imagine that you are shopping for food with your partner when they ask which flavour of soup you want for dinner. A typical response is to say, “It doesn’t matter to me.”

What does this mean? It usually means that you want the other person to be happy, so they choose. BUT in doing this, you have just shifted responsibility onto that person. And the real reason might be that you didn’t want to make that decision because you didn’t want them to be unhappy with your decision! Now it is up to them to choose a soup.

Perhaps you can relate or imagine how this might play out. But ultimately, that desire to be “liked” or “in the good books” has placed more pressure and stress on the other person AND made you seem indecisive and a weak leader.

This very same thing plays out in the office every time you decide on purchasing, branding, or marketing. We hum and haw often because we don’t want to take responsibility, and we don’t want to commit to what might turn out to be a wrong decision. But strong leaders NEED to take responsibility, and they need to take decisive action to inspire their team.

Empathize

One of the essential traits of any great leader is emotional intelligence or “EQ.” This term refers to your ability to understand other people’s emotions – and, therefore, motivations. As a leader, this will give you the ability to understand why someone might be motivated to complete the work you set or why they might not feel inclined to complete it at all.

Likewise, it means that you can better choose the correct language and phrasing to get the desired response out of someone. Language is fundamental because the tone in which you deliver instructions can completely change how people perceive your request and impact their results.
Emotional intelligence effectively amounts to sensitivity to the thoughts, feelings, and abilities within the workplace and is something that can be constantly improved and reflected upon.

Explain

Good communication is born partly out of this emotional intelligence. One example of this can be seen when choosing how to deliver instructions. Someone with poor emotional intelligence might command their followers to do as they say: to “get on with it and not ask questions.” But this tends to rub people up the wrong way because it doesn’t make them feel like an integral and valued part of the team. While you will take responsibility for mistakes, that doesn’t mean removing autonomy or credit from your followers.

Additionally, when you only give direct instructions, you prevent your team from being agile and adaptable to the situation. If you’ve told them to complete a particular task in a specific way and a problem arises, then they are going to have to return to you to get further instruction on how to proceed. This forces you to become a micromanager.

The simple solution is to provide a “why” or an explanation. That means that instead of saying, “Go and get all the files on our recent clients,” you say, instead, “I’m looking for information on Mrs. Doberman. Can you please call up the files on our recent clients?”

Now, if the information is missing for whatever reason, the staff member can look for other ways to retrieve that information before they come back to you to ask more questions. You’ve empowered them to work flexibly, instantly giving them more control over their work.

Speak With Conviction

While many of these tips have addressed leadership styles and approaches, some more specific aspects are also to consider. For instance: the way you speak. Do you command attention when you give instructions? Do you talk so that others wish to listen? Again, this is something that many people will possess inherently, but this trait can also train it.

Usually, when we notice someone delivering a highly engaging speech, we will see that they use large gesticulations and hand movements. This is effective because the actions show that their body language concurs with what they are saying, making us believe it more. At the same time, those more prominent movements are more attention-grabbing and will help to make the person seem exciting and dynamic.

Try to always speak from a place of emotion. Think about what you are saying and how it makes you feel, and channel that so that your whole body comes alive with what you are saying.
At the same time, try to slow down what you are saying. We all tend to speak quickly, but by slowing down ever so slightly, you can appear more confident, more intelligent, and even better spoken! Try leaving the occasional silence between sentences. When you do this, you will demonstrate immense confidence and mastery: you are making your audience wait on what you are going to say next!

These tips can all help a great deal, but they still won’t be easy for everyone to develop naturally.
That’s why one last tip is to consider taking up acting classes or even doing standup comedy! Doing so can train you to become accustomed to speaking in front of large audiences while remaining calm. Meanwhile, the acting can show you how to project your voice with power and confidence and make full use of the space.
But really, the best way to sound confident, passionate, and in charge? To feel that way and believe in the message that you are delivering.
If you can practice these five habits, you will develop a highly engaging leadership style: you will be engaging, dynamic, confident, and someone that others feel they can trust. What’s more, you will be protecting them so that they can do their very best work.