Lead Better Now: 3 Simple Shifts

As leaders, we hold a pivotal role in shaping our team's culture. While significant achievements like a big promotion or exceeding shareholder expectations are important, it's the consistent, intentional, and often overlooked small acts that have the most significant impact on our team's long-term success.

For example, if each of us implemented these three simple practices consistently, our people would love their jobs more and produce better work. The examples given below can help create a better culture for our team starting today. 

01: Connect The Work To The Mission

Mission connection is a key attribute of job satisfaction and a significant indicator of effective leadership. My worst moments as a leader have been when I failed to connect a person’s job to the organization's mission, and my best moments have been when this connection was made well. If we, as leaders, can help our people see the organizational impact of their work, it brings significant meaning to the tasks and projects they’re executing. The responsibilities of the day are no longer just about passing time; instead, each person understands their contribution to the whole, making us all feel more purposeful and integral to the organization's success. 

We can each take a step on this one right now. Separate a sheet of paper into three vertical columns. List out all of your team members on the left column, put their role/responsibilities in the center column, and the right column, write a few bullet points about how that person/role contributes to the mission of your organization or team. Share these words with them this week, and remind them of this connection moving forward. Consistently connect the team's work and individual efforts to the organization's mission.

02: Empower Decision Making

The fatal flaw in many leaders is a desire for control. It is a quality that helped us get to where we are, but control can become an unhealthy structure that our teams learn to hate. Mature leaders discern the mission-critical decisions that only they can and should make, and then build a sense of ownership for their employees (or volunteers, if in the not-for-profit space) by delegating the rest of the substantive decisions to others. There are hundreds of decisions made each day in whatever size team you oversee, and most of them can and should be made by other people. Will the outcome be precisely as you would do it? Nope, but that’s ok. Different is good—maybe even better. This empowerment aspect of decision-making should make us feel more confident and trusting in our teams.

Even today, we could each rattle off 10-20 decisions that we are currently making that could easily be delegated, serving as an essential empowerment opportunity for trustworthy team members. Let’s make a list and define who should lead the decision-making process moving forward. For some on your team, it may be best to give them the authority to make the decision, but also surround them with a team to provide input before they make it. You know your team and how to set them up for success. Share the new responsibility or opportunity with them this week and offer to be available if they want input. Ultimately, it's their decision to make. 

03: Express Gratitude

This one is so important. Phrases like the ones below can have a profound impact on morale and job satisfaction. They also make us, as leaders, feel more appreciative and connected to our teams.

“I appreciate you.”

“Your input was invaluable in that meeting.”

“You’re bringing great insight and energy to our team right now.”

Similarly, withholding such encouragement can make a person feel unseen and unappreciated, two qualities that quickly motivate someone to start investigating the LinkedIn jobs page. Our words of appreciation must always be honest—people see through fake platitudes in a second—and the words should also be generous. Withholding gratitude and kindness is a quick way to limit productivity and quality of work; it’s also just unkind.

Today would be a great day to start. Each person on our team may appreciate gratitude differently. Some may prefer it in a handwritten note, others are good with a kind text message, and others may receive it best if acknowledged in front of the whole team (this can be a fantastic way to celebrate a person whose work is usually behind the scenes, or someone who doesn’t get much public praise from clients, etc). Regardless of how we do it, we can put a plan in place today to share intentional, truthful words of gratitude with each of our team members over the next week. For instance, you could acknowledge a team member's hard work in a project meeting, send a personalized email expressing your appreciation, or even arrange a small team celebration to recognize their efforts. 

Simple, tangible steps that can make a huge difference in how our people feel about their value to us and the organization. We can make these tools sustainable by scheduling a “3 Simple Practices” repeating reminder in our calendars every few months. Eventually, the need for reminders will fade away, as connecting work to the mission, empowering decision-making, and expressing gratitude become habits and foundational attributes of our leadership.