Five Ways to Update Your Leadership Style

It’s the new year and what better time to reflect on our leadership style — how much is habit? Are these habits still serving us and those we lead? In our 24/7 plugged-in world, it’s easy to fall back on habits that may have been learned years or even decades ago. It’s crucial that leaders reflect on the ways they are choosing to lead – by questioning what is habit and, of those habits, what is still effective and what needs retooling.

Certain approaches to leadership were great for certain times, certain organizations and certain people. But those times, organizations and people are changing. Consider the following five tips to refresh your approach to sharing your vision, evaluating performance, developing talent and maintaining a collaborative work environment of continuous improvement. 

1. Articulate a captivating vision – and how you see each team member as part of that vision. This is taking the “shared vision” idea one step further to include and align your individual team members into that vision of success. Think through how each person plays a role – and paint them a picture at your next one-on-one.

2. Ditch the annual (only) evaluation. With more frequent one-on-one discussions around performance, real-time feedback can be given related to short- and long-term goals, skill development, project outcomes, and metrics. Remember to articulate how an individual’s or team’s success (or not) affects the rest of the organization.

3. Reimagine individual development plans. While group learning certainly has its uses, there is a world of individual learning options that show high effectiveness rates. Why? Because individual development plans consider the employee’s baseline skills, interests and goals. Provide a framework. Help individuals assess opportunities, strengths, career values and interests, then work with them to assign new responsibilities and work that aligns with their career goals. Think outside current job descriptions, and instead consider the long-term growth goals of the organization – the skills that will be needed in the future.

4. Create an environment for people to speak up. It’s vital to reinforce the upward sharing of information and suggestions. Leaders are often unaware how much courage it takes to share constructive feedback with a manager or others in leadership roles.

5. Create career empowerment while building accountability. Find the balance between new responsibilities and project work and ensuring your team members know how success will be defined and measured. Be available and proactive in asking how you can help, but step aside once they have the resources (and understand the parameters) to help them launch their next career development step.