As an entrepreneur, your greatest asset isn’t your capital, your product or even your ideas—it’s your team.
"The most valuable resource you have is the people you surround yourself with. If you inspire them, empower them and lead them with vision, there’s no limit to what you can achieve together."
Leadership is not a title. It’s a decision. And every entrepreneur reading this has the power to lead at a higher level—if you commit to growth. Leadership can be learned and practiced. However, not many entrepreneurs take on the task of true leadership. Why is that? Because real leaders are here to serve.
It's not enough to have a position of authority and to exercise control. That's not leadership, and doesn't inspire greatness. Leadership is all about influence; to influence someone, you must understand them. And that's why the most effective leaders aren’t the loudest in the room—they're the best listeners.
You can become the leader your team is craving—one who takes initiative, solves problems, increases productivity and takes your company to the next level.
Foster conscious connections
Our society faces a vacancy in human connections—in communities, homes and the workplace. People want autonomy, but they also want to be seen, heard and valued.
We're wired for connection—it's one of our six essential human needs that drive every decision we make. Sometimes, as leaders, we get so focused on our job that we start to feel like sales, traffic, branding and revenue should be our most important focus. You can’t ignore these things, but if you focus first on creating a company culture where employees are heard, valued and aligned with a common vision, the other things will come naturally. Fostering connection in the workplace will increase motivation, productivity, innovation and cooperation.
Over half of employees in the United States report feeling burned out, and quiet quitting is becoming a workplace pandemic. The cure for burnout is engagement.
Some ideas for increasing connection:
- Encourage honest communication—Employees will thrive when they feel safe to be vulnerable. Allow opportunities for teams to give honest or even critical feedback and listen with humility. Give space for employees to ask questions, seek help and admit to mistakes. Celebrate effort, not just outcomes, and treat mistakes as stepping stones toward growth.
- Provide frequent and sincere recognition—When employees do things well, take note. To be effective, feedback should be frequent, sincere, specific and preferably in public. As humans, we respond far better to positive reinforcement than criticism. Use that to your advantage and motivate your team with recognition.
- Share a common purpose—Teams bond when working toward a shared goal. As humans, we feel drive and fulfillment when we are striving toward something bigger than ourselves. Your employees might show up at work for a paycheck, but if they are contributing to a greater purpose, they will go the extra mile, stay late, come up with their own ideas and drive productivity and growth.
- Encourage peer-to-peer support systems—Build systems for employees and teams to connect with each other. You can do this with buddy systems for onboarding new team members, mentorship programs, cross-functional project teams and company events that go beyond work.
Honor unique gifts
The heart of conscious leadership is creating a culture that truly honors one another’s unique gifts.
Instead of micro-managing your team, your job is to figure out what each member of your team is really good at and leverage those skills to reach your collective potential. Empower your employees to use their own unique skills and talents to further your common goal.
Honoring your team's gifts will not only make your company more innovative and productive, but it will also help your employees feel seen and valued. Employees who feel valued stick around and make meaningful contributions.
When hiring, instead of looking for the most impressive resume, seek out team members who show a willingness to learn, a desire to contribute and a track record of collaboration. It might sound counterintuitive to pass on a standout resume, but it is much easier to teach skills than to try to get an abrasive personality to blend with an otherwise flexible and engaged team.
Lead by going first
The most important thing you can do as a conscious leader is to focus on developing your own mindset, attitude and communication skills.
Leadership is an inside-out job. It starts with you.
As a leader, you are responsible for the energy you bring to a space, and your own actions and attitude will drive the company culture.
Do you want a company with open and effective communication? That means that you have to lead the way by asking good questions, listening without judgment and communicating expectations clearly.
Do you want employees to take chances and be willing to make mistakes? Then be ready to admit to your own mistakes and take steps to make repairs and learn from your failures.
If you want teams that take initiative and work hard to achieve goals, you have to lead with certainty. If you are confident in your vision and your company’s purpose, your employees will feel that.
When Howard Shultz returned to head up Starbucks in 2008, the company was in trouble. Not only was the economy in a recession, but Starbucks' stock price had dropped by 50%, and it was bleeding customers.
Shultz reinvigorated the company by uniting employees—from baristas to executives—behind a common vision. He said, "We’re not in the coffee business serving people. We’re in the people business serving coffee."
He slowed down expansion, retrained employees in the art of coffee and made big investments into employee benefits, showing his team that people mattered. His decisive, people-driven actions led to a thriving company with loyal customers and employees.
Certainty and decisiveness are not arrogance. Leaders are confident because they believe in people and in their vision.
"People will follow a leader who has certainty—even if they’re unsure of the destination."
Invest in coaching to improve your leadership
In order to be successful, you have to lead by example, and that means investing in your own development as a leader.
You can learn leadership skills by studying other successful companies and leaders. You can learn over time by trial and error. You can seek out mentors. Or you can invest in professional coaching for leadership development.
It’s not that you can’t learn leadership skills without coaching, but coaching condenses years of learning into months. You’ll get targeted direction and immediate feedback. Executive coaches have already worked with hundreds of other entrepreneurs and have seen what works and what doesn’t. They have an outside perspective that allows them to see your strengths and weaknesses clearly.
A professional executive coach provides accountability as you implement new strategies and skills. Consistency is key to growth, and accountability keeps you consistent. A coach will also be there to observe and celebrate your progress. Just like your employees need positive reinforcement to grow and progress, you need someone cheering you on in your growth journey as well. A coach is a mentor, accountability partner and cheerleader all in one.
An engaged, driven team is crucial to reaching your business potential, and developing your own leadership skills is the most effective way to create a connected company culture. Investing in your growth is an investment in your company’s success.
