Discover the leadership habits you need to take your leadership to the next level. Many leaders have bad habits or are limited in their useful habits. Fortunately, our habits do not have to remain the same over time. With a few tricks of the trade, you can start new leadership habits to build up your leadership skills now.
Let’s dive into these 14 leadership habits for success and get you started on your journey to outstanding leadership.
Learn Daily
Leaders are always learning, constantly growing, and consistently striving to improve. By getting into the habit of learning every day now, you won’t have to try and implement the habit down the line. Fortunately, there are so many ways to learn in the modern world. If you want to start some good leadership habits, you want to take advantage of this.
Are you a reader? Read books that you can learn from. Books are not in short supply – so while reading for entertainment is great, reading for personal or professional development is even better.
If you aren’t much of a reader, audiobooks are fantastic. As are podcasts. Listen while you’re doing household chores, driving, or even taking a shower. You can get so much knowledge from listening to educational content.
Also, Youtube isn’t just for cat videos, you know! There is rich content available to you for free if only you look.
Fewer people know this, but there are free educational courses available online. Sites like The Open University offer free classes to anyone interested in learning. See what you can learn on a daily basis!
Implement Wellness
You should have a well-rounded set of habits that implement a sense of wellness in your life. Depending on who you ask, there are several components of wellness. Some say six, some say eight, and others even say four. Regardless of your belief, taking care of yourself is essential.
Leaders must care for themselves to ensure they are well enough to serve others. What habits might this entail? Here are a few examples:
- Eat a well-balanced diet
- Limit sugar intake
- Exercise 30 minutes every day
- Journal
- See a therapist once a month
- Keep a tidy home
- Spend daily time with God
- Have a weekly date night
- Spend one-on-one time with your children weekly
There are many options for habit implementation in each wellness area. You shouldn’t expect to implement each one at once. In fact, that is an excellent way to ensure they don’t stick. Instead, focus on one habit to start today, and you can begin to add additional habits after you’ve kept with it for some time.
Plan Your Day
Full disclosure: this is the leadership habit I struggle with. I have my excuses, of course – my toddler is unpredictable, who knows what Minnesota weather will be up to, I might not get enough sleep, etc. Let’s be honest – they’re pretty poor excuses.
Your day should have a plan. Don’t just fly by the seat of your pants – even if you’re at home. Because of the unpredictable nature of young kids, when I do well with this habit, I use time blocking with padding. Padding is extra time on the ends of the blocks to account for unexpected changes.
For example, I work from home when my husband is off work or while the kids are in bed. So, I usually spend my days doing household chores, playing cars with my two-year-old, dollhouse with my four-year-old, reading, and saying, “No, you cannot have another snack.”
If I block in time for chores from 10 to noon and expect to get a handful of tasks done during that time, I might be stretched for time if my toddler needs a diaper change or a massive meltdown occurs. So, my calendar would read “Chores – 9:45 to 12:15” instead of 10 to noon.
You don’t have to have kids to need padding on your time blocks. If planning your day is a habit you struggle with before you find yourself in a leadership position, I recommend working with what you’ve got so you can feel familiar with the process when leading a whole team.
Write Down Your Goals and Vision
I stumbled across this insane statistic: 3% of people have their goals written down. Only 3% is crazy! Especially when you consider this additional statistic: You are 42% more likely to achieve your goals when they are written down.
Wow.
42% is a good chunk! If you aren’t writing down your goals, do you remember them? Do you forget what you’re striving for? I know I do! Each year, I think up a handful of New Year’s resolutions – and guess how many times I write them down? Rarely. Guess how many times those resolutions stick? Never. Why? I can’t even remember what my resolutions were this year.
The same idea applies to your vision. As a leader, you must have a vision that you’re moving toward. You have to know where you’re going. Furthermore, you have to be able to tell people where you would like them to follow you. You need to learn how to depict your vision to get people to go anywhere with you.
Recite Your ‘Why’
Why do you do what you do? You need to know why you want to achieve goals and make changes, and you also have to say it. Make it repeatable. Craft a short statement that tells you exactly why you are working so hard to get where you want to be. Your why is your fuel. Remember it – recite it.
Leadership habits may need a ‘why’ for implementation, too!
Develop a High EQ
There are many ways to develop your emotional intelligence. The important part is to focus on all four pillars of EQ: self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills. Working on habits in the four areas will help you increase your EQ.
Try some of these habits:
- Name your emotions
- Journaling
- Measure strengths and weaknesses
- Listen more than you speak
- Meditate
- Volunteer time to others in need
- Manage negative emotions
- Own up to your mistakes
There are dozens of things that you can do to enhance your EQ. The earlier you get started, the earlier you can see an improvement! Leadership habits can stem from improved EQ, too.
Train Up Your Communication Skills
Communication skills are more than giving a speech, although that is a small part. There are various methods for improving your communication skills, including practicing listening. Listen and listen some more. Listen to words, but also pay attention to body language.
The more practice you get in everyday conversations, the more experience you will have to apply to your leadership. You can use regular discussions to improve your listening, eye contact, and reading nonverbal communication. Becoming a better communicator is far more than just communicating with the people on your team.
You can also ask people for feedback. Ask people you trust, like a friend who isn’t afraid to be blunt. If you think someone will only tell you positive things about yourself, I’d avoid that person for critical feedback. The purpose is for improvement, not an ego boost!
Consider taking a course in communication. There are many available online, from free to paid versions. Do some research and find a course that might work for you. Establishing leadership habits that help you learn are ideal.
Make Firm Decisions
My husband likes to joke that he will start a restaurant called “I don’t know” because I never know where we should go to eat when asked. Fortunately, I’m good at other decisions – although it took some practice getting there. How?
Know your goals and values. Manage your stress. Get to know your emotions and triggers. Practice strategic thinking. These are small leadership habits that make change.
These things are various ways to improve your decision-making skills. By implementing habits that help you to become firmer in your decisions, your leadership efforts will reach new heights.
Build Confidence
Leaders often suffer from imposter syndrome.
Recognize your strengths and remind yourself of them often. Set challenges and meet them. Track your progress in challenges and see the changes in yourself as you grow. Developing your confidence can be a practical element in leadership growth. Starting now means you’ll have more time to build confidence before it genuinely matters.
Develop Trustworthiness
Do you consider yourself trustworthy? Do you do what you say you’re going to do? If you promised your coworker that you’d have your portion of the research done by a specific date, did you get it done on time? If not, start doing it asap. No one wants to follow someone inconsistent and untrustworthy.
Become trustworthy if you aren’t yet. Trust goes a long way and can take a lot of effort to develop. Skip this leadership habit and you may struggle to gain a following.
Practice Praise and Gratitude
How often do you praise someone for their efforts? If you don’t do it often, make it a habit. You must also make sure the praise and gratitude are sincere. Fake praise can only get you so far – so avoid it. Instead, search for authentic reasons to tell someone they’re doing great. Recognizing others is good for their efforts and your gratitude.
You can practice gratitude to improve your mindset. It isn’t necessarily for others but you. You could write just a few things each evening that you felt grateful for that day. Or, create an entire journal post based on what you’re thankful for and why. The extent is up to you, but leadership habits like this one are vital.
Evolve Your Mindset
I love talking about mindset because I read a fantastic book a couple of years ago called “Mindset” by Dr. Carol Dweck. The book explains Dweck’s research on mindset and how people grow more when they believe they can. It’s a fascinating book and concept, and I highly recommend you read it!
To adopt a growth mindset, change the way you speak to yourself. Tell yourself about your progress – no matter how slow – when you’d usually say you’re not reaching goals. Believe that you can grow. Read books that encourage growth. There are so many leadership habits that you could implement to create a new mindset.
Have an Open Mind
This one might be challenging. How many friends do you have who believe the opposite of you? If you’re a Christian, do you have any atheist friends? If you’re a Republican, do you have Democrat friends? Do you have civil conversations with people who disagree with your beliefs? If not, it’s time to start.
Stop trying to convince people of your stance and simply listen. It can be tough sometimes, especially if you’re passionate about the topic. The important thing is that you’re open to what others believe. You don’t have to believe it yourself, but you need to accept that someone else does.
An open mind doesn’t happen overnight. You have to develop leadership habits like this one over time.
Delegate
Many leaders struggle with giving tasks to others. Start leadership habits that allow you to pass things along. If you struggle with control, it’s time to work on letting go. It might be as simple as having your spouse load the dishwasher their way. You could also stop offering unnecessary directions from the passenger seat. If you like control, practice giving it to someone else every once in a while.
You can also create a habit of recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of others. When you know what others are good at, you know what tasks they might take from you and perform better. Even if they complete it less effectively than you at first, there’s a good chance they will grow over time and improve the whole process. Build the habit of delegating and free up your time for other tasks.
How to Change Leadership Habits
Changing habits can be a challenging process. As one of my favorite topics, habits require more than just effort to change. You have to change yourself. In his book “The Power to Change,” Pastor Craig Groschel says that you must change who you are before you can change what you do.
Start by telling yourself who you are – if you’re trying to be more open-minded, tell yourself that you’re open-minded. When you’re developing your trustworthiness, tell yourself that you’re trustworthy. How you see yourself is imperative in changing your habits.
You should also take small steps at a time. In his bestselling book “Atomic Habits,” James Clear discusses the importance of showing up. He uses the story of a guy who wants to exercise every day. He drives to the gym daily and stays for just a few minutes. While that seems ridiculous, it developed the habit of showing up. After that habit was formed, he could start working out for more extended periods.
Do the same in your leadership habits. Don’t expect big habits to stick immediately. Go small and see the wins first.
Why Should You Develop Good Leadership Habits?
Developing good leadership habits is imperative for growing in leadership. You can’t expect to learn and grow continuously if you don’t create habits from the knowledge that you gain. Habits matter. Leadership matters. Let’s join the two into leadership habits for the ultimate improvements.
If you’re not yet leading a team, you can still be an effective leader. In fact, developing leadership habits is a great way to lead yourself.