Top 6 Leadership Traits Employees Value Most - Leadership Training

The average leader doesn't get formal leadership development on average for 13 years. There is a significant deficiency in leadership in corporate America, especially when you think about 99% of the businesses in America are small businesses representing over 50% of the total workers in the United States. Now, we all know leadership is a critical part of running and growing a sustainable business. In this video, it's going to be like a short masterclass and it's going to be a blueprint. If you don't have the time or money to put together a leadership development program because you're a small business or a founder of a new business, just take notes in this video and you're going to have that blueprint. So I've compiled the top traits of my 20 plus years in leadership, plus those of leadership experts Patrick Lencioni, John Maxwell and Simon Sinek himself. Leadership is more than just a position or a title. Leadership is about influence, trust, having the ability to inspire others. The number one responsibility for every leader is to develop others. We need to create an environment where those behaviors can thrive. And I believe that all great leadership begins with the concept of psychological safety. Because your teams have to be fearless when it's time to speak up. And I've developed six traits that form an acronym, SAFETY safety which are servant leadership, accountability, focus on results, empathy, trust, and your vision. These traits are essential for any leader or any organization that's just starting or putting together a leadership development program. So let's get started. The first trait is servant leadership. That means you're putting others first. Servant leadership is the foundation of the safety model. It requires you putting the needs of others first, providing support and helping the team members grow professionally and personally. And here are five in depth actions that you can take to become a servant leader. But first, I'm going to give you a quote by John Maxwell that says a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. And the first step is develop tailored growth plans at the individual level. Number two, provide constructive and actionable feedback. Don't wait. You see it, say it, you think it, say it. Number three, empower others through delegation and trust. This is a critical point. Constructive and actionable feedback help employees grow by clearly outlining the areas that they need to improve or giving them practical steps so that they can achieve better results. All of which helps you grow your organization. Number four, foster a culture of continuous learning. This one is near and dear to my heart because in QWorks Group, continuous improvement is one of our core values. And the fifth step is Create a supportive environment for well being. In today's world, it is imperative that we make sure that our employees personal needs are being met along with their professional needs. Or otherwise they're not going to be a highly engaged employee. The second trait of safety is accountability. Drive performance through responsibility. Accountability is crucial for achieving high performance. You can't have a great culture without having accountability. It involves holding oneself accountable and this is missed. Oftentimes at the leadership level, this cannot be a don't do as I do, do as I say environment. You have to show them the way. Per John Maxwell's quote, the first step is setting clear expectations. Number two, implement a transparent tracking system. What you measure and report improves exponentially. Be transparent. Use dashboards. Use whiteboards in your office. Post people's performance publicly. Number three, encourage ownership and initiative. Foster a culture where the members of your organization take ownership over their tasks, their goals. And that will lead to other individuals beginning to trust you. Because you have to give trust to get trust. Number four, hold regular feedback sessions. This is so important if you're not providing regular feedback daily, preferably depending on the size of your team. Once your team gets large enough, hire additional leaders. But make sure that you are providing consistent feedback, good and bad. And number five, address any issues promptly. Do not kick the can down the road because it's going to be a difficult conversation. If growing your business and growing a sustainable business is important to you, this needs to happen regularly. Do not kick the can down the road. The third trait in the safety acronym is focus on results. I know this sounds like, well, duh, I get it, Clegg, we need to focus on results. But I'm telling you so many organizations do not do that. They get lost in the day to day of the business and you become your environment. So as we focus on results at the individual level, that's important. But what we want to do is find that collective result as a team. So if we focus more on the team results, it will filter down to the individual. Which is why it's important to have high performers, because people do become their environment. If you have an environment of lower performers, guess what? You're going to have a low performing environment. The five steps for this is Number one, align the organizational goals with the values of your organization. They have to connect. Now at QWORX Group, I can't say I expect continuous improvement to be a core value and and then not provide development for the team or influence development for the team if I believe in continuous improvement. Number two, use data driven Decision making. This should be a much easier one. In today's age, with technology and with the oncoming onslaught of AI data should be more plentiful than ever before. Number three, foster a results oriented culture. You can't expect to get great results if the culture isn't results oriented, right? So measure everything, measure often, and report it back to the entire team. Once again, you become your environment. Number four, provide resources and support. I know this is like a throwaway comment, but it's so true. I know as a leader, if you're the only leader that is tough, try to identify a way to outsource and hire another. Who in your organization that can help you do these things. Even if it's part time or temporary, this is a necessary part of growing your business. Number five, continuous improvement. Constantly evaluate all of the assumptions. Question your assumptions, because every single month things are going to look a little different than the prior month. Question your assumptions. Continuously improve on the things that you're doing. The fourth trait in the safety acronym is empathy, understanding and valuing your team members. Look, if we're going to humanize 100,000 conscious leaders, it has to start and begin with empathy. And empathy is the ability to understand people's feelings. And I know that's soft and woo woo and all those things, but it's imperative. That's the world we live in today. Ignore it at your own peril. Empathetic leaders create environments where people feel heard, valued, respected, and overall it enhances team morale. You can't go wrong with being an empathetic leader because when you have an engaged environment, it's going to become much more collaborative. I've seen it multiple organizations that I've run over time. When you drive leadership through the lens of empathy, you are going to see others inside of your organization being highly empathetic. And that's going to drive engagement and collaboration, which ultimately lifts your performance. So here are the five steps to drive an empathy. One, you got to practice active listening. I know this is another throwaway tip, but it's true. You have to listen and hear what your employees are saying. Number two, when you actively listen, you have to show genuine concern. You have to care about what they say. This is really important. They have to know that not only you're being your authentic self, but you have to understand where they're coming from. And if they know that you care, you're going to have an engaged employee. Number three, create a space for open communication. Once again, you can't have psychological safety if your team is afraid to speak up if they're afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes is how we learn. Embrace mistakes and absolutely make sure that it's not mistakes that people are getting punished for. Number four, adapt your leadership style to the individual's needs. Now once again, as a singular leader, as the one leader in an organization. If you're a founder starting a new business, it's not bad when you have a handful of employees. But once you get to seven, eight employees, it becomes very difficult to have that many direct reports. So you might need to hire an additional team lead or someone in your organization so that you have less direct reports and then teach them the same thing. How to individualize goals and needs. Needs. And number five, promote work life integration. Look, as long as we have cell phones and laptops and all of these great technology tools, we can't get away from work unless we consciously focus on moving away from work. But most of us, at some point seven days a week are usually locked into work. So make sure that you encourage your team to take time, to take time away, and to provide themselves with space. The data is overwhelming. For employees that have space to think or space to rest, their performance is significantly higher than those that stay locked in 100% of the time. The fifth trait of safety is the granddaddy of them all, and that's trust. Trust is the keystone of any successful team. Leaders must consistently demonstrate honesty, reliability, and transparency to earn and maintain the trust of their team. Trustworthy leaders create an environment where people feel safe to express their opinions, their values, and their own visions. And this is where innovation comes from. If your team doesn't trust you, you're not going to be a very innovative environment. So here are five ways to build trust inside of your organization. Number one, be transparent and honest. I know this goes without saying, but sometimes you need to deliver bad news to the team so that they know and understand that you're not hiding something. Typically, when things are going on, there's a mood and a cloud hanging over an organization, and employees feel that. So it's your responsibility to give them the truth straight. Be transparent. It will work for you in the long run. Trust me on that. Number two, demonstrate reliability and dependability. If they know that they can count on you and you've got their back, you're going to have an employee for life and you're not going to have to worry about attrition. Number three, build strong relationships. Follow some of my other videos so you can get steps to having high connection and high culture. Number four, foster that culture of Accountability. We talked a lot about that earlier on in the video, so I'm not going to go into depth, but it is so crucial. It's why I mentioned it a couple times. And five, Encourage open and honest feedback. You need to give your employees permission to provide honest and open feedback directly to you. If you can do that and you gain feedback, you're going to be well on your way to building a transformative organization that's highly innovative and rocking and rolling with a ton of psychological safety and trust. And the sixth and final trait of the safety acronym is your voice. Vision. So many times that organizations really don't have a vision. They have tasks and tactics that they want to complete, but there's no vision. And your employees need for you to connect a vision to their roles individually. And then their goals need to be connected back to that vision and where they fit into the overall picture. And there are five steps for this. One, create a clear and compelling vision. Vision. It needs to be clear. It needs to be tangible. It needs to be something that your employees can see and feel and understand where you're going. Number two, communicate that vision consistently. If you talk about it once a year at an all hands meeting, you don't have a very consistent vision. And I assure you that your team is not going to follow it. And that all but guarantees that you won't achieve your goals. Number three, align the goals with the strategies and the vision. So now that you have a vision and now you're creating a path to that vision, those things need to be aligned to the individual person. Number four, empower and inspire your team. Give them the freedom to make decisions. And number five, lead by example. Once again, you cannot have a don't do as I do, do as I say type of environment. You need to lead. You need to model the behaviors that you want from your team. By embracing the safety acronym leaders, you can create an environment where teams feel psychologically safe and trust you. These traits not only will drive performance, but it will also foster an amazing culture where it will be quite easy for you to attract other employees. As a leader, my mission is to humanize 100,000 conscious leaders. And you can't possibly become a conscious leader without following the acronym safety. So please take notes. Watch this video again. Follow this blueprint. This is a path that will lead you to building a very strategic and sustainable organization. As usual, please subscribe to my YouTube channel where all things are professional leadership and self development. See you next time.