Do you want to be a better leader in your business? Here are three things that successful leaders do that others don't.

1. Constantly Improve Leadership Skills

Anyone can become a good leader if they want to improve. Good leadership comes from self development, experience and and willingness to learn.

Here are top leadership skills you can work on to become a better leader:

• Accountability – Not only do you need to understand how to be accountable for your actions and take responsibility when needed, but you also, as a leader, need to understand how to hold others accountable in an ethical and fair way.
• Assertiveness – You must learn how to say no, or yes when it’s the right thing to do and express your fact-based opinions confidently. Part of being a leader is other people’s perception of you as a leader. If the people around you believe you and know you’ll stand up for them and your causes, the perception is you’re a good leader.
• Communication – Knowing how to talk, listen, and when to do both is a a skill you can learn. The more you learn about the process of communication, the more you can add to your leadership skill set. Good leaders are good communicators. 
• Ethical – Doing the right thing, regardless of what others think, is what a strong leader does. Make decisions based on your morals, values, and principles.
• Focused – A good leader knows when and how to get things done. Keeping distractions for yourself and your team to a minimum is how to keep your team focused, keep the momentum going and boost morale. 
• Honesty – Despite how it sometimes seems in the media, a good leader knows how to be truthful. Don't hide the truth from your team.
• Open-Mindedness – It is always good to keep an open mind and be able to admit when you don't know something. It's ok to let others know you don't know. Let the facts speak for themselves and be ready to pivot based on the information you gather.
• Organized – You can learn to improve your organizational skills, so don’t worry if you aren’t naturally organized. You can learn how to manage all your work using the tools of the trade.
• Relationship Builder – Build relationships with your team, your colleagues, vendors and partners. Take your self-awareness, conflict resolution and natural understanding of human nature and make friends. 
• Reliable – Be someone others can trust and rely on. Do what you say you will do. 
• Result-Oriented – A good leader knows that intentions are not worth much if the impact is not what you were shooting for. Measuring impact and results will always be a superior measure to success.
• Self-Awareness – Introspection allows you to improve and makes for better leaders. Knowing who you are, why you are the way you are, and why you do the things you do allows you to minimize your weaknesses and build on your strengths.
• Confidence – A strong belief in yourself allows you to also believe in others. Studies show that people who have low self-belief tend to have a lack of belief in others too.
• Strategic Thinking – The ability to think long-term, see the big picture and make decisions based on analysis will allow you to plan ahead and make impactful decisions.  

To become a good leader you need to be on a path of self development and self discovery. Assess where you need to improve and strengthen your leadership skills. 

Working on your self will make you a better leader able to help your team grow and develop as well.

2. Good Leaders Take Care of Themselves

A good leader knows to lead by example. When your team members see you taking care of yourself it encourages them to do the same and you will have a happier team.

Taking care of yourself makes you a happier leader too. A less stressed leader is easier to work with.

Setting Up Boundaries While you may want to be available to your team all the time it's just not feasible. It’s best to have boundaries and policies in place prior to building your awesome team it’s never too late to implement boundaries, especially if you have even one team member who is demanding. By having boundaries and explaining them to all your team members, you’ll make working with you easier and find they are willing to work within those limits.

Here are some situations where boundaries are necessary:

Communication. How will your team members communicate with you? How will you handle their questions? Are they free to text or call you any time they have a question? These are common questions to ask yourself, especially if you don’t want to deal with team member texts and/or calls late into the night. 

Availability. When do you start and end your day? We all know how hard it is to shut down that computer at night. This also connects with the communications issue; will you accept team member calls after hours? If not, do they know you’ll get back to them the next day? Make it clear how long will they have to wait for a response from you.

Media portrays leaders as overworked, stressed out and neglectful of self-care. When in reality good leaders make taking care of themselves socially, mentally, physically, emotionally and spirituality a priority.

Take Care of Your Health. Eating healthy, exercise, and proper sleep is a must for a good leader. 

Always Have a Plan. Take your planner and make monthly and quarterly business and personal goals, then create action steps to reach those goals.

Help your team members plan and achieve not only the business goals but personal goals as well.

Plan your meals so you  have a decent food budget and know exactly what healthy foods to buy and prepare. 

If you fail at one of your planning steps, get back up and learn from the lesson.

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” - Benjamin Franklin

Take computer breaks. Take a step from work and turn off your brain. Stop scrolling social media and stop watching the news. Sometimes you need to take a break from all media. This includes media free evenings and weekends. During the day you might also need to take a break. Taking breaks allows you to think objectively about your next steps. 

Include Daily Self-Care Activities. Try putting your needs first instead of everyone else’s needs and take some time to:

• meditate quietly
• practice yoga poses 
• journal 
• listen to a guided meditation 
• exercise
• dance

Nothing good ever comes from being stressed out. Taking care of your yourself allows you to make confident business decisions and be a more effective leader.

3. Develop Your Team

We can all lead, empower, inspire and motivate others. 

Building an effective team that works well together and with you is a matter of having a plan. Being prepared with a plan allows you to develop the right strategies and tactics and have the right tools for your team. 

Your job as a good leader is to help them avoid missing deadlines, experiencing interpersonal conflict, and more.

When you understand what your team needs to work together effectively, you can set your team up for success.

Team Objective

Why the team exists and what the results are supposed to be are especially important for each team member to understand. Understanding the meaning behind why the team exists is a vital part of building an effective team that can work together for a common goal. You can help the entire team understand the vision and hoped-for impact they’re trying to create.

Systems and Processes

It’s hard to do anything efficiently without a system and process that helps drive the projects along. Being organized to run smoothly requires software, tools and other resources. Being able to develop procedures to keep running things smoothly and seeing where potential bottlenecks can occur will help you avoid them.

Any good team leader will ensue their team has all the resources necessary to complete the job as well as a system that works. 

Define Roles and Responsibilities

When you take the time to define the roles and responsibilities in all teams, it makes it easier for each person to know what to do. It will positively impact the group because it eliminates questions about who is doing what and who to ask about certain tasks. People like knowing what’s expected of them.

Delegate

When you define roles and responsibilities and have good systems in place, delegation is so much easier. Be on hand to discuss steps and progress to ensure nothing might get missed.

Clear Communication

Being an effective communicator and fostering open communication with your team by having a central place for communicating will help move projects along quicker.

Measure Success

Knowing how to track and measure your team's actions is a wonderful way to motivate your team and learn how well things are going. If everyone on the team can track the progress being made individually, as well as a whole is a great motivator for teamwork and to meet deadlines.

Team Building

Finally, your job as a good leader is team building. Inspire your team to enjoy working together and with you by building relationships. Encourage breaks, sharing meal time, and participating in team-building activities.

Learn How To Inspire Your Team

An inspirational leader empowers others to realize their vision by helping the team reach their goals. Start leading by example. Show you care about the people you want to inspire. Learn what success means for them and not only your business. 

Encourage team work with these Leadership Journals and Trackers.

I developed the Leadership Journals and Trackers for leaders who want to become better leaders and also those that encourage leadership within their teams.

Use the journals and trackers to organize your business and life:

• Leadership Weekly Journal - 52 Week Goal Setting Planner and Organizer with Inspirational Quotes for leaders
• Leadership Intention Journal - 12 Week Intention Journal for leaders 
• Leadership Journal - 52 Week Guided Journal for leaders - leadership prompts and affirmations
• Leadership Notebook - blank notebook perfect for journalling or visualizing. Makes a perfect gift for your team
• Leadership Travel Journal - Plan and journal your next business trip or vacation
• Leadership Reading Journal - Keep track of the books you read and would like to read.
• Leadership Income and Expense Tracker - Track your multiple streams of income
• Leadership Password Tracker - keep all your passwords in one place
• Leadership Motivational - 365 days of motivational leadership prompts

Grab Your Leadership Merch Here