Effective Leadership - It Starts With You

Leader is not your title.  It’s your practice.

And any practice bears refining – beginning not with KPIs or strategic plans, but with the person in the mirror.  You.

Whether you're leading a team, an organisation, or a family, any sustainable and transformative leadership must start with self-awareness.

How can we ask anyone to trust, follow or grow with us unless we first ask:

Am I leading with integrity, clarity and intention?

Values Before Vision.  People Before Profit.

Too often, leadership is framed around external outcomes - growth targets, stakeholder buy-in, and team performance.

But the most influential leaders are those who lead from their values – and one of those foundational values must be the protection and empowerment and inspiration of their people.  

Your people are not a resource overhead – rather they are an investment in the biggest driver of business success.

Know what you stand for and make decisions that reflect that.  Shaky foundations skip this reflective step.

Ask yourself:

• What values do I want my leadership to embody?

• Where am I compromising, and why?

• What would alignment look like in practice - not just in theory?

• How do I show my team that they are our biggest asset?

Leadership Is Influence

At its core, leadership is influence. And influence isn’t earned through authority alone - it’s cultivated through consistency, ethics, discipline, and a lifestyle others want to emulate.

Whether it is within a business, within a religious or community organisation, or within a sporting community those in leadership are held to a higher standard.  And when these standards slip, position is often removed.

Ask yourself:

• Does your team want to be like you?

• Do you set the standard - or just enforce it?

• Are you growing, evolving, and practicing what you preach or are you a manager rather than a leader – simply allocating tasks and resources?

Your habits, your tone, your boundaries - they all send a message.

Reflection not Perfection

I recently wrote a short 5-minute practice for leaders setting intentions for the day ahead.  Reflection allows us to be curious, to consider, to consolidate learnings and make proactive rather than reactive decisions.

Take a temperature check and ask yourself:

• Do I know what my priorities are?

• Am I authentic or mere rhetoric?

• What am I avoiding in my leadership right now?

• Where do I feel most alive and most drained?

• What feedback have I received that I haven’t yet integrated?  Don’t expect your team to be coachable if you are not!

  
  

The more honest we are with ourselves as leaders (and individuals), the more authentic we can be with others.  Sometimes this means different choices, realignment and change (more on that in my article next week.  It’s entitled “Shoot The Hostage”  - and will set you up for success in 2026!)

Modelling What You Want to Grow

I recently had the pleasure of working with a wonderful team of managers across four states.  We set an expectation of a Culture of Excellence – built on five pillars, two of which were

·       Doing Everything with Kindness

·       Going Above and Beyond.

In a short period of time I was witness to these particular chosen attributes being embodied by the regional managers and replicated in teams across the footprint – resulting in incredible teamwork and some fantastic results during a time of great change.

Influence is effected by leaders who not only set the expectations but live them.

When your team sees you living in alignment, they trust your direction.  Because leadership isn’t about telling - it’s about showing.