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7 Powerful Ways to be an Effective Leader

Some of them may surprise you


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Gary McBrine

3 years ago | 5 min read

Today, businesses need effective leaders.

Harvard Business Review describes Leadership as

“the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants. The man who successfully marshals his human collaborators to achieve particular ends is a leader. A great leader is one who can do so day after day, and year after year, in a wide variety of circumstances.”

Many businesses have experienced setbacks because of shut-downs from the pandemic. That qualifies as “a wide variety of circumstances” doesn’t it?

Your business needs effective leadership at all levels of the organization to accomplish your goals.

How can you be an effective leader in your organization?

How can you encourage others to follow your lead?

Here are 7 surprising yet powerful ways to be that leader. By applying these tips, you will lead your team to success.

1) Be Humble

“A great man is always willing to be little.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Humility may not be the first quality you think of when talking about business leaders. Yet, this quality is more important than you might think.

No one enjoys being pushed around by an arrogant boss. When you display humility it shows that you are part of a team and their success means your success. You want them to succeed too.

A skilled leader does not rule by intimidation but inspires others to want to contribute to the team. He or she is confident on the inside and humble on the outside.

This quality must come before the others mentioned on our list.

2) Display Modesty

“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.”― Confucius

Without modesty, you think you can do it all.

Modesty means recognizing your limitations. You only have limited time and abilities.

Like humility, modesty includes not thinking more of yourself than is necessary. It means focusing on the work, knowing that you can’t do it alone.

A modest leader will listen to opinions and ideas on the team. While recognizing a personal responsibility to make the final decision.

No one has all the answers, and a modest leader will seek input from others who are closer to the problem.

A modest leader will train employees and will know when and how to delegate his or her workload.

Photo by You X Ventures on Unsplash

3) Train them

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” –Henry Ford

The more training you can provide, the greater their abilities to succeed. Don’t be afraid that they’ll take your training elsewhere to their next job. Good training is never a waste of time or resources.

Training is an investment in your business. It’s a good way to develop loyalty with your employees when they see your investment in them. A happy employee is one that knows what they’re doing. Happy employees rarely leave their job.

Employees need to know what’s expected of them. This requires adequate training.

When you train someone you can feel confident to assign or delegate work to them, knowing that they can do the work.

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” — Bill Gates

By providing training and by trusting them to do the work, you empower them to get the job done.

Brendan Burchard says that we need to empower people and to trust them.

“Empowerment means we give people the decision making authority and the trust to be able to work towards the vision” — Brendan Burchard

4) Trust them

“Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We”
Phil Jackson

In basketball or any other team sport, a player must be able to trust the other teammate to pass the ball to them.

Business is a lot like sports. Think like a team player.

If you’re humble, modest, train with your teammates and trust them, you can confidently pass them the ball.

When you trust someone, they are more likely to want to live up to your expectations. They feel a personal motivation to live up to your trust.

Photo by Max Winkler on Unsplash

5) Delegate to them

“The surest way for a leader to kill him or herself is to refuse to learn how, and when, and to whom to delegate work.” — J.C. Penney

You can’t do it all yourself.

The old adage “if you want a job done right, you’ve got to do it yourself” is not a good success formula. It does not inspire confidence in others. You’ll work yourself to death and hit a wall.

Delegation is an art. It is not easy, but it is necessary to build and maintain any successful business. Sometimes delegation gets confused with allocation.

Delegation is a lot like allocation, but here’s the difference:

Allocation is about assigning work to other people.

It’s dividing up the work so everyone has their own job to do. Each one who has received a job assignment takes full responsibility for the results

Delegation is about assigning some of your own work to other people.

It’s sharing some of your work. Others help you complete your work.

It’s your work they’re helping with, and they get the praise for a good job. But if it’s not a good job, you’re still responsible.

So you must delegate strategically and follow up effectively.

6) Show Respect

“Disrespect invites disrespect.” — Meryl Streep

How do you respond when your boss shows you disrespect?

Most of us do not feel motivated at work if our boss disrespects us. If we want to motivate others, we need to put ourselves in their shoes.

An effective leader would never put down or use cruelty to motivate others. That would be counterproductive. And yet, that is what so many business managers do.

According to Forbes, if you don’t demonstrate respect, you will “alienate and drive away the very people you are trying to lead”.

How can you show more respect to those under your leadership?

  • Treat others as you would wish to be treated.
  • Recognize that others rise or descend to our expectations of them.
  • Communicate with respect in emails and in-person by listening and responding
  • Be an example of how you want others to act. Respect invites respect.

7) Have Patience

“Patience; this is the greatest business asset. Wait for the right time to make your moves” — J. Paul Getty

Patience enables effective leaders to make better decisions and to think long term.

Developing a successful business takes time.

We need the patience to adjust to a “new normal” as we recover from shutdowns and focus on long-term success.

Harvard Business Review says in another article:

“Leading effectively — especially during a crisis — takes patience. If you can’t retain your composure in the face of frustration or adversity, you won’t be able to keep others calm.”

There are new opportunities in the face of these challenging times. By demonstrating patience, we can develop a strategy to see those opportunities and succeed with them.

Mastering these qualities will make you a better leader. The key to success is consistent effort. By focusing on them one at a time your business will blossom and your team will be in the playoffs.

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Gary McBrine

I'm a Writer, Entrepreneur, Business owner, Photographer, Musician, Online ESL English teacher. Always in search of solutions.


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