For many leaders, our toolboxes seem quite filled to the brim. In fact adding another instrument may feel completely unnecessary. Yet as we all know, the key to our continued leadership success is staying open to trying a few new tools. The changes we are facing in all of our jobs are just coming at us at a quicker than ever pace and that requires retooling.

While working with the leaders in an organization facing mega changes this past year, it became clear that the old toolbox needed updating. Their clients were becoming more demanding and asking for quicker turnaround time for deliverables. Departments were becoming more focused on their individual needs. The workflow felt unmanageable and team spirit made a nosedive.

What could be done for these leaders to gain some control in their workplace?

Four Can’t Be Without Leadership Tools:

1. Prioritize The Workload Together

Time Management 101 teaches us to prioritize our daily tasks so that we can tackle our most important projects first. Leaders go through their To Do lists with gusto hoping to see how they can reconfigure their day or week workload. The thing that is missing is sometimes we need to partner with other team members or departments in determining the true priorities. These partnerships are key to getting the work out in a timely way with no one team feeling they didn’t have a part in the prioritizing process. Including all the departments will lead to far greater outcomes.

2. Work On Authentic Communication

If the communication across a team or between different departments isn’t at its best, deadlines will be missed and projects will suffer. For leaders this means being an authentic communicator.

  • Be honest in what needs to be shared, even if others may not want to hear it.
  • Make sure your facial expressions and body language are consistent with the message.
  • Never use a sarcastic or condescending tone as that will only confuse others.
  • Offer specific explanations in a genuine and respectful way. Generalities only lead to miscommunication.
Authentic communication begins with leaders being honest in what they need to say. Share on X

3. Adjust Customer Expectations

As with my client, many organizations are also extremely customer centric. Customers rule a company’s workflow and can ask us to jump higher than our abilities. So another important tool to add to the leadership toolbox is managing customer expectations. We want to delight our customers but not at the cost of destroying our internal teams. That means getting a true reading on what a team can and cannot deliver within a particular timeframe. Then a senior leader needs to help the customer feel comfortable about having the deliverables rolled out in stages.

4. Cultivate Department Relationships

The final element to add to the leadership toolbox is spending energy creating deeper connections with team members in other departments. It is a waste for one team to set plans and deadlines if several departments are involved in a deliverable. A representative from each area should be part of the decision-making. To be able to count on one another depends on the depth of the relationships. Leaders will grow their networks and support systems when they invest in getting to know others.

When leaders build bonds with colleagues they create deeper support systems. Share on X

What additional leadership tools are essential for your toolbox today?

 

 

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