How to Become a More Effective Leader in 2018
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What makes a leader great? Is it their vision or magnetic personality? Is it their experience and learned wisdom? While all of these contribute to making a leader, one thing that sets a leader apart is their willingness to be all in.
Many leaders share their vision with their teams, and then ask them to commit to it without being fully committed to it themselves. It’s unfair to ask your team to commit to your vision, mission and goals if you’re not committed to them. The most effective leaders lead by example, modeling the behavior they expect from their teams and showing they’re as committed to the vision and goals as they expect the team to be. Brian Tracy once said, “Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily, even if you had no title or position.”
How to become an all in leader
- Commit to the Work by Referral System. The Work by Referral system provides a framework to build a successful business. You and your team will know and understand the activities you need to do to develop relationships with your clients and build your business. When you fully commit to the system, your team is more likely to trust it and follow your example.
- Build relationships with your clients and your team. Relationships are crucial for a thriving business. Just as you’ll grow and develop relationships with your clients, especially your top clients, it’s also important to nurture relationships with your team. According to leadership expert, John Maxwell, “people buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.” Make sure your team ‘buys into’ you by developing a good relationship with them.
- Set goals and work hard to achieve them. Goals give you a target to reach. Once you create them, put together a plan to help you achieve them. We follow the goal-setting process outlined by Brian Moran in his book, The 12 Week Year, working in 12-week sprints to achieve the goals we’ve set in different areas of the business. Whatever your plan, get your team on board and keep them motivated to achieve them.
- Cultivate a positive attitude. If you want to cultivate a positive business, it all starts with your thinking. My mentor, Zig Ziglar, once said, “positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” Surround yourself with positivity, from what you read to what you watch and listen to and even who you spend most of your time with. As the leader, it’s up to you to set the bar for positivity in your business.
- Mentor your team. Freely offer your knowledge and expertise to your team and you’ll influence them professionally and motivate them to raise the bar of professionalism in the real estate industry. They’ll appreciate that you’ve taken an interest in their career. Answer their questions, offer advice, and encourage them every step of the way.
- Continue to grow. Effective leaders are voracious learners. They seek to learn more and invest their time and money into growing professionally, whether by attending seminars, such as Brian Buffini’s Success Tour or Buffini & Company’s GameChangers™, taking classes or reading the work of other successful leaders. The more you learn, the more likely you’ll transform your life and your business. Inspire your team to commit to continuous personal growth by encouraging them to attend seminars, passing along a book you think may help them and letting them see you working on your own development. They’ll soon follow.
When you live the vision you’ve created for your business, your team will notice and will strive to emulate it. You can apply these concepts outside of your business as well, in your home, your church or within your local community, to become a better leader in those areas of your life.
Brian