The Six Characteristics of an Effective Leader

Common Practices of Sticky Leadership

The number one complaint from executives and entrepreneurs I’ve coached is “How do I get this (pointing to themselves) to stick over there?” (pointing to their people)

If you have big dreams and bold visions for your business or organization, you are my kind of people. I share your passion.

Leadership is the required ingredient when the target outcome exceeds our available time, finances, and energy. Sooner or later we come to the end of ourselves and realize we need help. Getting results is about spreading your influence and sharing the lead.

Those who get their influence to stick in the heads, hearts, and actions of others share six common practices.

1.    Using a compelling vision, passionately shared with abandon. This is where your influence begins. The crisp mental image you have for the future, frequently expressed in detail with those you hope will join in launches your influence.

Even though vision is often talked about, few consistently use it as an important leadership tool creating alignment and drawing together an eventual team. Writing down a vision in narrative form moves it from lip service to an active leadership tool. Getting it crisp in your mind and onto paper makes it easier to share consistently. One of the visionary leaders I know begins each weekly team meeting by sharing the vision narrative. It’s so clear, now members of the team rotate presenting it in detail from memory.

2.    They are people of action. Once a vision is spoken out loud, the influence continues with taking some form of action. I’ve noticed leaders with the greater influence don’t wait for others, they act, even if they don’t have complete clarity about the next step. They just start. They may invite another person to join them, give them feedback, or just take the next logical step themselves. It becomes obvious that the vision is in action through the steps being taken. Something is going to happen, right or wrong, that is for sure.

3.    They are relational. Being relational doesn’t necessarily mean being an extrovert. If you don’t see yourself as a “people person” you can relax. What being relational in the leadership sense is being people aware. Having a keen interest in people and the ability to get to know them, how they think, and what motivates them is something anyone can do. It just takes being friendly, curious, and sensitive to the way other people are. By definition, leadership is attracting and working with people that hopefully will follow your lead or who will be willing to take the lead if offered. The skill of building and maintaining relationships is what having people influence means. 

4.    Active problem solvers. Every leader with influence I’ve met is a problem solver. It comes with the territory. Actively speaking a vision with the willingness to dive into making it happen causes us to bump up against a multitude of problems. People bring problems, every gap between the vision and current reality contains problems, and when we decide to do something big we know there will be problems. Leaders with influence don’t shy away from them but tackle them head-on. The ability to sort problems to surface the biggest is a critical practice of leaders whose influence sticks.

5.    They maintain their energy. Not often discussed but very real is that leadership takes energy. Lots of it. Knowing how to use the energy we have, how to conserve it, and who has the type of energy that complements ours is an important skill. There are times when the situation requires everything we have for a short sprint, after which we need to step back and recover. To be a skillful leader whose influence can stick requires self-awareness and knowledge about our personal energy and how best to use it. Taking time to recharge our batteries is a real thing, and an important practice.

6.    Life-long learners. Leaders with influence value learning and often appear humble in what they know. Leadership smarts comes from trial and error and active learning from those who have been there and done that. The curiosity behind discovery and learning makes leaders with influence people who attract other learners. Leaders know that sharing what they know, teaching others, and being a coach and mentor is the only way to spread the work and the influence they have.

Larry Briggs is the author of Sticky Leadership, How Entrepreneurs get their Influence to stick in the Heads, Hearts, and Actions of Others.