Leaders who take the time to understand and consider their decision-making styles in different situations can enhance their effectiveness, promote consistency, improve self-awareness, adapt to changing circumstances, and empower their team members.

Whether you are responsible for the careers of those around you, or if you are a new or aspiring leader, it’s critical to be aware of the dangers of being promoted into incompetence at work.

Understanding the connection between Robert Kegan’s stages of adult development and leadership can provide valuable insights into the qualities and approaches that effective leaders embody.

Have you clarified your own motivations for aspiring to be a leader? Understanding your personal "why" is important, as it forms the foundation of effective leadership, influencing your success and the paths of those you will lead.

Leadership is a set of qualities and behaviours that can be displayed in various contexts, regardless of whether you have direct reports or not. It’s about inspiring, guiding, and influencing others towards a common goal, and this can be achieved in many different ways.

For any leader, operating at the learning edge can involve engaging in tasks, experiences, or situations that push your boundaries, require new skills, or demand increased effort. It involves taking risks, trying new things, and embracing uncertainty.

Needing to be liked refers to a leader’s desire for approval and acceptance from others, while liking to be needed implies that a leader finds fulfillment in being of service and making a meaningful impact.

Ignoring underperformance can lead to a decline in team morale along with a decline in trust and respect for a leader who is afraid to make tough calls.

To be an approachable leader means being open and willing to listen. It means creating an environment where employees feel comfortable approaching you without fear of negative consequences.

It is important for leaders to be able to distinguish between ‘disagreeable’ and ‘toxic’ team members. After all, disagreeable employees can often bring valuable skills and perspectives to a team or organisation, and they can also be highly effective in certain roles.

Leading from a place of desperation is not a sustainable or effective leadership style. Instead, those leading by invitation create a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility, where everyone’s voice is heard, and where team members are empowered to contribute to the organisation’s success.

Storytelling can help leaders build a strong organisational culture by reinforcing shared values and beliefs. By sharing stories about the company’s history, successes, and challenges, leaders can create a sense of identity and community that fosters loyalty and commitment among employees.

While empathy can be extremely helpful for building strong relationships with team members and understanding their needs and concerns, it’s certainly not the only factor that determines a leader’s success.

Burnout isn’t good for anyone. In fact, researchers have cited that “burnout represents an erosion of the human soul that spreads over time, putting people into a downward spiral from which it’s hard to recover”. Preventing team burnout is a leadership responsibility.

Effective team management requires balancing skills, abilities, personalities and roles, and resolving conflicts in a timely manner. Astrology has no place in recruitment or conflict resolution.

Burnout isn’t good for anyone, least of all a leader. Even for the most driven and committed leaders, energy and enthusiasm levels have a shelf-life and nobody wants their energy to expire.

If you want to be the best leader you can be, you can’t afford to neglect setting SMART goals. Whilst it might be too late to wish people a happy new year, or to set new year’s resolutions, it's not too late to establish your own and your team’s goals for the year ahead.

The word ‘digital’ means something different to everyone. But the experts in the field of organisational change define ‘digital transformation’ as the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business.

It's important to create an environment where everyone feels empowered, equipped, and enlightened, and is striving to achieve their own personal as well as team goals.

When the going gets tough, there are many leaders who will try far too hard to pretend everything’s fine or to put a positive spin on every situation as opposed to accepting the reality that sometimes things just don’t quite go according to plan.

Many of the world’s largest companies have completely transformed their approach to performance management with 1 in 3 Fortune 500 companies moving to a continuous performance management model.

To the degree you are aware of your developmental areas, there are also strengths that are equally proportionate to your greatest weaknesses. These strengths could be your superpowers.

Active listening is one of the most essential skills for a leader. Who are you listening to as a leader? Not just hearing, but listening to, understanding and being present for?

Asking a team member whether there is anything else you can help them with can be an incredibly powerful reinforcement of your commitment to their development.