Tag Habits

Powerful Habits of Successful Leaders

Steve Keating Leave a comment

Successful leaders possess many characteristics and traits that contribute to their success. So many, in fact, that it is difficult to say exactly which characteristics a person must possess to be a successful leader.

I’d say integrity and judgment are absolutely essential, but it can become somewhat debatable after that. A characteristic that is very impactful for one leader may not play much of a role in the success of another. But, most leaders who have positively impacted their people share habits. These habits inspire trust, motivate teams, and drive results.

Here are some of the best habits of effective, successful leaders.

1. Clear Vision and Purpose

Habit: Define a clear vision and communicate it effectively.

Why it matters: A clear sense of direction helps align the team and focus efforts on shared goals.

2. Active Listening

Habit: Actively listen to others’ concerns, feedback, and ideas. Don’t interrupt or assume.

Why it matters: It builds trust, fosters teamwork, and ensures that leaders understand the needs and challenges of their team.

3. Consistent Communication

Habit: Regularly share updates, expectations, and constructive feedback.

Why it matters: Open communication minimizes misunderstandings and keeps everyone on the same page.

4. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Habit: Practice self-awareness, empathy, and emotional regulation.

Why it matters: Leaders with high EQ navigate interpersonal dynamics effectively, building strong relationships and maintaining a positive team culture.

5. Lead by Example

Habit: Demonstrate integrity, accountability, and hard work.

Why it matters: Teams are more likely to mirror the behavior of their leaders, creating a culture of excellence and accountability.

6. Decisiveness

Habit: Make informed decisions promptly and confidently.

Why it matters: Decisive leaders instill confidence in their teams and keep projects moving forward.

7. Adaptability

Habit: Embrace change and be flexible in the face of challenges.

Why it matters: Adaptable leaders can pivot effectively. This keeps their teams resilient in uncertain times.

8. Empowering Others

Habit: Delegate responsibilities and trust team members to deliver.

Why it matters: Empowering others fosters ownership and encourages professional growth within the team.

9. Continuous Learning

Habit: Seek feedback, stay curious, and pursue personal and professional development.

Why it matters: Leaders who learn and grow inspire their teams to do the same and remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.

10. Recognizing and Celebrating Success

Habit: Acknowledge achievements, big or small, and celebrate milestones.

Why it matters: Recognition boosts morale, motivates teams, and reinforces positive behavior.

11. Strategic Thinking

Habit: Look at the bigger picture and plan for the long term.

Why it matters: Strategic leaders anticipate challenges and opportunities, ensuring sustainable success.

12. Resilience

Habit: Stay composed and positive during tough times.

Why it matters: Resilient leaders inspire their teams to persevere and overcome obstacles.

We often tend to think of habits in a negative light, but these are all very positive habits. Leaders can inspire their teams and build trust by developing and practicing these habits. They will achieve lasting success. Which of these habits resonates most with you?

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How to Break Free of Bad Habits

Steve Keating Leave a comment

First off, I want to make sure you read the title of this post correctly. It says breaking free of BAD habits. I think sometimes we are programmed to believe that all habits are bad. That is absolutely not the case.

Sometimes we can’t agree on what’s a good habit or a bad habit. For instance, many people would tell me that my Diet Coke habit is bad. I strongly disagree. But there are many good habits that we can all agree on. Eating healthy. Living within our means. Being kind to others. Being kind to ourselves. Those are examples of good habits.

But we are talking about bad habits in this post. Habits that are limiting our ability to live our best life possible and reach our full potential. It seems logical to me that since the habits are bad for us, we should have the motivation and discipline to “break free” of them rather easily.

But nothing about eliminating bad habits from our lives is easy.

Breaking bad habits can be incredibly challenging. Still, with the right mindset and strategies, it is entirely possible. Here are some ideas to help you break bad habits.

1. Identify the Habit and What Drives It

• Self-awareness: Recognize the habit you want to break and understand why you do it.

• Drivers: Identify the drivers of the habit. This could be certain times of the day, emotional states, environments, or specific people.

2. Understand the Cue-Behavior-Reward Loop

• Cue: The trigger that initiates the habit. (For instance, seeing a donut.)

• Behavior: The action you take in response to the cue. (For instance, eating the donut.)

• Reward: The benefit you get from the behavior, reinforcing the habit. (The donut tastes good)

• Understanding this loop helps in identifying what needs to change. (This is bad example; I have no intention of ever giving up donuts)

3. Set Clear and Realistic Goals

• Specific: Be clear about which habit you want to break.

• Measurable: Set criteria for measuring progress.

• Achievable: Ensure the goal is realistic.

• Relevant: Make sure it aligns with your overall objectives.

• Time-bound: Set a deadline for achieving the goal.

4. Develop a Replacement Habit

• Positive Replacement: Replace the bad habit with a healthier or more productive one.

• Small Changes: Start with small, manageable changes rather than attempting to overhaul your behavior all at once. Quitting something “cold turkey” rarely works. Remember, breaking free from a bad habit isn’t a race. Slow and steady most often makes the break permanent.

5. Change Your Environment

• Remove Triggers: Alter your surroundings to minimize exposure to triggers.

• Supportive Environment: Surround yourself with people and environments that support your goal. If your goal is to quit smoking, then hanging out in smoking lounges is a bad plan.

6. Use Positive Reinforcement

• Rewards: Reward yourself for making progress and sticking to your new habit.

• Celebrate Successes: Acknowledge and celebrate small victories along the way. All progress is progress; keep that in mind and enjoy even the little successes along the way.

7. Stay Accountable

• Share Your Goals: Tell friends, family, or a support group about your goal.

• Track Progress: Keep a journal or use apps to track your progress.

8. Be Patient and Persistent

• Accept Setbacks: Understand that setbacks are normal. Don’t get discouraged by occasional failures.

• Consistency: Keep working towards your goal consistently, even if progress is slow.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a few bad habits. We are, after all, human. But the more we can replace bad habits with good ones, the better off we will be. It is just a question of determination, motivation, and discipline. If you really want to live your best life possible, you need to realize the biggest obstacle to overcome is likely yourself and your bad habits.

That’s actually great news because it means breaking free is completely within your control. So, if you want your best life, all you need to do is go get it.

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Consider supporting my efforts with a donation!
I put a significant amount of time and effort into writing a couple of blog posts each week. My primary goal is simple, to help other people. That doesn’t mean a little financial support isn’t appreciated. If you’ve benefited from my efforts and think my posts are valuable, I’d certainly appreciate whatever support you might be able to offer.
But whether you can offer support or not, I’ll continue to try and write a blog that gives back, informs and sometimes even entertains. I hope you enjoy it!

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Leadership Slippage

Steve Keating Leave a comment

I recently received a call from a very effective sales leader. He was frustrated with the recent performance of his sales team and wanted to talk about a couple of his people in particular. I asked how many of his people he thought were underperforming and he said that actually all of them were but some were doing worse than others. 

I asked him what he thought was going on and he said he wasn’t sure. That’s what he wanted to talk to me about. He was surprised when I said that while I didn’t know exactly where the team went off the rails I was pretty sure I knew the source of the problem. 

I’m thinking he wasn’t too happy when I told him that he was the likely source. 

As with most sales leaders he has always accepted part of the credit for his team’s success. But it must worth both ways. If you’re a sales leader the first place you should look if all or most of your team is underperforming is in the mirror. 

Think if it this way. There is only one thing all your salespeople definitely have in common. Your salespeople are all unique individuals. Depending on the structure of the sales organization they may even sell different products to different markets.

The sales leader is the one thing they definitely have in common. That’s why when an entire sales team is slipping I look at the leader. 

I asked him what HE was doing differently. He said he was doing what he always had. He hadn’t changed and neither had the level of leadership he provided to his team. So we started talking back and forth and I eventually asked about his conversations with his team. He said he had asked several members of his team where they were struggling. He asked about specific customers and where in the sales process they were with particular prospects. 

He said that only added to his frustration because they didn’t seem to know. 

I stopped him cold when I asked him, “when did YOU start accepting ‘I don’t know’ as an acceptable answer?” I pushed my point by asking him when he had stopped holding his team accountable for knowing every detail about their territory and their customers. 

He said he didn’t realize that he had. 

That is an incredibly common mistake among all leaders. Leaders have the same ability to slip into bad habits as the people they lead. Authentic Leaders encourage their people to analyze their own performance from time to time but forget that they must do the same. 

When was the last time you paused to ask yourself the following questions? What’s working for you? What’s not working? What good habit have you let slip away? Have you replaced it with a bad habit? What circumstances have changed that you have not adjusted to? How have you positively impacted the people you lead in the last 30 days? 

It’s human nature for some slippage in performance to happen from time to time. That’s where having a coach or a mentor can really come in handy. They can help you identify the slippage before it becomes a problem. If you’re not willing to ask yourself those questions a caring mentor will. 

What many people in Leadership positions don’t realize is that slippage can happen to them as well as their people. That’s why leaders need mentors too. I’ve never met anyone, regardless of age, experience, or level of success who didn’t benefit from having a coach or a mentor. 

Has your level of leadership slipped lately? Slipping into occasional bad habits doesn’t make you a weak leader, it makes you a human being. Being human is a pretty darn good thing to be, especially when you’re trying to lead other humans.

Unconventional Wisdom

Steve Keating 4 Comments

Why do you do it like that? Because it’s always been done that way? Because that’s how “they” do it. Maybe it’s because conventional wisdom says that’s they way to do it. Conventional wisdom seldom leads to breakout success. Unconventional wisdom often does.

Things change! Pretty much everything changes!

Here’s a fun story that shows why we should always be thinking “why.” 

It’s Easter morning as a little girl watches her mom preparing the ham to go into the oven. The mom cuts a bit of ham off of each end before placing it it the pan for baking. The little girl asks her mom why she cut some ham from each end and the mother answers, “I’m not really sure why we do that dear, I do it because my mom always did it. Why do you go in the other room and ask Grandma.” 

So the little girl skips on into the family room and asks the same question to Grandma. Her answer is surprisingly similar, she says, “well I’m not really sure why, I always did it because that’s the way my mom always did it. Why don’t you go into the other room and ask great-grandma why she did it.” 

Off goes the little girl into the living room to ask the same question to her great-grandma. Her great-grandma answers, “well dear, I’m not sure why your grandma or mother cut a piece off of each end of the ham, I did it simply because I never had a pan big enough to put the whole ham in.” 

That’s just how it happens when we allow “we’ve always done it that way” to be part of how we do things. Anything! 

We’ve always done it that way is the absolute worst reason for doing anything a certain way.

Annual or repeating events are the most dangerous and most likely to become “habit” events. Never do an annual event without re-thinking every part of the event. Why do we do it? What must be better? What must be different? Should we do the event at all? 

Relentlessly re-think. Why? Why? Why?

Improvement requires some sort of change, even if it’s only doing the same thing better. We’ve always done it that way is not the way to improve anything. 

Even when you’re satisfied that something is “good enough” you must challenge your thinking. The most successful people know that good enough never is. “Good enough” is accepting mediocrity and once you accept mediocrity then excellence becomes out of reach. 

Stop thinking we do it this way or we do it that way and start asking why. Why? Why? Why not do it some other way? 

Be honest with your answers. If you don’t know why then find out. Accepting what is without determining what could be is just being lazy. 

Don’t be lazy and you just might become a success!