Winning Wednesday #4

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There's nothing more powerful than a leader embodying the approach they want their employees to take.

Psychologists call this "idealized influence," one of the four pillars of transformational leadership - the evidence-based theory of leadership that improves team performance.

Idealized influence is about leading with the integrity, ethics, and values that you want your team to deploy. If you can be this kind of positive role model, you motivate your team to do the same. Over time, consistency in your behavior and alignment between your words and actions encourages members of your team to follow your lead.

Idealized influence actually makes people want to follow you.

There are 4 key ways you can embrace idealized influence and make it work for you. 

Here's the first.

Lead by Example

The first is to lead by example. 

That doesn't mean that you have to do or demonstrate exactly what you want your team to do.

It means that you need to:

• Uphold your ethics. You want to demonstrate honesty and fairness in the decisions you make and actions you take.

• Demonstrate integrity. If you align your words and actions, you'll boost trust and reliability.

• Display your commitment. If you want the rest of the team to follow your lead, you need to show them what it looks like to be excited about what the team or organization is working on.

• Embrace challenges. If the team sees you running toward the fire, they're likely to run with you. If they watch you run away, they're likely to run away, too.

• Celebrate success. There's little point in working hard if you're not going to celebrate and reward people along the way.

Your challenge this week

Pick one of the above actions to take. Celebrate someone's success, or give voice to your commitment to the organization.

If you want to create a culture of honesty, accountability, and integrity, it starts at the top.