5 Rock-Solid Leadership Strategies That Drive Success The success of any company is a reflection of its leadership. As a leader, are you playing at the highest level?
By Ross Franklin Edited by Amanda Breen
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The success of any company is created by the leadership team's ability to execute and take massive action toward the company's goals and objectives. Everything about a company is a direct reflection of whoever is in charge. With the abundance of new companies being formed, especially by the millennial generation, it is critical that leaders follow proven strategies for success and don't take shortcuts.
There are no shortcuts to success, and the execution of the following leadership strategies will help you get there.
1. Clearly define the company's mission and values
A company's clearly defined mission and values are the foundation for company culture. When starting a company, one of the first things to address is creating the company's mission and values.
Step number one for creating the company's mission and values is to engage the entire team so everyone feels like part of the process. By including your team in the creation of the company's mission and values, you build a sense of inclusion and help team members embrace the mission and values on a deeper level.
For companies that already have clearly defined mission and values, do all company employees know the mission and values? Team members at all levels should be able to communicate them.
Related: 5 Leadership Mistakes That Can Break Your Company
2. Practice full operational engagement
As a leader, one of the most important actions you can take is being fully engaged in your company. All too often, leaders lose touch with the nuts and bolts of their businesses. Many millenials tend to be over-delegators, and they delegate almost every component of their business to the point they are not able to make the right high-level decisions for their business. This is because they lack a clear understanding of what is happening at the ground level.
The front-line workers of an organization tend to be the ones who are directly interacting with customers. When leaders rely on their executive team to find out front-line information, there is much that can get lost in translation. A fully engaged leader knows exactly what is happening on the front line of his or her company and doesn't hide in an ivory tower and rely on others to get a pulse for the business.
Full engagment in your company requires discipline as well as humility. A fully engaged CEO is one that regularly communicates directly to the front-line workers and listens carefully. Great questions to ask front-line workers are "Do you feel supported?" and "What can we do to improve and provide you with more support?"
Related: Which of the 6 Leadership Styles Defines You?
3. Make love to the numbers
All leadership executives should not only be well versed in the P&L, but should also know their numbers cold. When I ask an entrepreneur what his or her revenue and profit is and he or she studders or provides a rough estimate, it is quite clear that he or she is not making love to the numbers, and this is a red flag.
Leaders should be reviewing their numbers daily and have clearly defined financial targets. Founders and CEOs should constantly drill their teams on the numbers to ensure they are making love to their numbers and are dialed in to the company's financial performance.
4. Create a success road map
It is critical to identify the key metrics for your business that drive success. By creating a road map and identifying the specific actions needed for achievement, you work to close the gap between where you are and success.
Every member of the leadership team should have a clearly defined road map for his or her department. For example, the CEO should have a clear road map with actionable strategies on the road to $100 million in revenue, and the CMO should have a clear road map on the road to 1 million engaged followers on Instagram.
Related: 6 Essential Leadership Skills That Drive Success
5. Utilize action-oriented meeting minutes
Too often, companies have meetings, and nothing gets done afterward. In this case, meetings can be a waste of time. It is a critical to have a dedicated member of the team send out action-oriented meeting minutes directly after every team meeting to everyone who attended the meeting. Whether it is a Zoom meeting or in-person meeting, if there is no follow-up, the meeting loses value.
Consider how well your company executes the leadership strategies listed above and implement changes where necessary to reach new levels of success.
