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How To Build The Leadership Habits That Lead To Great Teams
Plus how to pick the right habit for your most painful leadership challenges
Dave Kline
January 18, 2024
Can your team call their shot like Babe Ruth?
Read Time: 4 minutes
To make our goals a reality, we need to change our behavior.
And change, as we know, is hard.
Especially when 45% of our daily behaviors are habits, small actions that barely trigger a conscious thought.
Ideally, we'd hack our subconscious and drop in the new habits.
But how?
James Clear's Atomic Habits is about as close to the definitive source as possible on these practical measures.
For example, if you want to build a new habit, you need to understand the cycle of a habit.
From James Clear’s Atomic Habits
Once we understand the habit loop, the path presents itself.
We need to optimize for 4 key questions:
Cue - How can I make it obvious?
Craving - How can I make it attractive?
Response - How can I make it easy?
Reward - How can I make it satisfying?
So let’s use this knowledge and pick the optimal leadership habit to build.
Let’s Build Those Habits Together
The internet is filled with leadership theory and advice. And yet, most leaders are still overwhelmed while their teams underdeliver.
Why is that?
Because you don’t need advice, you need action. You need accountability. You need to stop making your own mistakes and start learning from others.
That’s what we offer in the MGMT Accelerator. And that’s why leaders say it’s worth 24x what their employers paid.
Where else can you get that type of return in only 12 hours of work?
Will you join us on February 6th?
The right habit for the right moment
If habits are hard to build, we must make them as simple as possible and pick the right one to meet our management needs.
Here’s some inspiration based on common challenges.
My team is not improving fast enough
Habit: Daily Feedback
Feedback doesn't have to be critical. Calling out the winning behaviors you want repeated counts, too. If this is initially uncomfortable, start with the question, "Did this meet your expectations?"
Your people will often be their biggest critics, allowing you to be their coach.
My team delivers low-quality work
Habit: Daily Metrics
I firmly believe that everyone needs a number. This helps them connect to the mission and know if they're winning. If they have a number and quality still needs to improve, reignite motivation by making the scoreboard public. Peer pressure is a potent form of accountability.
My team is missing deadlines
Habit: Weekly Called Shots
A stupid simple practice I use with all my teams:
On Monday AM: Send me 3-5 bullets on what you'll accomplish this week.
On Friday PM: Send me hit or miss on those bullets (and if you missed, a brief explanation of why).
Writing out your commitments will force them to visualize what it takes to accomplish. And knowing they'll need to grade themselves creates personal accountability.
My team has low morale
Habit: Weekly "Brags. Worries. Wonders. Bets."
I spoke at a conference with 50+ founders and CEOs (here’s what I learned). The CEO who followed me shared his leadership team’s practice. They all send notes with at least one entry on each heading: