5 Leadership Skills to Weather Any Economic Storm

The storm clouds are brewing once again.  We don’t quite know what is in store for us economically, but what we do know is that we can control three things as a leader of people:  our mindset, our reactions, and our actions.  As a leader, we can be intentional with preparing our teams for whatever comes.  The best leaders did this during the pandemic and their teams are now well positioned for whatever the future may hold.  Learn from the 5 leadership skills that they focused on and you will be in the driver’s seat when the road becomes bumpy.

1. Create more balance in your own life first

Our personal and work lives are way more interconnected than ever before.  We can’t unwind them but what we can do is become intentional with how we operate.  A lesson I have learned with meditation is to embrace this reality instead of fighting it by creating healthy boundaries.

A study showed that you get just as much work done in 55 hours per week as you would with 75 hours, meaning there is diminished return when we cross into our personal zones.  A lot of us “think” we should put a lot more hours in but the reality is that we simply need to be smarter with those hours – then shut the spigot off when it’s time to do so.

Productivity will actually increase, but you must be intentional about this.  Creating  boundaries is one of the hardest things for a leader to do.   How you solve this is by being fanatical when it comes to your calendar.  Block, block, and block your time.

2. Physical health means better mental health which means healthier leadership

What I know to be true is that after every time I work out, I have more energy.  But physical health is comprised of different components, for example your diet and sleep in addition to  physical activity.  Top leaders block out time for this because they know that they are better leaders as a result.

Those that don’t block time for their physical health typically project more stress and anxiety onto their teams.  And when times get tough, the last thing you want your teams to experience is more of these disruptive emotions.

3. Immediately increase your communication cadences with your team

There’s going to be uncertainty in the future.  People will feel stressed and that stress is exacerbated when there is lack of communication.  The mind will start playing “what if” games with outcomes, painting all sorts of scenarios – 99% of which won’t be true or become reality.  Becoming more transparent and minimizing ambiguity will squash the negative effects of foreshadowing.

4. Emphasize and re-emphasize the basics

I’m a big sports fan and the one thing I’ve noticed with EVERY winning team across EVERY sport is that they all do one thing really well – they practice the basics.  The football team focuses on blocking and tackling and get really good at it; the baseball team on fielding; the golfer on putting; the basketball team on defending.  You get my point.  Work on the basics  – prospecting, time management, acquisition of next steps in the sales process, etc.

These 5 Leadership Skills to Ride Any Wave Without Crashing

Stress surfing. Yea, I said it.  Go surf!  I don’t mean actually surf waves, but hypothetically have the mindset of surfing when times get rough.  Not too long ago I read an article which said that we’re always going to have rough times.  These times are like the waves of the ocean in that they’ll always be there.  We then have a choice.  We can let the waves crash on us and “hope” that things get better or we can view the waves as opportunities to accelerate – in essence we can “surf” the waves.  Look back in history and after every major disruption great people and great companies emerged.

They learned to surf.

In Jeff Blount’s book People Follow You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Leadership, he provides tips and secrets about how to be an effective leader and guide people toward success. For a sneak peak, download our free People Follow You chapter today! HERE