The Five Essential Habits Of Leadership
Note from Leo: We’re putting out a call for leaders of Sea Change accountability teams — people willing to step forward and lead, undergo a leadership training session, and share best practices for what works in leading a great accountability team. Toku shares some of the main benefits of becoming an accountability team leader below, along with how to join our program.
By Samuel Gentoku McCree
When I think about my life, I often remember all of the leaders that have helped me. My coaches, teachers, parents, and even my friends have acted as leaders at different times in my life. They led me to believe in myself, to love learning, and to try even when it was hard.
It’s easy to think that great leaders are just born. But most leaders didn’t get there on their own. They had help. They had other leaders that taught, advised, guided, and supported them. They also had teams that helped them learn how to be better leaders.
A Team of Leaders
I recently got together with Leo and a group of the most successful accountability team leaders from the Sea Change program. We all talked about the benefits of leadership, what makes a great leader, and why we lead.
From those discussions, I identified Five Essential Habits of Leadership and a ton of ways that leadership helps both teams and leaders create long lasting habits.
I’m excited to share what we learned as well as tell you about an awesome opportunity to join a new team of leaders who can help you develop these habits of leadership. But we’ll get to that later.
The Five Essential Habits Of Leadership
One of the things I learned from talking to other leaders is that there is no one type of leader.
Some of the leaders were in college and some were retired. Some of the leaders had lots of experience, others very little. Some lead in many parts of their lives, some in just a few. But even though we were all different, many of us practiced the same leadership habits.
These habits helped us lead with compassion and earn the trust of our teams. In addition many of us felt these habits affected our lives far outside our roles as leaders.
- Listening. We often think of leaders as great speakers, but the best leaders are the best listeners. Great leaders listen to each member of their team closely and reflect what they have heard.
- Flexibility. Some leaders, like bosses can be stubborn, but the best leaders look for great solutions no matter what form they take. But a flexible leader can do what’s best for the group. They don’t want their idea to win; they want the best idea to win.
- Decisiveness. The best leaders listen to their members, take input, and then move the group to a decision. A group can discuss almost any issue for days on end. But great leaders sense when nothing new is being said and move the group to end discussion and make a choice.
- Openness. The best leaders are the most vulnerable. Leaders who admit that they are struggling, own their mistakes, and laugh at themselves, earn the trust and respect of their teams. They also create a space where every member feels safe to share their own victories and defeats.
- Supportiveness. It’s easy to think a team supports it’s leader, but the best leaders see it the other way around. The leader is the only member in the group who is responsible for supporting all members individually as well as the team as a whole.
Why We Lead?
I know for myself that being a leader of an accountability team is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done. The process has taught me so much about who I am and how I can help others.
In addition, as accountability team leaders we felt more accountable to our habits and were able to keep our habits more consistent for longer periods. This is because being a leader deepens your commitment.
But we didn’t do it alone. Every one of us had help building and sustaining these leadership habits. And that’s one of the reasons we decided to create the Sea Change Leadership Team.
Your Chance to Lead
Right now, we are looking for people who want to step up and to serve the Sea Change community. We are doing a trial run of our Sea Change Leadership Training program and the participants will be some of the first members of the Sea Change Leadership Team.
Along with the inherent benefits of being a leader, we’re including some added benefits as a way to thank you for stepping up and in order to help you learn these essential habits of leadership.
Here are some of the extra perks that members of the Sea Change Leadership Team will get.
- You’ll be part of a select group of Sea Change members.
- You’ll get to attend a special Sea Change Leadership Training modeled after what we learned from the most successful team leaders.
- You’ll get access to extra resources just for members of the Sea Change Leadership Team.
- Periodically, you’ll get to attend special meetings hosted by Leo where you can ask questions and get support.
- We will have regular Leadership Team meetings where you can share ideas and discuss best practices with other Sea Change Team Leaders.
- You’ll have the chance to be mentored by past team leaders and the chance to mentor future team leaders.
If you want to apply, please fill out this leadership team questionnaire. We are only taking 30 people for the first round of training. Anyone who is not selected will be placed on a waiting list for future trainings.
Even if you don’t apply now, consider other opportunities in your life where you can be a leader. It could be one of the most rewarding things for you, your habits, and those around you.