Every year, like clockwork, millions of Americans make essentially the same 5-10 New Year’s Resolutions. Getting in shape, eating healthier, saving money or spending less tend to make the top of the list year after year. This year, however, why not think outside the box and resolve to be a better leader? Here are three ways to become a better leader in the next decade.
Use technology
Being a good leader means setting a good example. That includes things like being on time to important meetings and remembering important dates without prompting from others. Actually using the organizational and time-management tools that technology offers can help you rely less on others to remind you of things in order to set a better example for them instead.
Seek out both negative and positive feedback
There is no doubt that we all love hearing about all the things we do right but not very many people have the same desire to hear about all the things they do wrong. If you don’t know what you are doing wrong, however, you can’t fix it. There is no improvement without negative feedback. While positive feedback may feel good, negative feedback may actually be far more valuable. That being said, you also have to develop a thick skin to allow you to absorb negative feedback without allowing it to weigh you down or make you feel like a miserable failure. Feedback is what you make of it. If you learn to think of feedback more like the results of a medical test and less like a personal attack on your worth and value as a person, you will be able to use the feedback you get far more effectively.
Learn to speak less and listen more
The longer you live, the more experience you gain. The more experience you gain, the more valuable your opinion becomes. The more valuable your opinion becomes, the more tempting it can be to offer it every chance you get. It is important to remember, however, that no matter how educated your opinion may be, it is still just an opinion. In addition, there will never come a time when you have learned everything there is to learn nor to have made every mistake there is to make. The more you learn to listen, the more you learn. Not only that but listening can actually help you benefit from the mistakes of others so you don’t have to make them all yourself.