Being part of a positive and team-oriented culture will bring success to your team.  There are five habits that any leader should utilize to achieve success in your team.

First, always ask “What will I do today to add value to the team?”  Whether it is a conceptual concept like building trust within the team or the physical reduction of costs to relieve team stress, adding value to your team ensures that you are constantly improving as a unit.

Next, reflect on your actions.  Take the time to remember what needs to be accomplished and to ensure that every step is being taken to complete the task.  If your team does not have the resources in order to complete the task, you need to find the third party resources that can accomplish your end goal.

Third, be organized.  Often, offices don’t understand where their inefficiencies are coming from because they are not organized. Make sure you are checking in on your records to understand how you keep track of your expenses and costs.

Practice personal and professional development.  This will keep you and your team moving forward.  Always assume you do not know enough and there is always an expert, internal or external, that can improve your team.

Finally, work outside of your comfort zone.  As you continue to work outside of your comfort zone, your boundaries will continue to broaden.  This will keep you and your team striving forward.  Explore new ways to save, work, and communicate in order to drive your business forward. These habits will encourage your team to positively impact every area of your business.

Everyone has a leadership style, and no two leaders are exactly alike. There have been thousands of studies on leadership, and there are various opinions on how to categorize leaders. This particular article will classify leaders based off of three categories: Leaders that listen, Leaders that communicate, and leaders that observe. These categories are based off the experiences of the influential leaders that surround LT~CRS.

The Leader That Listens-

These are leaders that really have the ability to not only listen to their employees, but also truly care about the things their employees say. These are the leaders that shake the hand of someone once and remember the clients name, their kid’s names, and where they went for vacation last summer. These leaders often make their followers more productive because they know what makes each member of their team tick. An example of a leader that exhibits this type of leadership is Warren Buffet.

The Leader That Communicates-

These are leaders which keep their team informed. They are constantly organizing, storing, and disseminating information to their followers. As well as communicating often, they are the leaders that communicate effectively. They have no issues speaking on stage and inspiring large audiences. An example of a leader that exhibits this type of leadership is Martin Luther King.

The Leader That Observes-

These are leaders that deeply observe aspects of their business and work to resolve the problems that they see. They are the group that tends to innovate because they look more closely than the other two groups. This leadership groups’ personalities vary the most because they can be quite/shy or have a extroverted personality. An example of this type of leader would be Woodrow Wilson.

Although sometimes leaders fit into several of these categories, it is rare that a leader does them all well. Often, we see leaders lacking in at least one of these aspects. Although all of these styles are all equally beneficial, it is safe to say that the leader that observes is often not as acknowledged. These professionals are usually technically inclined and their works includes many facts that are difficult for the average follower to understand.

So what are a couple of options if you are lacking a particular skill set? Well, of course there is always training. But training takes time, and why in the long run will be best for long term improvement, lacks a bit in short term gain.

But there is an option to get a more immediate gain or effect. In order for those leaders to seek more recognition in their industries, it may help them to gain partners who are experts in the other two categories. Partners who can listen to others about the issues the organization faces as well as communicate effectively to resolve those problems. That way the leaders can notice the problems, and the partners can make it easier for the leader to make a solution come to fruition. This can have a significant and immediate impact to productivity, efficiency and most often sustainable bottom line improvements.