Leadership is often viewed from the surface—meeting goals, driving results, and managing teams. However, the most impactful leaders know that true influence lies beneath these visible aspects. To deepen your impact as a leader, you must look under the surface, focusing on the unseen dynamics that shape your team's culture, motivation, and overall success.
The Hidden Layers of Leadership
On the surface, leadership is a straightforward task. You set a vision, create a plan, and execute it with your team. Bam. Simple.
Effective leadership goes far beyond these basic functions. Much like an iceberg is mostly under the water, there is much more to the role of an impactful leader.
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Being able to recognize and manage your emotions is an important skill to have for teamwork and effective leadership. Of equal importance is being aware and influencing the emotions of others.
Emotional intelligence allows you to build stronger relationships, navigate conflicts, and foster a positive work environment. Leaders and team members with high emotional intelligence are generally better at communication, empathy, and creating a supportive work culture.
Authentic Connection
Yes, there is quite a bit of issuing directives in leadership, though there is more to it. Leadership also requires genuinely connecting with your team. When you’re authentic and honest in your interactions, you build trust. That trust encourages others to be open, honest, and committed.
This comes with a line of caution. When you’re aiming hard for the designation of “Effective Leader,” don’t focus so hard on others that you forget yourself. Save space for yourself to stretch and grow. Not only does this make burnout less likely, but you also provide an excellent example to your team.
Values-Driven Leadership
Beneath every decision and action lies a set of core values. When you lead with these values, they guide your decision-making. Have you ever admired someone for “sticking to their guns”? When you lead by your values—or rather, allow yourself to be led by your values—it inspires your team to unite behind a shared purpose.
Awareness of Group Dynamics
Becoming a more impactful leader requires understanding the subtle dynamics within your team. What are the power balances? What communication styles fit your individual team members? Where are the unspoken tensions?
Knowing the answers to these questions helps you proactively address issues. By preventing tensions before they rise, you create a more cohesive, collaborative environment.
Strategies for Deepening Your Impact as a Leader
The path to becoming a more impactful leader has no set length. Each leader’s journey is unique. We all bring our own strengths, perspectives, and experiences to the table.
While not every strategy below will resonate with everyone, research and leadership best practices show that you're likely to find at least one approach that makes you go, “Ah ha.” Maybe not a “eureka” moment, but even a small shift in thinking can lead to significant impact.
Build Self-Awareness
You might say, “Barb, you’re always talking about self-awareness!” And I’ll say, yes, yes I am!
Listen, my friend, self-awareness isn’t just about finding all the places you lack. It’s also about recognizing all the places you shine. You have to be aware of self before you can reflect your strengths into your relationships. So, how do you do that?
Start by looking inward.
Think about your leadership style, strengths, and areas for growth. Self-assessments like this help you understand how your actions and attitudes influence your team. Simple tools like journaling, peer feedback, and mindfulness practices can help.
Professional tools, like the
Integrative9 Enneagram Assessment and 360-degree feedback, provide in-depth insights into your strengths and weaknesses. Paired with coaching, this is a powerful tool for leadership development.
Listen Actively and Deeply
Surface-level listening is when you hear someone and don’t fully engage enough to understand the deeper meaning behind them. It’s a passive form of listening, and you miss out on many emotions, intentions, or context. You might be focused on your thoughts or thinking of a response. In leadership, this often leads to missed cues in emotional or interpersonal dynamics.
In contrast, deep or active listening involves fully concentrating on your team members. Pay attention to their words and the emotions behind them. Let there be a natural pause between listening and speaking, and respond thoughtfully. Validate their experience, and respond in a way that shows you understand. This type of listening helps build trust, understanding, and stronger relationships.
Build Psychological Safety
Our modern society has built a fear of being wrong. As if being wrong is the worst thing you can be. I’ve been struck with the “I have to be RIGHT,” thought myself. This type of environment stifles innovation. It creates an environment where individuals are afraid to take risks.
Instead, we want to create environments where team members feel safe to express their thoughts (respectfully, of course), take risks, and make mistakes without fear of judgment or retribution.
Organizations that cultivate psychological safety tend to be more innovative and higher performing.
Prioritize Team Development
Investing in the growth and development of your team is one of the best ways to show they’re appreciated and noticed. Provide opportunities for leadership development workshops, mentorship programs, and skill-building. When your team sees you’re committed to their personal and professional growth, they’re more likely to be engaged and motivated.
Adopt a Coach Approach
“Adopting a coach approach” is guiding your team to find their own solutions. This fosters self-reliance, deepens their engagement, and feeds personal growth. This approach encourages you to actively listen and collaborate. It helps you build empathy, a powerful leadership tool that gives you space to understand your employees better.
Tell Stories
As a leadership tool, storytelling builds closer connections and a strong team culture. What does that mean?
Share your personal experiences. At one point in time, you were where they are or in some place like it. What did you learn to get you from point A to point D? What insights can you offer that align with your team’s values and challenges?
Telling these stories adds authenticity to your leadership. Not only does it show that you have gone “through the ranks,” as it were, but it also makes abstract goals more relatable. However, the stories should resonate with the audience’s experiences. Compelling storytelling resonates more when team members can see themselves in the story, but it’s also motivating when the story inspires them to aim higher.
Champion Adaptability and Resilience
Change happens, whether you’re expecting it or not. Whether you want it to or not. The pace of change is accelerating, and flexible, resilient teams are imperative. Learning how to coach your team through change is a valuable leadership skill to have.
When you show calm, inspiring change leadership, you provide an additional resource to build their resilience. In this way, your organization builds collective perseverance and learns how to embrace setbacks as learning opportunities.
Promote Accountability
Accountability is essential for high performance and building a culture of trust. Encourage team members to take ownership of their work, set clear expectations, and hold themselves accountable for results. When individuals understand that their contributions are recognized and essential to the team’s success, they are more motivated to perform at their best.
As a leader, model accountability by being transparent about your responsibilities, commitments, and mistakes you make along the way. This not only fosters a sense of shared ownership but also demonstrates integrity, reinforcing the importance of accountability throughout the team.
Practice Humility and Servant Leadership
Leadership isn't just about directing others but serving them. Show humility by seeking feedback from your team, admitting when you're wrong, and prioritizing the needs and development of others over your personal agenda.
A humble leader creates a culture where vulnerability is valued and learning is encouraged. By positioning yourself as a servant-leader, you empower your team, remove obstacles, and provide the support they need to grow. This approach builds long-term respect and loyalty, as people are more willing to follow a leader who genuinely cares about their success and well-being.
The Ripple Effect of Impactful Leadership
When you focus on the deeper aspects of leadership, the impact extends far beyond your immediate team. Leaders who operate beneath the surface create ripples that influence the broader organization, driving a culture of trust, resilience, and shared purpose. This ripple effect can lead to higher employee satisfaction, better retention, and a more innovative and dynamic workplace.
Conclusion
Deepening your impact as a leader requires a commitment to exploring what lies beneath the surface. Learn how to build your emotional intelligence. Build more authentic connections. Lead with empathy, guided by your values. These strategies and others can help you create lasting, meaningful change within your team and organization.
Friends, true leadership isn’t achieving results, although that is a part of it. Real leadership inspires others. It nurtures growth and builds a legacy of positive influence. It’s a commitment to others that you’ll grow together, and an acknowledgment that they’re a part of your leadership journey. This is the real, profound impact you can have when you deepen your leadership focus.
Do you want to understand how to become a more effective leader?
Kinetic Clarity offers executive coaching to help new leaders gain momentum in the right direction. With professional assessments like
Integrative9 Enneagram and
Emergentics, we can help you learn how to strengthen your skills and grow your effectiveness as a leader.
