The Top 3 Leadership Activities That Help Grow The Bottom Line

In a recent Harvard Business Review online article it stated that leaders are being held accountable now more than ever to creating lean teams who can produce more, increase profits and innovate all towards the goal of helping to grow the business.

We are in transformative times in business- leaders who can adapt quickly, rally teams to mobilize projects quickly and at the same time keep the team members engaged are truly transformative leaders. This all sounds great in theory- what are the ‘activities’ a leader needs to be doing in order to help grow the bottom line- while at the same time keep people engaged?

The leaders who are thriving in these fast times of change are focused on the following activities:

Activity #1- Change management skill development and growth. Leaders who consistently challenge his or her ‘biases’ about their individual capabilities as well as the capabilities of others are able to mobilize adaptation to fast change are helping business to grow. When we talk of the activity of change management I am referring to using strategies that elevate energy levels so that output is easily increased. Activities can include being supported with a mentor, coach or programs that keeps the focus on adaptation and growth and that help leaders to be more energized and creative. This ultimately impacts the bottom line.

I recently just came back from a week long retreat that focused on ‘energy management’ and challenging long held ideas about ‘how’ things should work and was focused on maximizing my strengths and natural abilities that are innate. The secret weapon for leaders who know this one is finding outlets that increase the ability to morph and adapt. The retreat I attended was a mind/body/spirit event and a one week immersion in coming up with new and updated strategies on how to increase my capacity to be healthier, more effective and a better leader.

Activity #2- Consistently focus on the shift of thought patterns and communication that inspires and motivates others to bring their best to work. This activity is a heightened awareness and responsibility to focus on elevated energy thoughts and communication. You and I know that we can completely shift the energetics of a conversation or a team meeting by the amount of focus and energy we bring as leaders. When we use language that builds and grows others  it elevates the energy of the team overall.

Leaders who focus on language that focuses on the future and who constantly monitor their ‘negative’ thought patterns and who re frames the thoughts/words to ‘elevation’ are able to create an energy field that contributes to increased team well being, team output and overall this impacts the bottom line.

Activity #3- Step up the quality of the questions. Leaders who ask better questions are able to create solutions that are relevant and helpful in moving business forward. In my experience the CEO’s or leaders who focus on shifting the quality of his or her questions increases creativity and innovation.

For example when I was working with a group in Indonesia a few months ago a senior leader asked the following question, “How can we get our employees to work harder?”

That question is a low energy question and it also denotes that his employees are not ‘good enough’ a higher energetic question could be, “What conditions do we need to create in the company in order to create an engaged and motivated workforce that moves the business forward?”

These two questions are very different from each other and the answer to each of these questions will lead to different levels of discussion as well as different level of solutions.

The three activities above may not have been what you would have expected with a title that promised to ‘increase the bottom line’ AND it is precisely these three activities that are crucial in today’s fast paced environment. As CEO’s and senior leaders we must continue to focus on our biggest asset which is our people. All activities that contribute to people development are the activities that will grow the bottom line today and well into the future.