3 VITAL QUESTIONS THAT BUSINESS LEADERS NEED TO ASK THEMSELVES TO HELP REACH SUCCESS IN 2022

Business productivity and profitability across all sectors are forever increasing, which means there are rising pressures from customers, owners, and shareholders for business leaders to produce ever-better results.

But there is a finite amount of time in the day, which means leaders need to start working smarter, not harder, to produce those results. According to the 2022 business leader report created by Mindshop, a 10-15% reduction in pressure is all that's needed to give leaders the time, space, and focus to make better decisions, break bad habits and build new, better ones, and have more fun.

Here are 3 vital questions that leaders should ask themselves to help analyse their strengths and weaknesses, and identify ways that they can increase productivity, whilst reducing their own stresses and gain traction.

Where can I release pressure in my own goals, schedule, role, and focus, to gain traction?

With an ever-growing list of tasks, leaders need to learn to prioritise effectively, or they risk getting bogged down in unnecessary jobs, and lose focus and performance. What tasks can you redesign to be more time-efficient? Is it possible to delegate? Or even drop the task entirely, if the benefits aren't worth the time investment. A great tool to use is the "Must-Should-Could" technique, which I explained in this post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6905123472033599488/

In what areas do I need to upskill and/or reskill?

It's often difficult to recognise our own shortcomings, but it's a vital skill for leaders to be able to improve. What areas are your skills lacking? Is there any new tech you need to figure out, techniques to apply, or skills to learn? Once you know what you need to improve, you can start to upskill in these areas. No need to write-off days or weeks for learning either - try creating short blocks of 20-30 minutes a day for dedicated learning.

Is my leadership resilience strong enough to steer the team or business to greater success in 2022?

The pandemic highlighted the importance for personal resilience, both at home, and at work. And this resilience is even more important for leaders, as if they fall flat, then the teams and business are soon to follow. Building your resilience ties in strongly with the previous two questions, in having the time and space to collect your thoughts and the skills to implement positive change. It also lies in building a leadership mindset, and understanding that it is possible, to a degree, to control emotional responses and react accordingly.

By the way, we have an award-winning programme that teaches effective leadership skills, so that you can become a leader worth following. It's called the Liberating Leadership Programme, and it will give you the skills, vision, and confidence to develop your team's performance and create relationships based on trust, accountability, and clear expectations.

Check out the programme here: https://www.aspirinbusiness.com/liberating-leadership