Effective leaders come in all shapes, sizes, and styles – but certain leadership principles underscore them all.
Some people are born leaders, in the sense that they instinctively know how to rally others to their side. But for most of us, leadership is a learned skill.
The good news is that you can refine your leadership style with practice over time. But regardless of whether you default to a coaching style or something more directive, several leadership principles apply across the board.
Familiarizing yourself with these common values can help you hone your skills and shape your leadership instincts – regardless of your specific style.
What are leadership principles?
Leadership principles are the fundamental guidelines or values that guide your actions, decisions, and behaviors as a leader.
The truth is that there’s not one foolproof “good” leadership style (hence why situational leadership is so popular). However, you’ll find evidence of the following eight principles across all effective leaders – even if their tactics and approaches are different.
8 leadership principles to be an effective and empathetic leader
1. Finding (and living) your values
Leadership values are one thing – but you should also consider your personal values. These are the qualities and ideals that you hold dear and that shape your identity.
Understandably, your own values will heavily influence your approach to leadership. They’ll serve as your guideposts as you manage and make decisions for your team. Identifying your values and making an effort to always act in alignment with them can go a long way in inspiring trust from your team members.
How to do it
You need to define your values before you can follow them. That’s all about setting aside time for introspection and self-reflection. Ask yourself questions like:
- What qualities do I most admire in others?
- What behaviors do I want to model for my team?
- What do I want people to say about me when I’m not in the room?
Your answers will help you uncover the different qualities and ideals that hold deep meaning for you. Experts also recommend selecting an artifact – a simple and tangible object like a photo or memento– that serves as a symbol for what you cherish and revere.
Keep in mind that identifying your values is only the first step. The key is to integrate those into your daily work and decision-making. It’s confusing for your team if you espouse family as a core value but don’t allow people the flexibility they need to tend to their own family matters.
2. Demonstrating humility
It takes courage to be open about what you know versus what you’re working to find out. It takes courage to make decisions based on incomplete information. Heck, it takes courage just to ask for advice. But here’s the good news: humble leadership is positively and significantly associated with better creative performance, intrinsic motivation, and work engagement.
This combination of humility and vulnerability builds trust with the people you’re leading and also cultivates psychological safety on your team. That shows people it’s okay not to have all the answers and can encourage them to admit mistakes early on when they’re easiest to address.
How to do it
Humility can be hard for leaders – especially if you previously operated with the assumption that any display of “weakness” damages your reputation and reduces respect.
Fortunately, there are small steps you can take to be more honest and vulnerable with your team, including:
- Admitting your mistakes or openly discussing challenges
- Acknowledging when you don’t have all of the answers or information
- Apologizing for your wrongdoings
They’re simple enough steps, but simple doesn’t always mean easy. Humility takes bravery.
3. Embracing change
Leaders are responsible for leading their teams through inevitable ups and downs, which means adaptability is a critical skill. Rather than resisting change, it’s up to you to lead by example and show your team how to navigate uncertainty with calm, confidence, and critical thinking.
Your ability to ride those waves will pay dividends for you and your entire team. Research shows that higher levels of adaptability are positively associated with better performance, confidence, and creative output.
How to do it
While we all like to think we’re able to roll with the punches, our brains are riddled with cognitive biases (like status quo bias or confirmation bias) that prompt us to grit our teeth through whatever conditions we’re familiar with – even if they’re no longer working for us.
Start by determining your default mindset and behavior patterns when faced with a change. Do you start poking holes immediately? Or do you disengage from the conversation until you can no longer avoid the impending change?
When you know how you typically react and respond, you’re better able to identify those ingrained patterns, push yourself to consider different perspectives, and become more open to change.
Once you’re ready to officially roll out a change to your team, a change management kick-off can get everybody on the same page and reduce the nerves and naysayers.
4. Committing to continuous learning
The best leaders know they’re never done learning. When you recognize and openly admit that there’s always room for you to grow and improve, you check off another important leadership principle: humility. Strong leaders keep their hubris in check.
Prioritizing your own learning also fuels psychological safety on your team and shows people that identifying their areas of improvement isn’t an admission of weakness – it’s an opportunity.
How to do it
There are plenty of ways to make sure continuous learning doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of your daily work, including:
- Setting ambitious stretch goals that push you and your team outside your comfort zones
- Regularly soliciting and implementing feedback from your team members
- Opening your mind to diverse opinions and perspectives
One of the biggest roadblocks leaders face when investing in their learning is time. So, intentionally block off space each month or quarter to develop your skills. Make it a team-wide thing to help everybody else on your team embody this principle too.
5. Displaying emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is your ability to recognize and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. Think it sounds a little too “woo-woo” to be meaningful? Research shows a clear connection between emotional intelligence and leadership style effectiveness.
Your emotional intelligence is what helps you deliver helpful feedback, manage burnout and stressful situations, and help each of your team members fulfill their maximum potential – while being a compassionate and trusted manager who always leads with humanity.
How to do it
Improving your emotional intelligence can seem ambiguous and daunting, but it’s another area where seemingly small steps can make a meaningful impact:
- Practice naming your feelings: For example, try saying “I feel stressed” in a team meeting where you’re discussing a major roadblock. It not only models emotional awareness for your team and gives them permission to feel and name their own feelings, but it also can reduce the severity of your emotion (a concept known as “name it to tame it”).
- Do a mood check-in: Start your team meetings with a quick mood check-in where colleagues can indicate their emotional state using a word, emoji, or GIF. It’s an easy and lighthearted icebreaker activity that normalizes emotions and gets everybody on the same page.
- Run the Work Life Impact Play: This play facilitates open communication, fosters empathy, and helps everyone understand their team members’ work experiences.
6. Listening
By staying curious and actively listening to your team members, you interrupt confirmation bias – the tendency to see new information in a way that confirms what you already believe. The trouble with confirmation bias is that it prevents you from taking in valuable information, which impedes your ability to make sound decisions. That makes your leadership less effective.
Making space and listening to other opinions builds loyalty and engagement. That’s important when only 21% of employees strongly agree that they trust their organization’s leadership. Plus, research shows that people will be more likely to accept and commit to a decision (even one they originally disagreed with) if they have a chance to state their case.
How to do it
Listening is another one of those things that sounds simple but is surprisingly difficult in practice. Committing to active listening (meaning listening with the intent of actually comprehending and retaining information) is the best way to make the most of your two ears. You can improve your active listening skills by:
- Asking open-ended questions (and paying attention to the answers)
- Summarizing the information someone shared to confirm your understanding
- Eliminating distractions to give someone your full attention
- Resisting the urge to interrupt with your two cents
Completing user manuals with your team can be helpful too, as those manuals give you all a better idea of how each person prefers to work, communicate, and receive feedback.
7. Embracing innovation and creativity
Modern organizations are hungry for innovation, and leaders are on the hook for shaping team cultures that breed new ideas, encourage creative solutions, and allow for plenty of experimentation.
That requires big-picture thinking from you as the manager, and doing so helps you avoid a cognitive bias known as loss aversion. Research has suggested that loss is twice as potent from a psychological perspective as gain is. Therefore, you can fall into the trap of rejecting a promising idea simply because it would involve losing something you value. By acknowledging the full scope of trade-offs, you set yourself up to make better decisions.
How to do it
Practicing humility is one of the best ways to embrace innovation – it’s easier to stay open-minded to bold ideas when you aren’t letting your own ego drive.
Beyond that, brainstorming is one of the best ways to tap into your team’s collective creativity and ingenuity. Try running a Disruptive Brainstorming session that forces your team to consider a variety of perspectives.
Still struggling to come up with groundbreaking answers or solutions? Try running a 5 Whys Analysis to get down to the root cause of a problem and generate new ideas from there.
8. Promoting diversity and embracing inclusivity
Research routinely shows that diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones. Varied perspectives lead to richer discussions, more creative ideas, and better outcomes for your team (and the entire organization).
For that reason, diverse teams and inclusive environments aren’t just buzzwords – they’re crucial for effective leadership. It’s not a one-time initiative either. It requires consistent effort to prove to team members that they’re safe bringing their whole selves to work without fear of discrimination or exclusion.
How to do it
Inclusivity sounds nice and all, but to reap the rewards, it needs to be embedded into your team’s daily practices. Start by running the Inclusive Meetings Play to ensure every voice is heard during your team conversations.
You can also run a Team Health Monitor to assess how your team is feeling about various topics, including whether diverse viewpoints are welcomed and whether they feel an overall sense of belonging on the team.
Ultimately, both of those plays facilitate open, honest, and respectful conversations about inclusivity – and that level of candid communication is the single best step you can take to embrace acceptance and fairness on your team.
Lead with purpose (and your principles)
Sometimes leadership is about breaking the mold and pushing boundaries. Other times, it’s about knowing exactly which qualities to embody to earn trust and inspire confidence.
Like any other leader, you have a distinct style – and, by all means, refine your unique approach. But, as you do, rely on these core leadership principles to develop the instincts you need to guide your team with the perfect balance of compassion and confidence.
Special thanks to Sarah Goff-Dupont for her contributions to this article.