In post #18, we talked about applying intentional effort to developing the kind of person we want to BE, and starting the process by developing a BE List. The previous post focused on applying that concept to leadership, specifically the leadership legacy. Today, I want to take that idea one step further and apply it to your leadership productivity.

While it makes good, intuitive sense that people prefer to work alongside those leaders with high integrity and positive leadership attributes, can those leadership attributes also translate into productivity and effectiveness for your organization? I submit to you that they are directly related.

If you have ever had a supervisor, then you know that the research about the impact of a good supervisor on employee engagement and longevity is true. Research has repeatedly confirmed that a good supervisor has a more significant impact on employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention than compensation or financial incentives. Employees want good supervisors (duh!).

Conversely, poor supervisors are one of the leading causes of employee turnover. Some studies suggest it costs the equivalent of 9-months of an employee’s salary to replace them (in terms of recruitment, training, onboarding, and gap in productivity). And one doesn’t need to be a leader long to realize that when turnover is high, the overall group productivity is stagnant at best.

It’s no surprise that employees want inspiring leaders with integrity, good moral character, and positive personal leadership qualities. The positive leader, driven by virtue and integrity, will inspire their team. They will see the individuals on their team as valuable people, deserving of respect. They will treat others with dignity and value their work and their contributions to the department’s success. While the leader who lacks integrity almost always also lacks productivity, the good leader, with integrity and positive leadership attributes, foster greater levels of employee engagement, satisfaction, and inspire their teams to produce greater results for the organization.

You can’t fake being a good person or a good leader, but you can intentionally take steps to change and improve who you are as a person and as a leader. It starts with an honest evaluation of both. What kind of person do you want to BE? What kind of leader do you want to BE? Choose one attribute common to both lists and spend the next 60 days intentionally focusing on BEing exactly that. Read books on it, watch videos on it, immerse yourself in that concept until it changes the way you think and behave. Ask people you trust to hold you accountable.

You can do this. Start today, for today is literally the first day of the rest of your life.