How can we maximise performance & productivity? How important it is to empower and involve others? What advice would you give on how to create teams that manage themselves? Here are 7 simplified lessons from “White Hat Leadership” by T.R. Warren.
👉 1. People-centric leadership: 👤 Leaders should focus on developing their people and creating a positive work environment that supports their growth and development. Who invests in training programs? Would that help employees improve? Would that enhance their skills?
👉 2. Building trust: 🤝 Trust is essential to effective leadership. Says who? Should leaders strive to build a culture of trust? How? How about transparency and accountability? Would it help? Sharing information openly about the organisation’s performance with team and encouraging feedback and suggestions are seen as trust building elements
👉 3. Effective communication: 📢 Almost all leadership books and discussions are highlighting communication as key for leaders. Therefore, leaders should be clear and concise when communicating with team, ensuring everyone understands their role and the expectations. It is particularly important to communicate vision, strategy and change. Would a circular or an email suffice?
👉 4. Adaptability: 🕰️ Leaders should be adaptable and able to pivot the strategy and approach to meet the changing needs of the team and organisation. What is required to be adaptable? So if a team leader modifies a project timeline to account for unexpected delays, he or she is doing this to ensure the team can deliver results on time. Well, We should have realistic deadlines in the first place, we can’t have all tasks to be done yesterday!
👉 5. Constant improvement: 🔧 Leaders should encourage their team to continually improve and learn, fostering a culture of innovation and creativity. The environment should be set in such away. Resources and time should be provided for employees to attend training sessions and workshops to learn new skills. Read lesson 1 above again please!Do organisations invest in training programs?
👉 6. Delegating tasks: 🔖 Good leaders should delegate responsibilities and trust their team members to handle tasks effectively. Delegation without empowerment may not be effective. Leaders need to understand the strengths, skills and weaknesses of their teams. Don’t forget, delegation does not relief ownership!
👉 7. Visionary leadership: 🚦 Leaders should have a clear vision for their team and organisation, communicating it effectively and continuously aligning their team’s work to achieve it. Wow, how many leaders you know who are actually visionaries?! Read lesson 3 above again please!
These 7 lessons from “White Hat Leadership” encourage leaders to adopt an ethical approach to leadership, fostering a strong and positive organisational culture that supports team members’ growth and development.
The book also emphasises the benefits of creating an environment that encourages independent thinking and action. Ultimately, it shows how real leaders can inspire others, achieve better results, prioritise the common good, and find personal fulfilment and success.
Don’t Sink 