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Leadership is a skill that anyone can learn, and everyone leads in their own way. Just looking at the difference between Jacinda Ardern and Donald Trump – VERY different leadership styles, and while you might not agree, both effective leaders in their own way.
Recently, I’ve been learning about my own leadership style with One of Many Women. We all have unique talents and abilities that colour the way we lead, and if you’re building a business, then you ARE a leader whether you like it or not. We don’t all need to look the same though.
I’m a strong creator who can finish projects when I put my mind to it and feel happy to be in front of people talking/performing (this was something surprisingly I learnt about myself!). I am NOT good with detail. So in my leadership, I have lots of ideas and can start projects off, but I need to balance them with people who can help me drill down on the detail. When looking for a coach to help me with business, I realised I needed to find someone who can help me do this. Learning about yourself is really useful!
What Makes An Effective Leader?
In my opinion, good leaders have the following traits – there are loads more I could talk about, but you’d switch off and I won’t get to my point!
Vision/Purpose
A vision is the point on the horizon in the distant future – it’s what drives us to get out of bed in the morning. It might be an idea that you would love to see happen, but perhaps you’ll never see it in your lifetime. Take Elon Musk and his Mars mission as an example. His vision is to see a city on Mars for people to live in. His vision may not be realised in his lifetime, but he is paving the way towards that. With a strong vision, people want to get on board with that and are more willing to help make it happen.
Strong Boundaries
Good leaders have strong boundaries. They don’t run around doing things for people that can be better done by someone else. They delegate. They schedule in rest time. They say “no” when they need to. And holding space for a strong boundary is not being a bitch – I keep reminding myself of this (I hate setting boundaries). It’s about valuing yourself and what you bring to the world. This also includes keeping coaching sessions to time, not discounting everything and not giving loads away for free – full dislosure – I’m guilty of ALL of these.
Direction
Effective leaders know where they are taking people. They have a guiding compass based on their values and principles, and they lead from there. There are bumps and milestones along the path, but the leader is showing the way through to that vision they have in their heads.
Problem Solving
I believe that leaders are great problem solvers – they won’t give up at the first hurdle and will always find a way. A “no” doesn’t always mean “no” to a problem solving leader. And if they can’t fix it, they’ll find someone who can.
They Seek Help
Leaders know that they don’t know everything. Richard Branson has people to help him because of his dyslexia. Boris Johnson has numerous scientific and health advisers to help with with the current outbreak. No leader does anything on their own. They are the result of the advice, guidance, support and encouragement of many many people.
Ok, So How Does This Translate To Money?
While talking about leadership is thought provoking, I can see how this can easily be translated to money. Being an effective money-leader is much the same as being an effective people-leader too. How would you describe yourself as a leader to money? Are you a tyrant who monitors every penny and won’t spend out on anything, or are you so laid back that money goes flying out the door the first chance it gets?
We can all be effective leaders to money. We also have our own “leadership” styles that come from our money personality. How we manage money is how we manage everything, and this may be a good place for you to start looking to make changes.
Money Vision/Purpose
Without an end destination, what’s the point in anything? How much do you need to retire on? How much do you need in an emergency fund? Do you have a dream of owning your own house? That’s great – but how much do you need?
All of these questions will help you get clear on what you want. If you don’t know what you want, how will you know if you’re making progress towards it??
The other question to ask yourself is, when do you want it by? This will DRASTICALLY change how much effort is required to get there. Want to retire in 20 years? Ok…. how much do you need to put away every month then???
Money Boundaries
Without effective boundaries in place, we spring leaks in our finances. Money can be allowed to go off with whoever she wants leaving us broke and frustrated! Where are you not charging enough for your services? Do you chase invoices or bounced payments? Do you have a budget that gives every pound a job to do?
If you answered no, then it is highly likely that spending time with a budget would be a good idea. Get clear on your numbers, take control and set awesome boundaries so you don’t end up overspending or throwing money away on things that aren’t helpful.
Money and Direction
This is how you are leading your money along the path to your vision. Setting milestones to celebrate is a nice tangible thing you can do to show your progress. Celebrate your first £1000 in savings. Celebrate opening an investment account for retirement. Celebrate your first mistakes (yes really!) – it’s all in aid of knowing where you’re heading.
Problem Solving and Money
And that leads me onto my next point…..Leaders get stuff wrong ALL THE TIME, and that’s ok! We’re human, not robots. What matters is how we respond to mistakes. If we curl up into a little ball and stick our heads in the sand, then we won’t get very far.
Mistakes are signs that we are trying – no one got anywhere without making them. So don’t be scared of starting something like investing for fear of making a mistake – it happens. When I started investing I made the mistake of not checking fees on mt first transaction. My £100 investment turned into £93 before I’d even started because the fee was taken out. I took my time on the next one and realised where I had gone wrong, plus I didn’t sell my “mistake” investment. This is now one of my better performing ones!
Money and Seeking Help
When I was learning how to invest, I had help. I had guidance from others who were more knowldgable than me, and I followed their advice. I have needed help with how to manage my business and how to create a website, a social media presence and how to create videos. NONE of this was done with me on my own. I took guidance and acted on what I was taught.
So where do you need help? Perhaps you need to set up a will, or find a broker to help with a mortgage? Perhaps you’d like to learn how to invest but don’t know where to start? Unless you have £40,000 sitting around doing nothing, you’re unlikely to be attractive to a financial adviser to help you do that – this is where someone like me comes in to help you get to that stage.
Final Thoughts
Money needs good leadership, so how good a leader are you? Starting with being honest to yourself about the actions you’re taking with money is helpful. Then figure out your destination and work backwards – I learnt a new word for this process the other day. It’s called “Backcasting”. It’s the process of planning your milestones to your detination.
If you want help, let’s have a chat! I have a free facebook group you can join to talk with others about how you’re feeling when it comes to money. We’re a boredom and jargon-free zone!
Until next time,
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