What Is Your Leadership Hack?

The word ‘hack’ has changed over time, from a negative connotation to a more positive meaning recently. The explosion of videos on YouTube enabled anyone with a smartphone to share many hacks, including life hacks, parent hacks and so on.

Dictionary.com defines a hack as a ‘tip, trick, or efficient method for doing or managing something.’ In other words, it is finding ways to build something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done to improve tasks to be better and faster continuously.

In the context of leadership, it is anything that helps you accomplish more in less time and can include shortcuts, simplified steps, fast-tracked processes, or anything that simplifies and speeds up a task.

Leadership hacks identify ways leaders can make a difference to the people around them and the tasks they are confronted with. They are about being admired by other leaders because of their ability to work smarter and more efficiently and inspire and empower others.

So, what does it take to be a leader admired by others?

This article will discuss three ultimate hacks in leadership: Mindset, Approach, and Impact, for the road ahead.

Mindset: How you view yourself and the world around you, your beliefs and values all contribute to your mindset. Your internal monologue and the moral compass that guides you as a leader will influence your ability to hack your current leadership.

Now more than ever, leaders must be clear and intentional about their mindset. In the past, leaders had plenty of time to think through different approaches; however, this process has become more challenging today.

Carol Dweck has identified two distinct mindsets that determine whether people successfully adapt to the world around them. A fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Her research has shown that leaders with a growth mindset are generally more fulfilled than those without because they can learn to fulfill their potential.

Examining or challenging your mindset, you can identify what may limit your ability to complete your desired things. In other words, you may need to hack your mindset to enable you to move forward and improve your effectiveness as a leader.

Approach: This is about what you do regarding the steps you take as a leader to make things happen. As a leader, you must be proactive in your approach and methods to achieve an objective.

Leaders need to hack their approach and identify shortcuts and strategies to do more in less time.

Impact: A leader’s impact on people separates the typical leader from the great leader. Anyone with authority and power can boss around employees to achieve results. However, incredible leaders can motivate and inspire their staff in a way that genuinely mobilizes them.

The idea is to identify ways to hack your impact on people by adapting your leadership to create a culture where your staff want to make things happen, not necessarily for monetary reasons but their belief that their contributions matter.

In conclusion, leaders will always be flawed. Still, mindset, approach and impact in perfect alignment can allow amazing things to happen, including becoming the leader others will admire. Regardless of where you are as a leader, there will be many practical strategies or hacks you can take to improve your impact and your results for the road ahead.