But what does that really mean for you? It’s about learning to focus on what truly matters, making space for the decisions only you can make, and finding ways to stay energized when life gets overwhelming. It also entails sifting through the incessant barrage of emails, meetings, and tasks to gain clarity about your purpose. Most importantly, it’s about staying true to yourself and tapping into the unique value only you can bring to the table.

Why a Personal Leadership Model Matters

Think of your personal leadership model as the way you shape your work and life—your purpose, your daily habits, and the way you get things done. As leaders, we often focus so much on making sure our teams run smoothly that we forget to pause and look at how we’re leading ourselves. If you don’t prioritize the time to step back and assess, it’s all too easy to fall into a never-ending cycle of reacting to everything and losing sight of what’s really important. That’s why it’s so imperative to take an intentional, flexible approach to how you show up and perform.

When your personal leadership philosophy lines up with what matters most to you—your values, strengths, and goals—you can find more clarity, stay productive, and make a bigger impact. But when it doesn’t? You’ve probably been there before—constant busyness without real progress, feeling drained, and watching your influence slip away. Taking the time to realign can be a game changer.

The Modern Challenges of Leadership

Leading today is no straightforward task. The rise of remote work has turned old ways of working upside down, blurred the lines between work and life, and completely shifted what people expect from their jobs. On top of that, technology has completely altered how we connect, collaborate, and make decisions. At the same time, employees are looking for more than just a paycheck—they want purpose, flexibility, and a break from rigid systems.

It’s more important than ever for leaders to pause and take a serious look at how they’re continually showing up. Are you spending your time and energy on the things that truly matter? Are you clear about where your focus should be? Reflecting on how you approach your role isn’t just helpful—it’s necessary. Here are some key areas every leader should think about.

Technology as a Leadership Ally

Integrating technology into your leadership approach isn’t optional anymore—it’s an important asset that exponentially positively impacts everything else. Tools like automation platforms, time-tracking apps, and AI assistants can make a massive difference when used deliberately. Technology should feel like an extension of how you lead, not something that takes over. It’s less about the tools themselves and more about how they serve your people and your purpose. With the right approach, technology becomes a partner in helping you lead with clarity, focus, and care.

For example, I recently worked with an executive who was extremely overwhelmed by routine administrative tasks. After she adopted automation software for email sorting, calendar coordination, and task tracking, her productivity then soared. This allowed her to redirect her attention to coaching up her team and strategy design—two areas where her leadership easily created the most impact.

The lesson here is clear: leaders should act like architects, using technology to streamline operations and free space for the high-value tasks. This shift requires regular experimentation—what works for someone else may not work for you. The key is finding tools and routines that enhance your unique rhythm.

Never-Ending Cycle of Disruptions

The shift to remote work is redefining the qualities needed in effective leadership. Distributed teams require different structures, communication practices, and cultural norms compared to in-person environments. Leaders must be proactive in continually building trust without micromanaging and setting expectations that empower rather than constrain.

I was helping a company struggling to adjust to some significant internal changes earlier in the year. Beyond overwhelmed, one of the key managers bounced between back-to-back Zoom meetings trying to keep the team “visible.” It was exhausting and yielded no benefits for anyone involved. We eventually sat down and brainstormed new ways for the team to collaborate. We gave top priority to asynchronous communication and developed clear roadmaps for important projects. This allowed the manager to finally concentrate on bigger-picture strategies, free of the constant interruptions caused by Slack notifications. The change was beneficial for the whole team, not only for the manager involved. Less supervision and more trust helped them start working more effectively and producing better outcomes.

The challenge for leaders today is to inspire through intention, not just presence alone. How are your workflows set up to ensure you’re delegating with clarity while staying connected to the bigger picture?

Emerging Trends in Leadership Priorities

Leadership itself is being redefined, with evolving employee expectations and rapid market transformations setting the tone. Here are some trends that will shape successful personal leadership models for years to come:

• Purpose and Execution: Great leadership today isn’t about choosing between purpose and execution—it’s about finding the right balance between the two. Vision without action will easily leave your team directionless, while execution without a deeper purpose often leads to burnout and disengagement. The most effective leaders intertwine the two, turning their vision into purposeful action that energizes their teams and delivers meaningful results.
• Work-Life Integration: The era of chasing elusive work-life “balance” is over. Leaders now need to think about integration—designing schedules that seamlessly incorporate professional responsibilities, personal needs, and wellness activities. This isn’t about doing everything; it’s about finding intentional harmony.
• Focus on Well-Being: Burnout is no longer an individual issue—it’s a systemic challenge the best organizations are proactively addressing. Leaders who prioritize their health and energy model sustainable ways of working for everyone around them.
• Continuous Agility: Leadership is no longer about consistency for its own sake. Agility has replaced perfection as one of the more crucial leadership traits. Updating your systems and behaviors based on feedback and new information will distinguish tomorrow’s most effective leaders.

Actionable Steps to Upgrade Your Personal Leadership Model

If you’re ready to adapt your personal leadership model, here are some steps to help guide you:

Reflect Weekly: At the end of each week, ask yourself three questions:

• What went well?
• What didn’t align with my goals?
• What can I do differently next week?

Schedule Time for Strategic Thinking: Schedule time in your calendar for strategy development. Don’t treat this as a “nice to have.” Without it, you are simply reacting instead of leading.

Experiment with Boundaries: Experiment with setting limits on meetings, emails, and “always-on” availability. Adapt and assess what boundary improvements unlock better performance for yourself and your team.

Focus on Energy Renewal: Build rituals that energize you, whether that’s a specific morning routine, daily walks, engaging with passion projects or hobbies, or detaching from screens for set periods.

Build a Feedback Loop: Surround yourself with people, personally and professionally, who can provide candid feedback on blind spots and opportunities for growth.

Questions to Spark Personal Leadership Insights

Regularly engaging with your personal leadership model starts by asking the right questions. Here are a few to get you started:

• Are my daily activities meaningful, or are they endless busywork?
• What’s stealing my energy, and how can I address it?
• Do my priorities reflect my values and goals—or just external pressures?
• How would my team describe the clarity of my leadership and expectations?

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Adapting your personal leadership model is not a one-time project; it’s an ongoing practice. To be the kind of leader your team or organization needs, you must combine intentional design, high levels of emotional intelligence, and the agility to adapt to changing dynamics.

Now is the time to build a personal leadership model that works for you rather than drains you. How will you balance clarity of purpose with tactical execution? How can technology and intentional frameworks support your leadership goals?

The post Building a Personal Leadership Model for Lasting Impact appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

How to Become a More Effective Leader

1. Understand the Responsibility

Leadership is a privilege and a tremendous responsibility. If you want to know how to become a better leader in the workplace, you must keep this in mind at all times. This is not something to take lightly. As a leader, you have an opportunity to change someone’s life forever, both professionally and personally.

2. Forget the Title

Despite what some may believe, a person’s job title has very little to do with whether or not they are able to be an effective leader. It is all about your influence and impact on another human being that matters most. The title will eventually come, chase influence and impact first.

3. Be Authentic

It’s important to learn from others and have mentors in your life, but never forget that the most powerful force in the world is bringing your authentic self to work each day. Being an effective leader requires living and leading with authenticity, and your impact will soar as a result.

4. Lead From the Heart with Hope and Kindness

Bring your whole heart to work each day, not just when it is convenient. When you lead from the heart, you don’t just go through the motions. You devote kindness, hope, and wisdom in every ounce of energy that you have towards doing the absolute best you can, regardless of how minuscule the task is. This is a hallmark of every effective leader.

5. Lead with a Servant Mentality

We have all heard about servant leadership before, but very few actually lead others with a servant mentality on a consistent basis. It’s human nature to think about ourselves and what we will receive in return. Ignore this temptation. Serve others and serve them well. Over and over, again. Those who serve the greatest prosper the most. It is fundamental to becoming an effective leader.

6. Never Stop Learning

Those who are effective leaders never stop learning, regardless of their position or prior accomplishments. They understand that it is impossible for them to know everything, and their ego never gets in the way of their desire to learn and get better. Dedicating yourself to becoming a lifelong learner will pay off in every area of your life.

7. Overcommunicate

It is nearly impossible for a leader to communicate too much. You have to understand that the first five times you communicate something of importance, the majority of people will forget everything you say. Find creative ways to say the same thing, over and over again, whether that is sharing a story, role-playing, watching a relevant video, or using symbols to drive home key points. This is a communication habit every effective leader should develop.

8. Focus on Purpose

If you want to be an effective leader who is also an excellent communicator, don’t just talk about the goals and objectives of your team or organization. Highlight the purpose of your organization. How does that purpose fit into the personal context of every team member within the organization? Focus on purpose, talk about purpose, and build a purpose driven organization every chance you get.

9. Obsess About Culture Building

Nothing will drive your impact as a leader to enhance team or organizational performance more than intentionally building a more connected and high-performing culture. Don’t just talk about core values or express the importance of culture. Highlight specific behaviors required to win and most importantly, make sure you are living the culture yourself. Every effective leader I’ve ever met understood that culture is at the heart of team and organizational success.

10. Become a Coaching Leader

The leaders that get the most out of team members are the ones who coach others. Coaching leaders never miss an opportunity to guide their teams and do it in “real time” instead of waiting for quarterly or year-end reviews. This is one of the defining traits of an effective leader.

11. Show Your Face

Get out and visit with key customers. Lead from the front. Sitting in an office and never showing your face, whether with internal or external people, benefits absolutely no one. Make it a priority to be seen and schedule specific days on your calendar to devote entire days doing so. Being visible plays a huge role in making you an effective leader.

12. Prioritize Training

If you don’t do anything else this year other than prioritize training, I am fine with that. Building a solid foundation to develop and train your people on the competencies and capabilities that will drive the greatest impact on the business has to be an organizational imperative. It amazes me how many businesses still don’t place a strong emphasis on training. Your favorite sports team doesn’t just wing it and accidentally win a championship. They constantly train. You need to do the same if you want to become an effective leader.

13. Engage Your Team Often

Whether it is during team meetings or one-on-one meetings, consistently engage team members. Ask them how they are feeling and what you can do better as a leader to help them do their job better. Don’t assume you know what someone thinks or how they feel. Engage them early and often, because that’s what effective leaders do.

14. Provide Clear Expectations

A huge barrier when it comes to moving with more speed and navigating through the complexities of a constantly changing environment is a lack of clear expectations. Share what’s expected of team members and then have them recite back to you those expectations. It is alarming how many employees have been with their employer for a decade but still don’t clearly know what’s expected of them and what their role consists of. What seems like common sense is often not commonly practiced. Clarity is essential for any effective leader.

15. Practice Being Vulnerable

Displaying vulnerability as leader doesn’t mean you are weak or will come across in a negative way. As a matter of fact, it does the exact opposite. When you as a leader displays vulnerability, you let the rest of your team know that it is completely fine to not have it all figured out and speak up. Vulnerability builds trust, and trust allows you to become an effective leader.

16. Don’t Place a Strong Emphasis on the Competition

A common and significant mistake most rookie leaders make is spending way too much time on the competition. Thinking about the competition and constantly talking about the competition elevates the competition, not the performance of your team. Placing a strong emphasis on innovation over competition is a mindset shift that defines an effective leader.

17. Be Fanatical About Driving Alignment

We as business leaders often have the tendency to make simple matters way more complex than they need to be. When an organization is extremely aligned on who is responsible for what and what the overall objectives are and those are communicated frequently, the clarity created improves decision making and speed. Be fanatical about driving alignment in everything you do. It will always pay off for an effective leader.

18. Become More Self-Aware

Increasing your self-awareness as a leader is crucial in maximizing your overall impact. A practical way to become more self-aware around the behaviors that will make the biggest difference with your team is to conduct a self 360 analysis. This is accomplished by anonymously asking team members what you excel at as a leader, what you can improve upon, and let them provide one or two action items you can immediately start doing. Instead of wondering about the impact you are having on your team, ask them. This provides valuable feedback from your team that can help you grow into an even more effective leader.

19. Increase the Frequency of Performance Reviews

If you are conducting performance reviews only once or twice a year, you are missing a massive opportunity. Your team members deserve to know every month exactly what you think of their current performance, where they stand, and what they can do differently to improve. Shortening the feedback gap and providing monthly touchpoints can help you evolve into a more effective leader.

20. Put Your People First

A people-first approach is one of the most effective strategies for how to become a better leader in the workplace. When you treat your team with compassion and understanding, they will perform at their best. When customers and key stakeholders come before your team members, it may seem like you are doing the right thing, but it will eventually backfire. Who is in charge of delivering an incredible experience for your customers and hitting the numbers each month? Your people are. When you treat them better, with compassion and understanding, they will treat your customers better in return. This is a business and leadership strategy that will set you apart as an effective leader.

21. Control What You Can Control

As a leader, the challenges that you will experience are endless. But strictly focusing on the challenging events or problems will never provide the solutions that you are looking for in order to move forward. Focus on what you can control. You can’t control pandemics and most external factors, but you can control how you and your team decide to show up, adapt, and respond in the face of adversity.

22. Take Decisive Action

Many talented leaders have grand ideas and bold plans for the future, but they often become paralyzed by overthinking the situation or deciding where to start. To achieve anything of significance, you don’t need to be perfect to start, but you must start. Make a decision and then take decisive action. A focus on relentless implementation is far greater than a list of bold and wishful ideas.

Making a firm decision and committing to yourself is the first step in how to become a better leader in the workplace. It all comes down to doing the little things better than everyone else and consistently showing up with a desire to make a difference.

The post 22 Ways to Become a More Effective Leader appeared first on Matt Mayberry.