I was teaching a workshop a couple of years ago talking about leadership, and one of the business owners in the workshop spoke up and said, I don't have time to do this for myself or my family, much less my team. And here's what I said next. If you have a team, leadership isn't optional. You see, leadership isn't something that you either do or you don't do. It's already happening whether you like it or not. It's just a matter of whether you're doing it well. And not leading well will cost you more time than if you had invested the time from the beginning. So if you're short on time but you have a team, I thought today I'd give you a few quick ideas to lead well without adding a lot to your plate.

Surprisingly, it doesn't actually take a lot of time to lead well. It just takes being intentional and sometimes you can make a big impact in just a few minutes. So here are a few things that you can do. First, start leading yourself. The success of your business and even how you interact with your team starts with how well you lead yourself. If you could do only one thing to improve in this area, I'd recommend spending about 15 minutes coaching yourself, writing down what's on your mind, separating the facts from your thoughts, and noticing how you feel and the impact that that would have on your day if you continue to allow those feelings. And if you needed, of course, use this time to give yourself a reframe to get into a better headspace before you interact with your team. Second, get on the same page.

Spend a few minutes each week making sure that you and your team are on the same page regarding priorities and direction. This could be as simple as asking your team to post their top three priorities for the week and then doing a quick review once they respond to ensure they're actually on the right track and focus on the right things. And of course, if you need to, you can redirect them to focus on something else if they didn't choose the things that you also consider to be top priority. Third, show that you care. It takes so little time to ask your team member how their weekend was or to follow up on how little Johnny is doing in baseball or how their mom is recovering from surgery. Pay attention and follow up. Make a point to do this at the beginning of each meeting as you're waiting for others to join, or just take a minute or two before you dive into an agenda if it's a one on one call. Fourth, show appreciation once a week spend a few minutes and send a team member a quick note telling them that you appreciate them, or shout them out for core values or other achievements or results that they've created.

Fifth, offer your support. You could literally take one minute and send just one or a few team members a quick note asking if there's anything they need or any way you can support them. And sixth, give feedback. Slow down and actually give someone feedback, explaining the why behind it if something isn't meeting your expectations honestly, this one might just save you time, especially if you typically jump in and fix it yourself, or if you find that you keep repeating yourself. Because helping them understand why the change is necessary will help them apply that same lesson to multiple things and help them get it right moving forward. People want to do a good job by the way. They want to improve. They want to meet your expectations.

And giving feedback is an essential part of leadership. So if you feel like your time is limited but you have a team, I want you to remember that leadership isn't optional. Try implementing these six ideas just once a week and in less than an hour, you'll already be improving your leadership.