Tips for Effective Leadership

There's nothing as powerful as a leader who looks you in the eye and says, "I believe in you."

But even the best leaders can experience a drop in confidence at times. Our self-doubt and negative self-talk increases while our overall results and joy decrease.

Paul Mitchell is a leadership coach, author, and founder of The Human Enterprise. Here are some keys from the expert to developing your confidence and the confidence of those around you.

Increase your competence: "your confidence will grow in direct proportion to your competence," assures Mitchel. To develop your confidence, the first thing you need to do is commit. Let's say you want to get better at presentations. Then you repeat to yourself, "I'm truly committing to get better at this, no matter what."

The second thing is that it takes courage. Bravery to go to a program, get yourself filmed, and get some feedback. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but because you've made that commitment, you'll stick with it and now have the courage.

Thanks to this, you will develop your capability and competence, and you will learn a new skill.

"The clue here is the skill. Give yourself or someone else a skill," suggests the coach.

Also read: Help Others to Break Glass Ceilings

According to The Systems Thinker by Buckminster Fuller, "if you want to change someone's behavior, the first thing you do is to give them a tool."

Whatever that tool is, it will help you go to a whole new level. Next time you're feeling a little bit low in confidence or someone in your team is losing motivation, get what the context is, where they're feeling incapable, and then start to point them towards a tool.

Help them increase their confidence and learn that tool. Overall, your team will start to boost their confidence.

Transformation leaders enhance followers' level of motivation, commitment, and ownership. A true leader can transform followers into leaders themselves.

True leaders are always looking for new ideas and ways to do things. They challenge business as usual. Another great quality is amazed the world with original ideas. Creative people come from all walks of life. Great leaders have in common that they are hardworking, non-conformist in their thinking, and comfortable with ambiguity and complexity.

A great example of this is Dave Kelley. He's the founder of IDEO, the most successful product design firm in the world. Kelley and IDEO are known for developing incredibly innovative products and services for clients.

Transformational leaders are interactive, they communicate a lot with followers, and they are engaged. And through this communication, they become more aware of their follower's needs and motivations. You can empower your team by delegating important jobs and then supporting and trusting them to rise to the occasion. This also allows organizations to grow more quickly. As Harvard Business Review points out, "great leaders are confident, connected, committed, and courageous."