As a leader, understanding your own leadership style is essential for success in your business. To stay relevant, innovate and grow your business, as a leader, it takes dedication to self-reflection, analyzing your Whys, looking at your own competencies and all the ways you are adaptable for sustaining your particular type of work. A powerful way to self-reflect is through the lens of the Three V’s of business leadership: VISION, VARIETY and VITALITY. When leaders embrace these critical elements, they will be more successful in fostering effective leadership styles while cultivating success in both their personal and business realms.
Vision is the meaning and motivation behind your business. It provides a clear direction and purpose, inspiring both the team and stakeholders to work towards a common goal. Ask yourself these key questions to remain lock step with your vision:
- What’s your why? (Was this born out of a hobby, desperation or problem solving a specific need in the community?)
- What’s the vision for maintaining, growing, or scaling your business?
- Are you the visionary, executor, or both of your business? (What are the opportunities and pitfalls?)
- Do you have support systems or staff that align with you?
- What capacity building structures are in place for sustainability?
Variety encourages innovation and adaptability, allowing businesses to diversify their strategies and offerings to stay competitive in a constantly changing market. It focuses on strategies for securing clients, partners and contracts. Variety Ask yourself these questions about your soft skills and key competencies:
- Do you diversify your strategy or your market? Do you look for ways to collaborate or partner with larger firms, consulting firms or other contractors?
- Are you flexible in adapting your communication and interaction style to different personalities and situations?
- Do you facilitate teamwork and encourage diverse viewpoints?
- How often do you put yourself in others’ shoes to understand their perspectives and challenges?
Vitality is the acknowledgment of the way you adapt to change and your ability to pivot to sustain your business through multiple circumstances. Vitality infuses your business with energy and resilience, ensuring that leaders and their teams remain motivated, engaged, and capable of overcoming challenges.
Vitality involves continually assessing the people and systems necessary to support sustained growth. Key questions to further define vitality include:
- Do you keep a pulse on new or similar businesses? ( your competitors)
- Do you stay “married” to your plan even when it’s not working?
- Do you acknowledge how you embrace change?
- Do you operate challenges through a band-aid or quick fix approach?
- Do you allow time and autonomy for learning and growth?
- Do you operate with transparency?
Being an effective leader, in my experience, is centered on understanding my own competencies in how I build relationships, as well as identifying the VISION, VARIETY and VITALITY of my work. As I’ve grown professionally, I am keenly aware of how I influence others as well as how others perceive me. Together, these elements create a robust foundation for sustainable growth and success.
Speaker and author Teniqua Broughton is CEO of Phoenix-based VerveSimone Consulting. Teniqua and her team partner with organizations nationwide to hone their leadership strategies and equity capacity building to achieve their organizational goals.
