Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, ‘Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.’ Leadership is often about going out on your own when you’re not sure about the right direction. It involves risk, courage and determination, and the cultivation of these traits is often built on habits.

Successful leadership is about maintaining consistent behaviours that achieve results and build trust. Whether you’re managing a business, leading a team, or participating in online leadership programs to sharpen your skills, adopting the right habits is crucial to your success and longevity.

In this blog, we explore seven habits of highly successful leaders that can boost your leadership experience through behaviours alone.

What are Leadership Habits?

Habits are consistent behaviours, thought patterns and decision-making styles that a leader demonstrates over time. These habits, whether intentional or unconscious, form the foundation on which a successful leader can communicate, solve problems, build trust, and inspire others.

1. Practice Intentional Self-Reflection

Intentional self-reflection is the deliberate practice of analysing your thoughts, decisions, behaviours and outcomes as a leader. Successful leaders build self-awareness to guide their growth. It might sound like overthinking or self-criticism, but when viewed as a positively driven habit to improve, it’s about cultivating awareness, learning, and promoting both professional and personal development.

You can build this habit into your routine by taking just five minutes a day as ‘reflection time’ by trying one of the following prompts.

• Keep a leadership journal about key decisions or challenges experienced at the end of every week.
• Conduct monthly self-audits, asking ‘what worked, what tanked, and what would I do differently?’
• Ask for feedback from your team and reflect on it without being defensive.
• Review past goals and consider how you have progressed.

2. Communicate with Clarity and Compassion

Strong communication builds trust, reduces misunderstandings, and strengthens team culture. This habit is about communicating with purpose while considering the emotions, perspectives and needs of others. It’s balancing what you say and how you make others feel.

• Pause before responding, considering your tone and the other person’s emotional state.
• Ask open-ended questions, like ‘how do you feel about this new project?’ or ‘What would support look like for you right now?’
• Be transparent and don’t pretend to know or assume – honesty is better than guessing.
• Practice active listening in every conversation

3. Embrace Continuous Professional Development

Successful leaders know that investing in ongoing professional development, such as online leadership programs, is crucial. It keeps you adaptable to change, models a growth mindset, improves decision-making and builds confidence.

• Set learning goals to attend one leadership workshop each quarter.
• Enrol in short professional development courses or online leadership programs regularly (once per month)
• Schedule learning times weekly (even just 20-30 minutes)
• Set development goals every quarter – read a book, new skill or certification)

4. Develop Others’ Potential

Great leaders know that building leaders around them, not just followers, is the key to success. It’s not just about developing performance, but coaching, mentoring, challenging, and empowering others to be the best they can be.

• Mentor junior staff
• Delegate tasks/projects
• Learn how to coach
• Celebrate effort and growth, not just outcomes
• Encouraging team members to enrol in online leadership programs and other professional development.

5. Lead with Purpose and Adaptability

Strong leaders give clear direction but are also flexible enough to adjust plans, strategies and point of view in response to changing circumstances. Adaptability is crucial for innovation, which is important for maintaining a competitive and resilient business environment.

• Create roadmaps but leave room for innovation.
• Encourage a culture of ‘learning from failure’
• Adjust strategies quickly in response to customer feedback or market shifts
• Share clear, long-term goals but empower your team to explore innovative ways to achieve them
• Encourage flexible thinking by asking, ‘What else might work?’

 

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” – C. S. Lewis

 

6. Make Decisions with Integrity

When decisions are made with integrity, they are ethical, transparent and reflect your values. Great leaders make the right decision even when it’s hard, unpopular or inconvenient. You can make a habit out of leading with your values by adopting the following behaviours.

• Develop a personal code of ethics for leadership.
• Pause before you act to ensure you’re doing the right thing, rather than the easy thing.
• Practice transparency, explaining your reasoning when making decisions that affect others
• Welcome accountability by encouraging feedback and owning your choices

7. Prioritise Well-being and Boundaries

Recognising that well-being shouldn’t come at the cost of high performance is a habit of highly successful leaders. Instead, strong leadership prioritises the energy, mental and physical health of their team by modelling sustainable work habits.

• Model balance to your team
• Block out calendar time for deep work, rest and exercise
• Say ‘no’ or ‘not now’ to non-essential work commitments
• Encourage time off and holiday leave
• Set clear availability boundaries, such as no work emails after hours
• Develop a Workplace Wellbeing Program

 

We hope you’ve gained insight into developing leadership habits for yourself or your team. If you would like further assistance in leadership or professional development, consider exploring our online leadership programs. Contact one of our Course Consultants today on 1300 76 2221 or use Live Chat.