When it comes to running a business, leadership is a hot conversation topic. Many upper level management staff study leadership theory to identify best practices of leading a team. However, discovering leadership styles and lessons don’t always come from a textbook. Many leadership lessons can be learned from road trips.
Lesson 1: Establish Goals
Before you hit the road for a cross country trip, most people finalize on a destination. This behavior can easily be transferred to the business world and goal setting. Whether it’s ROI or KPI related, setting goals can help leaders and their employees motivated and focused. Maintaining a motivated and focused team can be challenging because one person’s goals rarely align with everyone else’s. Establishing goals as a team can create a shared goal everyone supports. Creating smaller individual goals for yourself along the way can show increases in your efficiency.
Lesson 2: Balance “I” and “We”
High leadership roles require a plethora of future thinking, which explains why most of these business people are responsible for steering the company. Picture the leader as the driver and other team members as the passengers. While the driver appears to have the greatest responsibility in reaching a destination, or goal, the passengers possess skills that can contribute to the end goal. “Split the time driving” to ensure your employees feel valued. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can lead to the next innovative idea!
Lesson 3: Be Adaptable
Road trips generally never go as planned and the same applies to business goals. External threats and unforeseen occurrences are inevitable. No matter how much time it takes to plan a road trip, bad weather and car breakdowns can slow progress rates. Keep this in mind when leading a team. Showing empathy and clearly communicating “road blocks” with teams is considered by some essential for strong leadership. Ultimately, be prepared for the worst and make educated decisions based on the available information.
Whether you lead a team of 10 or 100, leadership is equally important across all businesses. Being empathetic and clearly communicating with team members can prove they’re valued. More leadership lessons from the road can be found in the CarRentals infographic below.
