Things Leaders Should Be Doing

There are tons of things leaders should be doing. The sheer volume of advice can become a mental blizzard—a complete leadership whiteout.

That is why it helps to isolate a few essential leadership practices and remind ourselves why they matter. These are not complicated theories. They are practical leadership disciplines that determine whether teams produce results, understand expectations, cooperate effectively and continue moving in the right direction.

Here are eleven leadership basics worth revisiting.

What should leaders focus on first?

Leaders should focus chiefly on the results to be achieved rather than simply on the activities being performed. Everything happening in the organisation should move the team towards a desired outcome.

That sounds obvious. However, analyse your diary and look closely at where your time is going. You may be shocked by how few appointments, meetings and activities are directly propelling important results.

Busy work is seductive because it creates the sensation of progress. Emails are answered, meetings are attended and reports are produced. Yet activity is not the same as achievement.

Leaders also need to plan and organise effectively around the desired result. They must coordinate everyone involved so that individual contributions combine into meaningful organisational progress.

Markets change, customer expectations move and circumstances can run over the top of even a good plan. Leaders must therefore keep asking whether the current plan is still relevant, whether the organisation is properly structured and whether the balance between individual responsibility and teamwork is right.

Do now: Review your calendar and identify which activities directly contribute to your organisation’s most important results. Reduce, delegate or eliminate the rest.

How should leaders turn major objectives into action?

Major objectives should be divided into bite-sized pieces, communicated clearly and supported by deadlines, measurements and individual accountability.

Large organisational goals can sound inspiring but remain useless if people do not understand what they personally need to do. Leaders must translate strategic objectives into specific actions, time targets and measurable outcomes.

Every important objective needs an accountability system. Without measurement, deviation from the plan can remain invisible until it is too late to make an easy correction.

The post-pandemic workplace has made this more difficult. For many organisations, the orderly pursuit of targets was replaced by constant disruption, emergency responses and scrambling to survive. Even after the immediate crisis passed, hybrid work, shifting customer behaviour and economic uncertainty continued to complicate performance management.

Textbook answers are not always enough. Leaders must combine data, judgement and practical experience to decide which performance standards remain realistic.

Do now: Take one major organisational objective and break it into milestones, owners, deadlines and measurable indicators of progress.

How can leaders establish effective performance standards?

Leaders must make expectations explicit so that people know what successful performance looks like, why it matters and how it will be measured.

Vague expectations create frustration. Employees believe they are doing well, while managers quietly feel disappointed. Effective performance standards remove this ambiguity.

Standards should guide people towards profitable and productive action. They should be demanding enough to encourage growth but realistic enough to maintain credibility.

Leaders must also build a results-oriented attitude throughout the organisation. This means helping people develop self-reliance, confidence and ownership of their goals.

Remote and hybrid work have shifted visibility. Leaders can no longer judge contribution by who arrives early, stays late or appears busy in the office. Performance is increasingly represented by customer outcomes, project completion, financial measures and numbers on a spreadsheet.

Some people thrive with autonomy. Others struggle without direct supervision, informal contact and frequent teamwork. Leaders must recognise these differences rather than assuming one working style suits everyone.

Do now: Ask each team member to explain what is expected of them and how success is measured. Any inconsistent answers reveal a communication gap.

Can leaders really motivate their people?

Leaders cannot directly inject motivation into another person. They can, however, create an environment in which people are more likely to become self-motivated.

Try yelling, “Be motivated, be motivated, be motivated,” at your team and see how far that gets you.

Leaders can motivate themselves, but they cannot control the internal drive of another person. Their real task is to understand what helps each individual perform at their best.

That may include recognition, autonomy, meaningful work, career growth, financial reward, mastery, belonging or the opportunity to contribute to something important. The correct combination varies from person to person.

This is where leadership becomes difficult. There is no universal motivational switch. The leader has to understand people individually and deliver the right environment one person at a time.

Leaders should also encourage creativity. Creativity can be learned, but many leaders have never studied how creative thinking works. If leaders do not know how to generate ideas, challenge assumptions or explore alternatives, they will struggle to develop those abilities in others.

Do now: Ask each team member what conditions help them do their best work. Do not assume their answer will be the same as yours.

How should leaders track progress and coordinate people?

Leaders must track progress consistently and coordinate everyone whose contribution affects the final result, both inside and outside the organisation.

Tracking progress sounds easy. The reality is that leaders are often lost in the weeds, pulled hither and thither and overwhelmed by constant urgencies.

Following up on planned results gets postponed because something more immediate demands attention. Yet when leaders stop tracking, deadlines slip, responsibilities blur and small problems grow into expensive ones.

Coordination has also become more demanding in remote and hybrid workplaces. When everyone was in the office, people could exchange information informally, notice emerging problems and resolve misunderstandings quickly.

When employees, clients, suppliers and partners are separated, leaders must expend more time and energy ensuring that the right people know what they need to know. They must also confirm that tasks are being completed when they need to be completed.

Communication cannot be left to chance. Coordination requires deliberate updates, clear decision rights and reliable follow-through.

Do now: Establish a simple review rhythm showing each priority, its owner, its current status, the next action and any obstacle requiring leadership intervention.

Why must leaders keep communicating purpose and teamwork?

Leaders must repeatedly connect everyday work to the organisation’s continuing purpose and demonstrate through their decisions that teamwork is genuinely expected.

Leaders often pontificate from on high about purpose and imagine everyone is on board. They assume the message was received, understood and accepted.

It is always a shock to discover that not everyone got the message—or that they interpreted it differently.

Purpose must therefore be communicated repeatedly. Leaders must explain what the organisation is trying to achieve, why it matters and how each person’s work contributes. They must also check for understanding rather than assuming agreement.

Leadership credibility is tested most severely when a high performer refuses to act as a team player.

Are you prepared to confront—or even fire—a top performer who persistently undermines teamwork?

This is where the rubber meets the road. If leaders praise collaboration but tolerate the corporate outlaw who does whatever they want, everyone learns how the organisation really operates. Behaviour that is tolerated becomes part of the culture.

Do now: Identify one behaviour that contradicts your stated values. Address it directly before it becomes the organisation’s unofficial standard.

What is the most important leadership starting point?

The most important starting point is self-awareness.

Very few leaders can give themselves a perfect score across all eleven areas:

1. Focusing on results
2. Planning and organising effectively
3. Breaking objectives into manageable actions
4. Establishing clear performance standards
5. Building a results-oriented culture
6. Creating conditions for self-motivation
7. Developing creativity
8. Tracking progress
9. Coordinating people and resources
10. Communicating organisational purpose
11. Demonstrating leadership and teamwork

I certainly cannot give myself a perfect score. Reviewing this list is a painful reminder of my own failings and imperfections.

That is the point.

Busy work can mask what is vital. Leaders become tied up in meetings, messages, minor decisions and operational stuff. Eventually, they lose sight of the leadership responsibilities that matter most.

Let’s get back to basics. We are not divine. We still have work to do on ourselves.

Author Bio

Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie One Carnegie Award in 2018 and 2021 and received the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2012. As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver leadership, communication, sales and presentation programmes globally, including Leadership Training for Results.

He has written several books, including the bestsellers Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery and Japan Presentations Mastery, as well as Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His books have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō（ザ営業）, Purezen no Tatsujin（プレゼンの達人）, Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō（トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう）and Gendaiban “Hito o Ugokasu” Rīdā（現代版「人を動かす」リーダー）.

Greg publishes regular business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook and X and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery and Japan’s Top Business Interviews for executives and professionals seeking practical strategies for succeeding in Japan.