Five Leadership Reminders Every Manager Needs to Strengthen Their Team

Five Leadership Reminders That Strengthen Teams, Trust, and Performance

Leadership reminders help managers stay grounded in what truly drives performance — relationships, motivation, influence, communication, and accountability.

We all need reminders at times. Make the remainder of this year a time to strengthen your leadership skills by challenging yourself to adhere to these Five Reminders for Leadership.

Leadership Reminders for Managers

1. Remember Relationships

Leadership is about relationships. Take time to reacquaint yourself with your team members individually — not only at performance evaluation time. Learn their goals, strengths, and areas needing support. It’s easy to get lost in day-to-day operations and forget that your team is your most valuable asset. Make people your priority.

2. Spend Time With Your Stars

Leaders often spend most of their time with underperformers — and this is backward. Your top performers, your “stars,” deserve the most time, support, and growth opportunities. Encourage them, challenge them, and allow them to contribute new ideas and innovative solutions. Maintain balance to prevent burnout, but ensure they know how vital they are to the team’s success.

3. Know How to Motivate Your Employees

Motivation is not one-size-fits-all. Understanding each employee’s strengths and weaknesses gives you insight into what inspires them. Leaders who motivate through inspiration — not pressure — create stronger engagement and better results. Motivation requires effort, but the returns are worth it.

4. Lead by Influence, NOT Power

Leadership rooted in power results in bare-minimum effort. Leadership rooted in influence results in energy, enthusiasm, and loyalty. When leaders use influence — built through trust, consistency, and relationships — employees go above and beyond. Power may get compliance, but influence builds commitment. If influence isn’t your priority, now is the time to shift.

5. Don’t Try to Be Everyone’s Friend

Leadership is not about friendship — and it can feel lonely at times. When promoted from within, relationships will change. They must change. Your responsibility is to the standards of the organization and to holding each person accountable to those standards. Fairness, consistency, and professionalism matter far more than popularity.

Build the Leadership Approach That Inspires Growth

If you want to strengthen your influence, communication, and leadership identity, the Your Leadership Approach workbook gives you the framework to define how you show up as a leader — and how your team will experience you.