If you want to truly lead a team, you first have to start thinking like a winner. A positive, can-do mindset is your secret weapon in inspiring a team like no other. The first step to leading is believing. Focusing on the negatives and catastrophes that could (but won’t) happen will merely distract you from truly leading your team and achieving above and beyond your brightest goals.

What we are about to share with you isn’t some get-rich quick trick. Neither is it a magic wand for inspiring productivity. To be honest, at it’s heart it probably doesn’t feel like a clever idea at all, because it’s all about not planning.

Not not planning for things that should be planned for, you understand. Rather, not planning for things that, while a plausibility, really don’t need to be planned for. As a leader in any business, and even more so in fast paced businesses where your most knowledgeable staff members are your most vital asset, contingency planning is critical. It allows you to visualise success through critical assessment. But if you find yourself stressing about worst-case scenarios, it's time to look at the bigger picture

Let the worriers worry, leaders need to lead

Ultimately you need somebody in your organisation who can take on the role of worrier, somebody whose role it is to look forward for possible pitfalls in the distance. But that should not be a team leader. In order to lead a team onto the next level, you need to be creative, utterly optimistic and forward thinking. You need to have belief in your team and more importantly, belief in the success of your team. If you preoccupy yourself with potential bad things, you will soon start believing in those bad things, and subconciously leading towards them.

Nobody wants that.

Why you need to lead from a winner’s mindset

The prospect of leading from a winner’s mindset might sound a little strained and confusing. Doesn’t the idea of a “winner” conjure up visions of someone who is a touch belligerent and vivacious, willing to tread on toes to get to the top? Well yes; and no. That is not the sort of winner that we are referring to here.

What we mean when we say “lead from a winner’s mindset” is for you to come at each day, each challenge and each team with an unshakeable sense of positivity. This is why you cannot preoccupy yourself with potential negatives.

How does that look?

A winner-leader can look remarkably different from person to person. In one leader it might manifest as a penchant for getting stuck in and rallying a team through a particularly hard slog during a shift. In another, it might be an unshakeable faith in their team member’s ability, that manifests as heartfelt encouragements during those moments. To find out how it looks for you, simply stop preoccupying yourself with the negatives. Find somebody else to do that for you and lead your team.