Today we dispatched the August edition of our Leadership That Works Newsletter, a curated digest of the best leadership tips to read right now, sent at the end of each month. In this month’s edition: why leaders need a user’s manual, five questions to foster purpose, a dozen tips for better meetings, and more.  As always, we’re sharing the articles from our newsletter here in case you’re not subscribed to our mailing list. (If you like what you see, you can sign up to receive our newsletter here).

Write Your Leadership User’s Manual

People aren’t mind readers. As the leader, being transparent with your team about your work style — including your values, preferences, and individual quirks — can help grow trust and boost productivity. This post tells you how to write your own “user’s manual” for your team that spells out who you are and how you work.
** To build productive work relationships with transparency, try Doug’s recommended practice of ‘Declaring Yourself.‘

Stay Curious

Busy leaders who are eager to help can often jump in with advice or suggestions before they have all the information they need. This helpful post offers seven questions that can help leaders stay curious longer so they can get the right information to be as helpful and effective as possible.

Make Change Personal

The best organizations view change as an ongoing journey that allows them to stay competitive and grow. But to manage change effectively, for optimal results, leaders can’t get stuck dwelling on only plans and processes; they have to focus on the people too. In this Forbes post, there are four critical “Dos” of change management that can help leaders deftly handle the human side of transformations.
**For more on change, explore our post on 3 small ways to make big change, and draw inspiration from our collection of 25 quotes about managing change. 

5 Questions to Foster Purpose

“What workers really need, to feel engaged in and satisfied by their jobs, is an inner sense of purpose,” writes leadership coach, Kristi Hedges, in this Harvard Business Review post focused on helping employees find meaning in their work. Leaders can help foster purpose by asking questions in five key areas, and sample questions are provided here.
** To further explore your personal purpose, check out our first two questions of leadership (the “questions of the head”), and follow that up with our three “questions of the heart” for leaders. 

How to Make Your Company a ‘Best Place to Work’

What attributes can earn a company a coveted spot on a prestigious “Best Place to Work” list? This Switch and Shift post looks at some of the companies that rank high on these lists and offers actionable takeaways that you can use to better engage your employees and provide them with opportunities to learn and grow.
**To learn more about creating a great place to work, explore our post on the 4 human needs you must meet to engage employees.

A Simple Leadership Formula

In this Strategy+Business post, author Eric J. McNulty explores a simple formula for effective leadership that he came across in a classic leadership book from 1983: “Grow the company profitably. Share the wealth with employees. Ensure that everyone is having fun.” To add nuance and depth to the formula, McNulty asks five global leaders to offer their thoughts on this three-pronged approach, and their answers offer insight and inspiration.

Meetings Don’t Have to Suck

Meetings are an essential part of work and leadership. But they’re notorious for being time-wasters. To ensure your meetings are productive, it helps to have some rules for how they are run. To get started, try one of the dozen ideas for better meetings that Art Petty provides here.
** For more on meetings, check out our CEO manifesto for better meetings. 

To Scale Your Business, First Scale Your Team

Sure, you’re focused on growing your business but are you sufficiently focused on growing your leaders? To ensure you are developing leaders who are ready and able to take the reins should your management team change or expand, make sure you are providing ample opportunities for people to stretch and be challenged. This Inc. post offers three ways to start scaling your leadership team today so you’re prepared for tomorrow.

Enjoyed these links? Check out our recent link roundups from July, June, and May. Or, join our mailing list here.

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(Photo by Charlz Gutiérrez De Piñeres on Unsplash)