Why Leadership Maintenance Makes All the Difference
Leadership needs fuel – don’t run on empty.
What happens when your city stops maintaining your streets?
It gets messy. The payments are full of leaves, and the roads are dirty. It’s unwelcoming and annoying to use.
What happens when you don’t maintain your leadership skills?
You must occasionally give your leadership some oil, like maintaining a car or a machine. Otherwise, it will become squeaky.
And who wants to work with a rusty leader?
Back to basics
When you feel like you’re at a good place, you should probably go back to basics.
What have you been neglecting?
Leadership can be taught. Leadership is a set of skills. But like a memory, you always need to refresh your communication skills.
What could you do better? What tips can you apply now? How do you move forward?
There is always so much to work on. So, you should question that feeling whenever you feel confident and activate your ‘continuous learning’ bug.
Leadership is an ongoing commitment. Oiling your skills will help you stay flexible, sharpen problem-solving, and be ready to grow.
It’s time to refresh topics such as:
Self-refection
Feedback
Stress management
Relationship building
Active listening
Speaking with confidence
Getting buy-in
etc.
Constant small tweaks
Add a little bit of this. And then add a little bit of that.
Leadership maintenance is like cooking your favorite dish. You play with spices to achieve a wonderful, enjoyable taste.
Just like you don’t change your favorite food, leadership maintenance does not mean reinventing yourself. You just need to make small, intentional tweaks here and there to keep your communication sharp.
This is what you can do today:
Audit your leadership: What is one thing your team isn’t telling you? Ask them (even anonymously). Feedback is what leaders miss a lot.
Relearn what you rushed through: That training you half-listened to? Revisit it.
Upgrade your conversations: Do your 1-1s feel like status updates? Ask better questions, listen deeper.
Stress-test your decisions: Are you leading on autopilot? Pick a recent decision and challenge it. How could you handle it better?
Record yourself: Make yourself uncomfortable. Record how you lead a meeting and watch it. Do you inspire yourself? And if you were your team, would you?
Promo time!
Let’s refresh what good tweaks are and how you can use emotional intelligence, assertiveness, confident presentation skills, and strategic communication in your leadership routine.
It’s 4 weeks with me (hurray!). The 4 pillars are waiting for you:
The cost of doing nothing
Neglecting leadership maintenance will set the ground for slow but impactful leaks in your team and company.
You might have a hard time getting rid of unwelcome guests, like:
🚩 Mr. Team disengagement
🚩 Mrs. Resistance to change
🚩 Mr. Stale ideas
🚩 Mrs. Unnoticed blind spots
By the time you do notice them, the damage has already been done. They drink from your cups and eat from your table.
Costs are high. After all, people leave leaders, not companies. If you’re not actively growing, you are probably stuck in the past. But leadership is about how you show up today.
Comfort often signals stagnation. Leadership maintenance isn’t about fixing problems after they appear, it’s about preventing them in the first place.
So, go and read that one book you have on your table and ask for a budget for long-postponed leadership training.
Maintenance for all
So, you read the feedback guide and now you’re smarter. However, feedback in your team still looks like this:
They say a leader sets the tone. People take cues from those in charge. If you adopt a new skill, use it actively. Your team will follow.
But if you stop learning, improving, and challenging yourself, so will they. Morale drops, innovation slows, and lack of accountability creeps in.
Just like coaching, leadership maintenance isn’t just about you. It is your contribution to the ecosystem you’re part of. Like a fairy tale, you work in a culture where growth, adaptability, and excellence are standards.
Make sure your skills are shiny, and you become a better leader who builds a better team. And that makes all the difference.
TL;DR
Don’t fix what’s broken. Make sure things don’t break in the first place. Take action before cracks appear.
Your immediate action is to pick one skill, one habit, or one conversation to improve today. Listen better. Read more. Text me for a piece of advice. Your choice.
Happy maintenance! Ivona
On the menu:
Thursday Newsletter: The Secret to Enjoying Your Job