3 Critical Ways Your Attitude as A Leader Can Kill or Build Your Team

How much do you struggle with your attitude as a leader?

Of all the personal conversations I have with leaders, I’m surprised at how often leaders tell me they’re struggling to keep a positive attitude.

I can relate.

Even as an optimist, my mood is one of the things I have to work hard to manage.

The pressures of leadership, my own personal issues and life itself weigh on my mood, my energy and my attitude.

But the bottom line is that your attitude matters more than you think it does.

And if you don’t manage it, it can damage your team, your community and your mission.

In this post we’ll look at 3 ways your attitude as a leader impacts your team and several keys to keeping it healthy.

And before we go deeper, I don’t usually comment on the images on my blog…but do you really want to be led by this buffalo? Enough said..

3 Critical Ways Your Attitude Impacts Your Team

As much as you might think nobody notices your frame of mind, you’re mistaken. You never need to say a word…your attitude will still leak out.

Here are 3 critical ways your attitude as a leader impacts your team, for better or for worse:

1. Your attitudes determines their attitude.

As a leader, your mood is contagious.

That’s true positively, and it’s true negatively.

Over time, your attitude will set the tone for your entire team and organization.

In the same way that a family member having a bad day can change the whole tone in your home, you having a bad season at work will impact the entire team.

Over time…your attitude as a leader shapes your team’s attitude as an organization.

Be a goof and you will have an organization filled with goofs (and all the good people will leave).

Be stern and you will have a stern organization.

Be angry…

Be critical…

Be negative…

Be unpredictable…

Be encouraging…

Be hopeful…

Be fair…

Be generous…

Be Christlike and you might have a Christlike organization.

You see where this is going, right?

The fact that you don’t want your attitude to impact the organization is irrelevant. It simply does.

2. You determine the level of passion and enthusiasm in your church.

If you think the organization you lead lacks passion and enthusiasm, take a hard look in the mirror.

If you’ve been leading for over 3 years, that’s probably a direct reflection on you.

Way too many pastors and leaders drag themselves into work completely uninspired.

Why would anyone want to be a part of a church or organization if the leader isn’t excited about it?”

If you’re not passionate and enthusiastic about your mission and vision, why would anyone else be?

Leaders, if you're not passionate about your mission, why would anyone else be? Click To Tweet

And before you think this is jacked up social media hype, just remember the word enthusiasm literally means ‘to be filled with God’ and passion means to suffer. Your love for your mission should be filled with the presence of God and take you to lengths at which you are willing to suffer for it.

Here’s what every leader needs to realize: the enthusiasm of your community will never exceed yours.

3. Your attitude determines what is and isn’t possible.

Before you correct my theology, I realize with Christ all things are possible and that with God nothing is impossible. I get that.

But God has this habit of working with fragile human leaders.

And he spends a considerable amount of time convincing us humans that things are possible. Just read the Moses narrative. God spend a lot of time and energy convincing Moses to lead people to a life beyond slavery. Or study the dynamics of the apostles as they were coming to grips with the reality of a dead Saviour who rose again. They needed convincing.

Our God is  a God who calls, interrupts and persuades leaders that He will partner with them to effective change.

As a result, if you’re a leader, please realize:

If you believe it is possible, it is. And if you don’t, it’s not.

That’s right.

You’re the vision bottleneck. You’re the broker and the killer of dreams.

If you are consistently the negative voice around the table, you will stifle the imagination of your team for what’s possible.

If you have voices inside your head that consistently tell you “God will never use me…God will never use us…” then over time, you might become correct in that.

Don’t get me wrong, God will move. His kingdom will be built. It might just not be through you.

Conversely, when you dare to dream, dare to imagine, and dare to hope, and persevere, the God of the impossible has a habit of doing impossible things.

How Do I Improve My Attitude?

Okay, that’s a lot of heavy. But it’s a lot of heavy to remind myself that one of the best gifts I bring my team is my energy, attitude and enthusiasm.

So how do you cultivate a better attitude?

1. Get some sleep

Someone once told me that 70% of discipleship is a good night’s sleep.

I don’t mean to trivialize this at all. Think about it…how holy are you when you’re exhausted? How passionate? How kind?

Stay rested. Burning the candle at both ends is not just burning you out, it’s burning out your team.

2. Create white space on your calendar

White space is what I call that space that is not filled up with anything…no meetings, no phone calls, no busyness. Just space to be still and do the things that energize you.

For me, that’s time with God, time alone, time to write (whether it’s messages or this blog or other things), and time to ride my bike.

Another way to think of white space is to think of it as margin.

This is know for sure: I am at my most kind when I have the most margin.

When I create margin through white space on my calendar, I get a huge attitude adjustment in the right direction. Do whatever it takes to adjust yours.

3. Deal with your junk.

We all have issues. Deal with them.

Go see a counsellor. Get a mentor. Talk to a friend. Do all three.

But deal with your childhood issues if you have them. Deal with your negative emotions.

Get help.

As I’ve done this, I realize the only thing on the other side is upside for my wife, my kids, my friends, my team, and our church.

Don’t let your past determine your present or your future. Deal with it.

Great leaders don't let their past determine their present or their future. Click To Tweet

If you want more, I also wrote this article about the Top 10 Habit of Leaders who Effectively Guard Their Hearts.

One Thing You Can Do Today

And by the way, if your attitude has become an issue, why not apologize to your team for it today?

I’ve done this on more than a few occassions. Especially to the people close to it.

I promise you that you won’t shock them when you tell them you have an attitude problem. In fact, they’ll be so grateful you finally see it.