Leading With Conviction

As a leader, our teams look to us to guide them through turbulent times, even when we don’t necessarily have all the answers. This is especially true in times of uncertainty, when tensions and emotions within our teams and around us are running high, and people are looking to us for direction, stability, and reassurance. This relies on us not only having conviction in our direction, but being able to build that same level of conviction in those we need to follow us in order to achieve our goals.

But before we get into that, let’s start with talking about what “conviction” actually is.

Within a team setting, “conviction” is the strong belief or confidence in a course of action. It’s the invisible glue that holds the team together, especially through the most challenging times. Teams with high conviction are motivated, unified, and more resilient. They are the ones who consistently turn challenges into opportunities rather than setbacks. And many times, they inherit this sense of conviction from their leader.

Within conviction comes a certain clarity in vision, resilience, and innovativeness to problem solve and find new ways forward. It negates a defeatist attitude during volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous times and leads the team to say “I know things seem like they’re hard, but what’s currently in our control to push forward right now?” And this is why it’s important that leaders not only build, but demonstrate, conviction.

But the ability to demonstrate that conviction, especially when the path forward isn’t obvious, is not always easy. First and foremost, it starts with ensuring that the leader personally has clarity in the vision. Their ability to clearly articulate this north star will give the team the appropriate context to make better decisions in support of that longer-term objective. Even when they may not know the exact next step, they are now harnessing the collective intelligence of their team to pull everyone forward.

However, leading with conviction is not just about setting the vision; it is about decisiveness and equipping the team with the tools and frameworks necessary to make (and explain) their decisions, even the difficult ones, and moving forward quickly. This transparency in decision making, along with open lines of communication between team members, leads to an environment where individuals are actively and visibly pushing through obstacles.

Now, for many people needing to lead their teams through turbulent times, they might not actually be the manager of that team. They might be a peer or in some other role where they feel like they lack the same type of authority a manager would have. So how would one build conviction in their team as a peer or when they feel they lack authority? This is probably a good time to reinforce something I am deeply passionate about: being able to influence without authority is a golden skill in leadership. Not every leader has the authority to set policies, control budgets, or even make all the decisions, even those who have seemingly risen to some of the highest ranks in the organization.

This is why influence will often be even more powerful than authority.

Here are a few strategies for building conviction without the need to wield authority to do it:

• Communicate openly: be transparent and share as much information as possible about what is going on, why decisions are being made, and how it impacts the team. Transparency builds trust, and trust is the foundation of conviction. In addition, this context may help team members make more informed decisions on how to move forward.
• Be consistent: Say what you mean, and mean what you say. Consistency in actions and messages, with the positive outcomes that follow, will reinforce your leadership and make your team feel secure, even in insecure times. Consistency in actions and behaviors can also lead to those same actions and behaviors being emulated on the team, even in your absence.
• Empower your team members: Give your team the tools and responsibility to solve problems on their own. When people feel like they have control over their work, they’re more likely to commit to it and feel ownership of the results, including what they learn from the decisions they make.
• Recognize and celebrate: Celebrate even the small wins with your team to lift the team’s spirit to reinforce the feeling that you’re on the right track, especially in a tough environment. When major team accomplishments become few and far between or setbacks are becoming the norm, a leader’s ability to establish a culture of appreciation and to ensure the well-being of the team is crucial.

Building conviction is, at its core, about leading by influence. Leadership is about creating an environment where team members choose to follow you, not because they have to, but because they want to. And they’ll want to when they see that you’re clear, consistent, open, and committed — even when you don’t have all the answers or authority.

Leaders who succeed in building conviction equip their teams to handle the inevitable storms they’ll face. Strong leadership qualities can help build conviction within teams by providing direction, clarity, understanding, confidence, and trust. A leader who possesses these qualities can inspire their team to perform at their best and achieve great things together.

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