How do you elevate your performance so you can add value to your team? How do you make a bigger difference?
It’s not about you, but it begins with you because we’ve already defined leadership as influence. Namely, your influence!
But how?
There are six components of effective leadership influence. Don’t look at these as a recipe. Instead, look at them as ingredients you can use…some perhaps more than others depending on how you’re wired. You must accurately understand your natural talents, those things that come more easily to you. Sometimes they’re your default behaviors. You shouldn’t work too hard to be something you’re not. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work to develop new skills, but it means you must not fail to leverage those things that come so naturally easy for you. Those strengths will make the biggest difference in your effectiveness.
All of these components are important, but they’re not equally weighted. Additionally, situations dictate which component may be most suitable. Your ability to properly read your team, individually and collectively, and to assess the circumstances you all face – it’s key to knowing how to deploy these components. 
I’m intentionally putting each component in a verb form because I want to help you understand these are actions words. They’re not intellectual concepts aimed at high-brow thinking. They’re practical reality. Not scholarly ideas. I’m also intentionally starting with one specific one because from that one stems all the others. 
Connect.
How we relate to people and how we foster their ability to relate to us – it’s foundational to all we’re about as leaders. 
Some connect with political prowess. They know how to work situations for their own end. 
Some connect with candor. They don’t pull any punches. Ever.
Some connect with personality. They have a charisma that draws people in.
Some connect with compassion or a variety of other attributes others find engaging. 
Connections can be made by deploying any number of behaviors, styles, or personalities. Even tyranny. I don’t advise it, but tyranny can work. History proves it. History also tends to prove it stops working. People connect to fear…until they decide to stop being afraid. Then the tyrant is in trouble. Or soon will be. 
How can YOU best connect with people, especially your team? Don’t be shocked if you’re not able to fully discover that by yourself. Insights from others who know you are most helpful. Unfortunately, too few people take advantage of such insights. You should make sure you seek out help so you can identify the most positive way you can authentically connect with others. Then cross your fingers that tyranny isn’t your natural leaning.