Once you know what is the success your team is working for. Once you have understood your people. Once you have built processes for them to thrive individually, it is time to work on yourself.

Around the purpose, people and processes, build your leadership manifesto. Values you stand behind, virtues you strive to uphold.

Ma-ni-fes-to? Manifesto!

Just as one can't say they are living to their principles without knowing their principles, a person can't have a steady leadership style if they have not made clear for themselves what they stand for.

By writing down by yourself and for yourself the things that make your leadership style, you will have a constant reminder of what you believe in and strive to cultivate in your team.

A good manifesto should help to answer the following questions about who you as a leader and a manager are:

1. What do you stand for?

2. What would you protect at all cost?

3. How do you know that your job is done?

I am on board! How do I know what I stand for?

Here comes our old friend, that is familiar from the previous post "I am a manager now! What should I focus on first?" - the why! Why are you a manager? Why you choose to be a manager? Why do you keep on choosing to be a manager?

Be honest with yourself and start making a bulletpoint list of the main reasons you choose to focus on purpose, people and processes? This will help you really understand the value that you wish to create with your role.

We are not under attack, why talk about protecting?

Whatever you are not changing you are choosing.

Every day you will face many decisions. Some are easy like "what to have as a meeting agenda on next department all-hands". Other as challenging like resolving a conflict inside the team as it is impacting the whole teams' cooperation as people are forced to choose sides. Or facing a global crisis due to what costs must be cut. Every decision pro something is also a deciding against something else.

Therefore to keep yourself consistent in your leadership a manifesto is there to help just as a compass - giving direction.

Can anything ever be considered done?

Yes and no. Everything will come to an end at one moment of time. Therefore your leadership position in that specific organization will not be permanent. What differences good from the best is the impact that they make. As a leader, you should set yourself up to make a longstanding impact. Therefore as you would have any goal setting 1:1 with your team members, have one with yourself as well. Define what would success as a manager look for you in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years down the road? What could you plant now, so the team and organization would harvest even after you no longer are there?