Jan Schulz-Hofen on January 21, 2025 Leading by example: How (and why) great leaders get their hands dirty
Great leaders build great companies. Unfortunately, a 2024 Gallup survey found that only 20% of employees have strong trust in their leaders.
If you run a company, you want to be respected and trusted. But a lack of trust in our leaders does more than just harm your CEO or team lead’s ego — it leads to disengaged employees, poor culture, and weak performance.
So, what’s causing our current leadership crisis?
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In my opinion, one of the main factors is that many leaders have stopped doing the work that helped them build strong teams in the first place: Walking the walk and leading by example.
If you feel that your team’s culture is slipping, it can be hard to look in the mirror and admit that you might be the problem. But the only way to rebuild your leadership status — and get your team back on track — is to get your hands dirty and face the issue head on.
What does it mean to lead by example?
In the most basic terms, leading by example is a leadership style where leaders model the actions, behaviors, and attitudes they expect from their employees.
Whereas other leadership styles focus on directing employees to achieve a particular standard, those who lead by example actively demonstrate the standard themselves, working alongside their teams to achieve success.
Many of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs show what it means to lead by example.
Whether it’s Jeff Bezos selling books from his garage, Bill Gates coding the first version of Microsoft himself, or James Dyson designing his own vacuum cleaners, all three are hands-on leaders who aren’t afraid to ‘do the doing’ of their companies.
But you don’t have to be a billionaire tech founder to lead by example. As CEO of Planio, I do my best to work with my teammates on all levels — whether it’s helping to debug code or answering support emails.
Those who lead by example naturally earn more respect by shifting the narrative from ‘you can do’ this to ‘we can do this.’
By showing that they’re willing to put in the work, understand each aspect of their business, and take a servant leadership approach, they build stronger connections with team members.
Leading by example breaks down the myth of the ‘born leader’.
Even better, leading by example also breaks down the myth of the ‘born leader’. By showing that the way to succeed is by being a part of the team, they inspire the next generation of leaders to be proactive and step up, rather than forcing their best players to the sideline to await instructions.
The biggest benefits of leading by example
While leading by example is great for building trust, it’s not the only benefit that leaders, employees, and organizations gain.
Here are some of the other benefits I’ve seen from leading by example:
| For leaders | For team members |
|---|---|
| Develops stronger relationships. If you’re disconnected from your team, it’s difficult to build strong relationships that inspire trust and connection. Leading by example gets you closer to the team, helping you build connections with those in your organization. | More reasons to feel motivated. Leaders need to motivate their teams to achieve success. There’s nothing more inspirational than seeing your manager get stuck in, setting the example for what’s expected, and how it helps to meet the company objectives. |
| Gain first-hand experience with daily issues. When you’re far away from the front line, it makes it hard to empathize with day-to-day challenges. By leading by example, you get first-hand experience of the challenges the team faces every day. | Creates a culture of accountability. Leaders stepping in creates a culture of accountability, where every employee knows they can contribute to the organization’s greater good by doing their share. |
| Sets a higher standard across the company. A leader’s job is to set the standards of what a company does and how it should do it. When leading by example, it makes it easier to set a higher standard as you actively demonstrate it to those in your organization. | Fosters productivity and creativity. When leaders are accessible and the hierarchy is flattened, it creates an environment where people aren’t afraid to speak up. This makes everyone more productive and collaborative, while also improving team morale and culture. |
Here’s a real-life example of how I’ve seen these benefits play out at Planio.
When we shifted to fully remote work during the pandemic, I lost many of the daily in-person interactions I was used to. Suddenly, it was much harder to know what my team always needed and how I could support them.
Even worse, it felt like this new work environment was clamping down on creativity, as team members didn’t always know when (or how) to speak up and share ideas.
But instead of dictating exactly how we should work moving forward, I followed the S.U.A.L principle — i.e., shut up and listen. In practice this meant:
- Giving team members space to talk and not interrupting them.
- Using active listening to show that I understand their ideas.
- Structuring meetings in a way that allows everyone space to contribute.
- Acknowledging my own mistakes when I make them and actively working to fix them.
- Making space to share learnings, successes, and failures.
With these (and other) principles in place, our team felt more psychologically safe to contribute, share ideas, and give feedback. By putting myself into their shoes and working with my team, the slump we saw when shifting to remote work quickly rebounded.
8 ways to start leading by example today
Leading by example isn’t something that happens suddenly. It’s a shift in your leadership style that you need to gradually and consistently adapt. If you overdo it, you can come across as inauthentic and risk disengaging your team.
Here are a few of the ways you can start to shift your leadership approach and build stronger connections through leading by example:
1. Actively make time to listen to your team
Leading by example isn’t just about diving into tasks alongside your team, it’s also about the way you interact and connect with them. Start by making more time to actively listen to your team to understand their concerns, achievements, and what actually matters to them.
- Test out new listening techniques. To improve connection, use techniques such as one-on-one meetings and team rituals to listen to your team members individually and as a group.
- Use tools to help. Planio includes a number of communication features to help teams connect. Whether it’s blog articles, forums, video calls, or live chat, there are many ways to build open, two-way communication channels that boost engagement.
2. Show that you’re holding yourself to the same standards
The best leaders only ask their team to do things they’re comfortable doing themselves.
The best leaders only ask their team to do things they’re comfortable doing themselves.
Leading by example empowers you to demonstrate the standard you expect of your employees, showing that goals and objectives are common across the company.
- Share your goals. Connect with the team to share your personal goals and objectives to show that everyone is pulling in the same direction. A solid project management system can help here by giving everyone a central location to find strategy or policy docs.
- Inspire your team. Tapping into emotional intelligence skills, such as empathy, is one of the best ways to inspire your team to hit high standards. People work harder for people they trust and look up to, so look for other ways to share your experiences and build connections.
3. Resolve conflicts directly and quickly
Being a leader is most difficult when conflict and challenges arise. But leaders can’t shy away from difficult situations, so you need to know how to resolve conflict quickly when friction arises within the team.
- Practice your conflict resolution skills. This will ensure you’re armed with the tools and techniques required to defuse tension within your team.
- Keep calm. Conflict is a highly emotional time, so invest time in your ability to stay calm under pressure. If you let the emotion get to you too, it’ll only make the situation worse.
- Get comfortable giving feedback. When things haven’t been going well, leaders also need to know how to give negative feedback in a way that doesn’t lead to further conflict.
4. Openly acknowledge your mistakes and development journey
No matter how senior you are, everyone makes mistakes. This is true of leaders as well, so by openly acknowledging, sharing, and learning from mistakes, you set the tone for everyone else in your organization and show them how to develop and grow.
- Be open and honest. Don’t be afraid to share stories of making mistakes with your teams. Not only does it create a no-blame culture, but you’ll build stronger connections and respect between you and your employees.
- Support your team. When team members are struggling, help them through their limiting beliefs by showing them a broader perspective and complimenting their achievements to build up their confidence.
5. Put in the work — but respect boundaries
Leaders, especially founders or directors, have a different level of connection to the organization than others. While you want to inspire others to put in the work, you have to be careful to respect their boundaries. Not everyone has the same level of commitment, and that’s ok, as long as every employee is doing their job to a high standard.
- Watch out for burnout. Look out for signs of overwork and burnout across your team, and offer support if you think someone is struggling. Everyone’s stress signals are different, so monitor any changes in attitude, silly mistakes, and unnecessary conflicts across the team.
- Model the behaviors. Setting boundaries is much easier when you see leaders doing the same. Openly practice techniques such as protecting your energy and self-management to model what a good work-life balance looks like.
6. Know when to be a player and when to be a coach
Leading by example doesn’t mean you immediately jump in to save the day. As a leader, you have to play the right role for the situation at hand, either stepping in to be one of the team, or stepping back to let others steer the ship themselves.
- Servant leadership. Learn all about servant leadership and how to remove blockers and obstacles for your team. Working in this way opens up the path for your team to achieve their goals without limitations.
- Mentorship. Leading by example is also about sharing your experiences to enable others to grow. Know when to act as a mentor to develop the next set of leaders in your organization.
7. Avoid micromanaging and give others the chance to grow
Micromanagement kills trust, creativity, and team effectiveness. To lead by example, give your team members the room to flourish without feeling controlled.
- Learn to properly delegate. Delegation is one of the most important leadership and management skills. Not only does it help team members grow and develop, but it takes the stress away from you, freeing you up to do more important leadership tasks.
- Practice sensible workload management. Being an advocate for a well-balanced team workload is a great way to lead by example. When your team’s drowning in work, lead the way by deprioritizing unnecessary tasks and managing the fallout with stakeholders.
8. Identify, develop, and share your own leadership style
To become the best leader, you need to develop a leadership style that’s unique to you. As you develop, be open and honest with your team about your preferred style, your likes and dislikes, and the areas you want to develop.
This openness helps others work with you, and sets an example of a growth mindset.
- Identify your style. There are several techniques you can use to identify your leadership style, including a work style assessment and Fiedler’s least preferred coworker (LPC) test. Once identified, create a plan to develop and grow into your style as you gain leadership experience.
- Develop a well-rounded skill set. Leadership and management go hand-in-hand. As you develop your own leadership style, don’t forget to practice your management skills as well. Master both, and you’ll become a leader employees trust, respect, and love working for.
Final thoughts: It’s easier to trip when you don’t practice walking the walk
With only a small percentage of employees having complete trust in their leaders, it’s time to stop ‘talking the talk’ and start ‘walking the walk’.
The only way to rebuild your leadership status and get your team back on track may be to get your hands dirty and face the issue head on.
Showing that you’re prepared to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty builds respect and connection with your team, improving productivity, engagement, and effectiveness as a result.
Being a leader is also about enabling your team to do great things. With a tool like Planio, you’ll always be able to keep your team in touch, track progress, share feedback, and stay accountable to your larger goals.
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