Social media is just one piece of the puzzle in your network marketing business. One of the other critical puzzle pieces is developing leaders. This week we’re going over the six steps to effectively developing leaders. 

Manager vs Leader 

My opinion on leadership is heavily influenced by many years in a very toxic nine-to-five work environment.  

Unfortunately, because a good chunk of your income is directly related to the performance of others in the network marketing industry, it can be very easy to have your focus shift from leadership into management. 

When you take leadership and try to throw a management stamp on it in the business space, the dynamics between you and your downline will be all wrong and you will end up stressed.

Step 1: Meet them where they’re at

We talk a lot about ideal clients and working with people that you love working with but no matter what, whether someone is coming to you who is where you were at six months to a year to two years ago or someone who's in a similar boat as you, it's really important to be super conscious about meeting them where they're at. 

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been in business for five years or five minutes, it's really easy to forget what it was like when you’re new to the business. When you are interacting with them, make a conscious effort to approach it as though you’re on the same level playing field with them.

Ensure that the language you use when you’re posting or directly communicating with them isn’t putting you out of arm's reach for them. Keep channels of communication open so that they feel comfortable being around you and they feel comfortable raising their concerns. 

Step 2: Understand different learning styles

There is every chance that you learn in a vastly different way than your downline does. There are so many different quizzes and tests to help you determine their learning style, but you can learn so much about someone simply by asking them. 

For example:

• Do they learn by reading independently? 
• Do they learn best by watching videos?
• Do they learn by taking action?
• Do they learn best by watching you do something and then copying it?

There's a slew of different learning styles so it's really important to know what learning styles exist within your team so you can show up for them in an appropriate way and create training’s that benefit them. 

Step 3: Understand different personality types

The personality tests that immediately come to mind are The 5 Love Languages, the Enneagram and Amanda Buchi’s Entrepreneurial Archetype Quiz. 

It’s important to learn more about who they are as an individual as well as how they show up in business. For example, the Love Languages teaches you so much about how they best receive feedback and how they interpret the things you say to them. 

I attract a lot of Enneagram Three’s — aka the achievers. These people really strive to receive recognition for how they show up and they want to be told that what they're doing is the correct thing. So as a mentor, I know my Enneagram Three already have everything that they need inside of them to do exactly what they need to do but when they doubt themselves, I need to provide reassurance that they can trust themselves. 

Step 4: Be willing to do what you’re asking them to do

Are you teaching someone a strategy that doesn't best suit their leadership style or personality type? Do they actually feel comfortable doing it? 

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a leader is encouraging someone to do something that you aren't willing to do. 

As you know, I frequently speak out against cold messaging. My goal for the network marketing industry highlighting relationships and treating it as an eCommerce business. 

There are so many sleazy strategies going around and I want to teach you that there is a better way. This industry is filled with so many amazing people who are not bad apples, they’ve unfortunately learned a lot of bad tactics and strategies that have been passed down year after year. 

When you're teaching a strategy to someone on your team, make sure it’s something that you are also comfortable doing as a leader.

Step 5: Your method might not suit everybody

It's really important to be open-minded to other things other than what you teach or what you have been doing. You’re a forever student and it’s important to accept that there are other ways of doing things. 

As a leader, it’s important to recognize that your primary method of teaching is not always best suited to everybody and you might have to find another way of teaching that can work better for them. Or, on the flip side, refer them to someone else who can better teach them from a place of alignment with who they are as an individual and who they are as an entrepreneur. 

Step 6: Set healthy boundaries

As a leader, you shouldn’t feel like you have to constantly be available to your people all the time. When you do this you teach your downline exactly that you're basically a free customer support chat they think that this exactly what they need to be doing too. Then when they get burnt out, they start resenting you. 

Having healthy boundaries isn't just good for you it's good for your downline as well. It empowers them to have a really awesome work-life balance and put distance between themselves and their phones so they don’t feel like a slave to the notifications. 

An example of healthy boundaries is set business hours and a specific avenue in which your clients can reach you — don’t just give your phone number out to anyone. You might have to unlearn some limiting beliefs that if you’re not constantly available 24/7 then you can’t possibly succeed — that’s just not true.

You teach people how to treat you so if you are constantly available people will take note of that and they will constantly reach out at all hours. 

The sooner you set boundaries and teach your leaders to do the same, the better it's going to be for them, and therefore, the better you will all perform as an organization. 

Listen to the full podcasts on Apple Podcasts or Spotify