With the fast-paced nature of modern business, it’s a requirement to polish up on key leadership lessons to keep your business moving rapidly in the right direction.

Here are a few leadership suggestions worth some consideration.

Surround yourself with people who take action

At whatever level you’re dealing with, from the senior management level down to the individual workers, you must deal with people who act and not only talk. The talkers are interesting, but often this only leads to procrastination and a lack of productivity.

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The business leaders who succeed do so by ruthlessly driving their business forward by taking massive amounts of action and expecting no less from their team.

If you personally have an ongoing issue with procrastination, then set deadlines on your projects even if you’re the CEO. Hold yourself accountable or get a business life coach to create some accountability outside of the company.

Don’t stray from the corporate values

Much is written about what a company stands for. The list of corporate values and ethics must be clear to all employees. Only when they are clear on these will they avoid straying into territory that is clearly outside of what is deemed acceptable conduct.

A leader is ineffective if the managers below them and the lower-level employers don’t know what is and is not acceptable.

Clear values ensure that new deals are written up in accordance with the way business is done in the company. For instance, when it’s clear that there’s no place for dishonest dealing, then staff are clear about how honesty is placed in order of importance. Furthermore, staff should not be severely penalised when owning up to a basic mistake because otherwise no one will follow the edict to be honest and forthcoming.

Develop people at all levels of the organisation

A leadership lesson from the U.S. Marine Corps is the simple idea to develop high-quality people at all levels of the organisation; not just at the top echelon of leadership.

>See also: Is there a lack of digital leadership in the world’s biggest firms?

Indeed, the biotech company Celgene is following in the footsteps of the Marines because its current CEO, Mark Alles, was an officer there. Two predecessors in the CEO position were also in the same branch of the military. Given that the company has been in the top five best performing biotech companies on the stock market in the last few years, they must be doing something right.

Providing the opportunity for employees to grow within their current role and to expand beyond it improves retention rates and lowers the staff recruitment costs for the company. When a business actively promotes from within, staff are further encouraged to look upwards to how far they can rise within the company’s ranks.

Use business consultants effectively

Business consultants tend to be overused by companies without a clear sense of direction or what they’re expected to achieve. Ironically, in some cases the consultants themselves are inexperienced and would benefit from receiving training on how to be a more effective consultant.

The consultant to other consultants’ role is something that successful millionaire Sam Ovens relishes. He’s previously successfully exited an app business in New Zealand, so he knows a thing or two about building out a profitable online enterprise.

From his offices overlooking Manhattan, this New Zealand native provides online and in-person training to ultimately improve the services that companies can expect to receive from the business consultants that he trains.

>See also: Business leaders have a data literacy problem

Good leadership is about setting high standards, deciding on the goals of the business, informing senior leadership what is expected of them, and providing guidance to keep them on-track.

Leadership begins, as it should, at the top and trickles down through the organisation affecting how its people, and the business, performs.

The UK’s largest conference for tech leadership, Tech Leaders Summit, returns on 14 September with 40+ top execs signed up to speak about the challenges and opportunities surrounding the most disruptive innovations facing the enterprise today. Secure your place at this prestigious summit by registering here