"You're here anyway - you may as well enjoy it!" - that was the phrase my father would use whenever I would complain about sitting on a soaking wet river bank on yet another one of our rain-drenched fishing trips. Of course as a kid, I didn't see the wisdom in those words - all I had thoughts for was a change of clothes and a warm fireside - but in the years I've since spent managing and advising businesses, it's a phrase that has often summarized my views on being a leader of a team: "You're here anyway - you might as well be good at it!"

It's always a shame to see a leadership position wasted, and it's usually because the individual concerned has lost perspective on what they're there to do. So here's my recommendations on the top three ways you can rejuvenate your role as a leader and build a team that is committed and effective:

1. Manage Yourself Effectively.
The primary reason I see leaders flounder is not because they lack the core skills necessary to be a good leader - it's because they're so overburdened with the managerial and administrative functions of their role that they simply don't have the time to lead effectively.

If you're consistently rushing from meeting to meeting, multi-tasking (read: answering e-mail) when you finally get to those meetings, and get a sense of dread when you enter your office because of the stacks of unattended paperwork, it becomes very hard to make time for one-on-one's with your team members, hold strategic planning sessions, or even find time to think.

So if you truly want to be an effective leader, you owe it to yourself - and your team - to manage yourself effectively. In practical terms, this means getting on top of four specific things: