Are you a leader?
Fact be told, not everyone is a leader. It’s just not destined for everyone,
But more individuals are leaders than they know. Leadership takes on several different terms; it’s just a question of understanding how you lead and why.
Here are 10 main business leadership skills you’ll need to succeed as a leader:
1. Lead By Example. You can’t be an hostile leader, someone that’s never around and unable of getting your hands dirty. One of the best ways to lead is by example – pitching in where desirable, lending a helping hand, and making sure that the work you do is obviously understood by your team
2. Passion. A leader without desire isn’t a leader. He’s a paper pusher. Or a taskmaster. Or a government worker… Passion drives a lot, and you can encourage so much in others through your own passion and enthusiasm. That doesn’t mean you have to be continually cheerful, it means you’ve got to trust in what you’re doing and what your company is doing.
3. Be Organized. A confused leader isn’t leading; he’s hunting his own tail. Disorder raises nothing but more disorder. If you’re exhausted and confused, your team will be too. When you’re systematized you’ll be much more productive and so will everyone else.
4. Delegate. You can’t do everything. A great leader needs to be able to delegate successfully. The key to delegating successfully is giving workers ownership of the work you give them. They can’t just feel like they own the work, they really have to.
5. Take Ownership and Responsibility. Although you’ve just delegated work and truly given your team ownership, you also have to take ownership and responsibility at all times. Your team has to know you’ll be there for them through the good and the bad times. That doesn’t mean you absolve people from making mistakes or ignore the crappy work/effort, but it does mean you take responsibility for the big picture.
6. Communicate Positively. Duh. Everybody knows great leaders have to be great communicators. But there are certain points of communication that many people forget. For example, it’s critical that you communicate to employees how their work matters in the bigger picture. Are they a cog, or does their work truly make a difference?
- Communicating success is also something leaders forget to do. People need confirmation. They want to know they did a good job. You just have to tell them.
- And be exact. Doubtful leaders will often ramble; uninterested leaders cut things off too fast. Whether you’re giving praise, give constructive criticism, or major goals and to-dos, you have to figure out how much to say and in what order. Be exact, specific and brief. Get to the point.
7. Be Brave and Honest.Weak leaders will shy away from any number of conditions that crop up frequently when running a team. The task your team has driven on for 6 months just got shelved.Now what?Or you have to talk to somebody about their absence of energy recently.Do you ignore the problem? Or maybe it’s time to take your product into a new market.Do you shuffle forward, afraid and worried, or do you grab the market by the throat?
8. Great Listener. A huge part of being a great speaker is being a great listener. If all you want to do is talk, you’re not a leader. Keeping people interested means listening to them, asking them questions, understanding their issues. When you listen more, you can respond more effectively, and get to the heart of things much faster.
9. Identify Your People. You have to know your persons. You don’t have to be best friends or even entertain outside work, but you do have to recognize what makes them tick. You need to know something about their personal lives because their lives outside work matter. Their lives outside work drive a great deal of their success (or lack of) at work. Keep track of simple things: birthdays, marriages, children, etc. The more you recognize your people the more mutual ground you’re likely to find, the more you’ll be able to connect.
10. Be a Follower. Benjamin Disraeli said, “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” That sums up many of the other points so pleasurably. Great leaders are followers too. If you’re a leader without following, you’re a ruler. And as fun as that sounds… Being a leader-follower means discovering value in your team, getting encouraged by your team, encouraging your team to communicate, inspire and be open.