Be the Leader People Want to Follow

What is it that makes a strong leader?

Some describe a strong leader as someone who is intelligent, assertive, and conscientious in their duties.

With this in mind, we start to wonder what it is that we can do acquire these strong attributes and apply them to our own leadership style. Transformational leaders are also passionate, enthusiastic, and energetic. In fact, transformational leaders obsess around achieving the bigger picture strategic goals, as well as helping others to realise their potential, and reach it by all means available to them. Here are some tips to become an effective leader.

1. Understand Your Leadership Style

Figure out what your personal strengths are and the specific aspects of your leadership skills which you need to improve on. These days most people don’t take kindly to the notion of a leader who is “boss”. Everyone that you lead will have their own unique personality, skills, experiences and abilities and so the leadership style you apply in each situation needs to vary. It’s important that your leadership style reflects the kind of leadership that a particular team member needs at that point of time and in that particular situation.

2. Encouragement Creativity

If you always do, what you’ve always done, you’ll only have (at most) what you’ve always got. Innovation and creativity need to be encouraged if we are to compete in an increasing competitive marketplace. Foster an environment where creative thinking is encouraged. After all, inventing a better mouse-trap is always the aim. Pressing your team to come up with “out of the box” ways to tackle a project, situation or problem, plus fostering an environment where individuals feel confident about expressing their ideas is important if real change is to occur. Encourage your team to try new ways of doing things, and to take on new challenges which stretch their capacity and help them to grow beyond their immediate potential.

3. Be a Role Model

Any successful transformational leader will tell you that in order to succeed, you must make yourself a role model for those you are leading. Don’t ask your team to do what you would not be prepared to do yourself. Be punctual, fair, honest and honourable, and abide by the same rules you set for others.

4. Passion

Passion is something that is often lacking in leaders. If you don’t have passion for the projects you are leading, it’s unrealistic to expect that your team will show much enthusiasm. Be both passionate and enthusiastic about your work. Regularly communicate with a sense of optimism and your workers will follow.

5. Communication

Ensure that your communication is the best as it can be. Schedule regular one-to-one and group meetings and involve everyone in decision making whenever possible. At the same time, be ready to step up and make the hard decisions when necessary. Be transparent in your decision making so that your team understand why particularly decisions are made and, of course, be fair. Ensuring that everyone understands what is going on and where everyone else is at with their team goals is vital.

6. Stay Optimistic

Conveying a sense of optimism is vital. That doesn’t mean looking at the world through rose coloured glasses. Obviously glossing over problems as if they don’t exist is foolish. Bad things do happen but work hard at conveying a “can do” attitude in your team by encouraging them to develop contingency plans and suggest solutions when problems arise.

7. Encourage Group Input

By encouraging each group member to voice their thoughts and opinions, you will not only inject good ideas into your projects, but also inspire and motivate your team to feel part of solutions, not part of the problems. Not only that, but they’ll build confidence in themselves and their ideas and consequently the team will grow in capacity.

8. Motivate Them

We’re not talking motivational speeches — those aren’t for everyone. To motivate your members, simply acknowledge individual and team efforts, milestones and achievements as they are reached. Sometimes there will be stumbling blocks but even so, acknowledging effort is important. People can be motivated with a simple “thank you for your contribution today, you offered good insight”. Whenever they mess up or make a mistake, simply facilitate individuals, or the whole team, in a process of self-reflection. Allow them the opportunity to talk about what went wrong and the lessons learned. Making mistakes is a natural part of living.

9. Rewarding and Recognition

By recognising your team’s success and appreciating them for the work that they do, you’ll find that they will perform better at work. Acknowledge individual achievements with at least a thank you, and mark significant milestones and achievements with a celebration. How much of a celebration will obviously depend on the situation, the particular achievement being celebrated, and your budget. Obviously offering cash incentives and bonuses will appeal to, and motivate many. Other ways to recognise contribution might include offering a team member the opportunity to represent the team at an event, or offering the opportunity to extend their knowledge and skills by attending a training event. Of course team members may also enjoy a celebratory team barbeque.

10. A Fresh Perspective on Things

As you continue to develop your team and your leadership skills, you will encounter a stage where a particular approach you’ve used before simply doesn’t work in this circumstances. Be flexible in approach. It’s in your best interest to keep seeking new ways. Be creative.

Learn more in the workshop Coaching and Leading a Work Team. Feel free to contact us for more info.