It’s guest post Monday! This post is written by Carl who has been a trainer and administrator for several high-profile businesses and continues to show mid-management how to become effective leaders. As well as contributing to college ranking and review sites such as Degree Jungle blog. If you would like to have a post featured on my site then click here.
Leadership can be confusing to many. It’s just that there are so many nuances of the subject. There is no secret recipe or magic formula for becoming an effective leader, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Rather, it is a process of learning by trial and error, successes and failures.
Leadership is really about influencing people to believe in you and follow you. A leader takes people where they would never go on their own. So why do so many leaders fail? Today’s leaders often replicate poor leadership habits.
By nature, most of us resist change. We become comfortable and we fear the unknown. In order to become an effective leader and teacher you must let people know that you have a vision and they can trust you to lead them.
Consider these top four tasks of a proven leader;
1. Motivate the Crowd
Encourage your team members to the tasks that are most critical to achieving the main objectives. Make sure the rewards are useful and worthwhile. Try to understand each member and what they really want from their work and life in general. This is how you will know how to reward them:
- Congratulate, show gratitude, and recognize all contributions. Do it often and then do it again.
- Set up high expectations. Your team will evolve according to the expectations that you define. Set the bar high and say, “I believe in your ability to do great things!”
- Empower people around you, delegating responsibilities.
- Celebrate the successes of the team often.
- Encourage Fun. Make your workplace a pleasant place in which to work. Yes, the work should come first, but short breaks can make all the difference in the culture of your team.
2. Turn Words into Actions. You need to practice what you preach. This is how you establish trust and credibility:
- Lead by example by participating in team tasks as much as possible.
- Be honest with your team. It can be difficult to keep promises, but actions speak louder than words.
- Raise the bar and increase their personal challenges. Do better than your best as you ask your team to do their best.
3. Communicate Objectives. Create clear and simple objectives for your team, ensuring they understand the mission and their role in its implementation. This is done when you:
- Focus your team on the minimum goals possible.
- Communicate the goals of the team by various means – team meetings and emails.
- Follow the progress in achieving the objectives.
- Involve the team in monitoring objectives so that they take ownership of the results.
4. Embrace Change. Encourage the mavericks and go-getters in your group and you will lead innovation. A leader can accoplish this when they:
- Change routines. Seek better ways to achieve the goals of the team.
- Take risks. Authentic Leaders are not afraid of failure. People can never achieve accomplishments without some failures.
- Learn. Practice the chess moves. “What can we improve for next time? “
- Encourage team members to take risks, even if it may fail. Focus on lessons learned from past experience and by relying on them to find better solutions.
Question: What are some other tasks of a proven leader?
