What Is Successful Leadership Really About?
Five essential qualities that every leader should know about..
Leadership and motivational abilities are very
closely related, as strong leadership will motivate and strong motivation
shows good leadership.
Your ability as a potential leader will vary, but if we can pinpoint just
what leadership is and define some of the attributes of good sales
leadership, we can all benefit.
Leadership has been defined as “the ability to inspire willing action”.
Emphasis is placed on the willing. But to understand leadership, we need to
delve a little deeper than that.
One thing which experience has proven over and over again down through the
ages is that when any group of people are thrown together for any length of
time or for any project, a leader will emerge from the group - one to
whom they will listen and give their confidence and support.
Their position on the organisation chart or their title alone cannot make a
person a genuine leader. They must have certain traits and skills, or they
will surely fail. In business, it has been shown again and again that these
skills can be learned and the traits can be developed in any individual who
is willing to exert an effort based on strong desire and a true hunger for
success.
Generally, a leader or teacher does not actually “develop” another person.
They encourage and inspire that person to develop themselves from within.
Thus, leadership is, in a large sense, self-initiated.
Once we understand and identify the methods and characteristics of admired
leaders, we can take steps to develop these skills and traits ourselves. We
can analyse ourselves -- honestly, ruthlessly, objectively – and identify
which
skills we need to acquire or improve (and those which we need to play down)
No One Is Perfect!
The perfect leader has yet to be born. We all have room for
self-improvement. If we can agree upon what it takes to be a good leader -
what are the traits of leadership, what are the skills - we will at least
have made a good start. We should analyse every genuine leader we know and
try to learn which qualities influenced us to consider them a good leader.
We can probably agree upon at least five - you may have a leader in mind as
we consider these.
Qualities of Leadership
Enthusiasm
We will all agree that enthusiasm for what one is doing is one of the first
traits. No man or woman can install much enthusiasm in anyone else for
something about which they themselves are not enthusiastic. Genuine
enthusiasm does not mean a glib, backslapping, plastic smile type attitude.
More often, the genuine leader’s enthusiasm is likely to be of a more quiet
nature - but it is there! It is shown by the manner in which they go about
their work. Their manner of handling their job seems to say to everyone.
“This is important! It must be done right. It must be fairly and squarely
done! And -“You Can Do It!”
Unless a person feels right down in their bones that the work they are doing
is worthwhile, they can never consistently (day in and day out) act as
though they do. So, if they have any feelings or doubt about the importance
of their work and cannot get enthusiastic about it, the trouble is in the
person himself or herself. Whether they realise it or not, those around them
sense their feelings, their attitude is showing!
Courage
Leadership takes “guts”. The true leader has the ability to “take it” when
the going gets rough. Often the leader has to “take it” for the whole
organisation to keep its morale high. The leader has to face up to a new
problem all the time. Indeed, many successful leaders invite difficulties
just for the sheer joy of coping with them. The genuine leader approaches
each day with a sort of “joy of battle”.
Courage in leadership sometimes takes unexpected forms; it may mean standing
up to a principle. (Has anyone ever known a real leader who was a “yes
person”?) It means having the character to stand up for what you believe in
without comprising or cutting corners.
It may mean taking a bold approach to a new idea - sticking your neck out in
support of something, which you think is worth trying. It means loyalty to
your conviction.
Self Confidence
An important requirement for the leader of today is self confidence.
However, in making decisions about people, their motivations and the way
they act or react, the leader can never feel completely sure they are right.
The best
they can do is to make a sort of “educated guess” based on the facts they
can assemble and then depend upon their past experience and knowledge to
interpret them.
However, a leader can be self-confident. A great help is to know and work
within their personal assets and limitations. They know what they can
personally do and what they are unable to do. They are willing to listen to
other opinions, assess them and be big enough to adopt the meritorious ones
even if they do not square with their original thinking. They can take small
reverses in stride.
A self-confident leader is never satisfied with their present
accomplishments, does not spend their time in useless longing for things
they cannot have. Rather, they set about realising their immediate and
realistic goals.
Integrity
A leader keeps promises. They keep their promises to their associates as
meticulously as those made to their superiors. They keep promises made to
themselves, which are the hardest to keep and failure in this is the easiest
to rationalise. They can keep all these promises because they never commit
themselves rashly; but always within the limits of reality and their present
capabilities in terms of personal ability. Part of this matter of integrity
is
certainly, unquestioned loyalty to their organisation - to its reputation as
well as their own. Also they must have loyalty to their products and to
their associates and loyalty to their industry. Loyalty to one’s associates
is
extremely important in any leader. They should never allow themselves or
others in their group to ridicule, or down grade other leaders or people in
the industry, as it is a sign of jealousy and this is one trait that cannot
exist in a
true leader. Part of this loyalty is a sense of stewardship - a feeling of
responsibility for the welfare, progress and security of the industry as a
whole, and that includes everybody who ethically runs a business, everyone
in their organisation, their customers and their family.
Interest
Even the Oxford Dictionary has difficulty in describing the meaning of the
word “friendliness”. Of “friendliness” it says, “it signifies befitting or
worthy of a friend”.
A leader has a genuine and sympathetic interest in and a respect for, people
as individuals. A very high percentage of any leader’s day is spent working
directly with individuals.
Be careful - do not go overboard. Here there could be a danger signal.
Friendliness can, of course, be overdone. Although interested and
sympathetic, the true leader stays firm - never getting so involved in the
personal lives of people that he forgets the implications of their role as a
leader. They never play favourites - and should never play
one personality against another. They know where to draw the line.
Humour
Whilst not advocating that the leader be the ‘life and soul of the party’,
it is essential that they have a keen sense of humour. There will be times
when an appropriate joke or light hearted remark, will do more to relax and
motivate than all the arranging in the world.
These then are the six basic characteristics, which help a person to be a
successful leader. Think of others. Upon reflection, you will probably agree
that your ideas are closely allied to or even a part of the six detailed
here. They are not by any means a guaranteed panacea that will assure
success as a leader. Though all leaders possess them to a varying degree,
all of us have known people who have had them all, but were still
unsuccessful as leaders. Characteristics or traits by themselves do not make
leaders, certain Core Skills are equally necessary.
Copyright Jonathan Farrington 2008. All Rights Reserved.
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