If people don’t think you are a good leader, they will take over as a means of self-protection. Character is necessary to inspire others. By radiating passion and exuding confidence, you convey trust. Passion is infectious and trust is paramount in the chain of command. Effective delegation, without micro management, instills trust, empowers your people and allows you to stay focused on your own role. As a leader you must show trust before you expect to receive it. This hinges on what you do, not who you are.
Constantly assess your own motives and actions and when necessary self-correct. Recognize your own destructive behaviours. Be accountable; admit your mistakes. Maintain integrity. Stay humble. Summon the physical and moral courage, to do what is right. Exercise good discipline and work hard to be to be empathetic in every situation. Exhibit physical and mental stamina. Demonstrate the ability to set direction, manage change and maintain focus when confronted by realities that serve to distract others. Operate from a state of calm, particularly in times of stress. Remain composed under pressure and communicate as clearly as possible at all times.
Create a healthy work culture based on honour, integrity, fairness, reliability and accountability. All these traits are taught by example. Take pleasure and satisfaction in accomplishments and hold others to the same high standards. Celebrate all accomplishments, even the small ones. What gets rewarded gets repeated. Leadership is not measured by authority process; it is measured by influencing others to accomplish goals for the common good. Maneuver to add value to the team and refrain from personal agendas. This encourages people to work with you instead of simply for you. Why we work determines how well we work. Inspire a team dynamic. Constantly assess the needs of the group and adapt strategies to fit the moment. Improve any elements that affect team culture.
Focus on core values. This leads to greater self-discipline, collaboration, insight, and collective action towards common goals. Bring vision and energy to improve group performance. Promote personal growth, continuous transformation, adaptability and endless learning. By educating, you again empower your people, to everyone’s benefit. Pay attention to people’s interests and focus their career paths based on those interests. Understand personality. Make sure the right people are placed in the right positions to benefit from their best skills. Help people understand their roles. Express clear expectations. Leverage people’s motivations; instil purpose. People are motivated in different ways, understand and act accordingly. Provide resources, remove obstacles and protect the team at all costs.
Avoid using the emotional pressures of guilt, fear, peer pressure, and shame. These reduce performance. The additional economic pressures of gaining rewards and avoiding punishment also have negative impacts. In the career ladder, evaluating people drives promotions but destroys performance. When rated against each other, emotional pressure increases and fosters unhealthy competition. Indirect expressions of hostility, negative attitudes, procrastination, talking back, stubbornness, sarcasm, gossip, resentment and resistance are results of unsuccessful leadership. These negative behaviours demoralize, disrespect, un-inspire and alienate people. Which in turn slows decisions, erodes trust, interferes with communication, limits ability to identify risks, stalls execution and makes people feel disposable. Unhappy people often stop caring.
Lack of consistent direction, lack of accountability and lack of clear vision will add fuel to any fire. Foster productive conflict. Reduce damage from passive aggressive behaviour by surfacing issues quickly. Investigate the source of the problem. Listen and allow feedback. Analyze all points of view, pay attention to the entire environment and all the external factors. Communicate well and work together to develop effective problem solving solutions. Know when to provide guidance and when to encourage independent thinking. Wherever possible, allow people to reason and come to effective resolutions on their own.
