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Leaders are not born to lead, but they can learn the skills that make them leaders. Kings may be born to rule, but that doesn’t automatically equip them to be leaders, so birth and genetics have no bearing on whether or not someone can be a leader whom others will respect and follow. Certain life skills go towards creating a leader, and before moving on to the lessons this book will provide, take some time to take an inventory of your leadership skills and qualities, and work on your weak points as well as embellishing your strengths.
It’s not about intelligence, charisma, or an imposing and attractive physique – although these things can’t hurt and may help others to identify the leader in you. It’s more about the kind of things that are difficult to recognize and quantify in others. These are the qualities that the best leaders exhibit. Work on them before you move on to the skills you will need to be an effective leader.
INTEGRITY IS SOMETHING everyone should strive for, but it’s an essential quality in a leader, and if it’s something you lack, you shouldn’t even be reading this, because you, sir – or madam – are not leadership material. What is integrity? People tend to think of it in a moral sense, but it’s much more than that – it’s a life choice.
At its heart, integrity means being true to yourself and your beliefs, whether they are personal, religious or professional, or a combination of all three. Your actions should always coincide with your beliefs, even when it might be more convenient to go against them, however briefly. Expediency should never win at the cost of ethics. Integrity fosters trust in colleagues and acquaintances, and if you aspire to leadership, you need to earn that trust, so that your followers will work with you and for you, even when things aren’t going to plan. If they can see that you are consistent in your beliefs and actions, they will trust in your judgement and work with you to achieve your separate and collective goals.
If you have a set of standards guiding your actions, however basic, your dealings will be honest, and setbacks will be dealt with calmly. You will be able to moderate your own behavior, and ensure that your team does the same. People of integrity take responsibility when they need to, have the tough talks when it’s necessary and deliver consistent results. People of integrity are leadership material.
VISION IS A QUALITY which is often associated with all sorts of people – not just leaders. Creative people such as writers, artists and musicians have vision, but leaders need to do something extra special with it. You have a vision of a particular project – how you see it developing, what needs to be accomplished to achieve the desired end result, how your team will work on it – and that’s commendable, but it’s only the start of the vision a true leader needs.
Having constructed your vision, and gotten fired up about it, you now need to communicate the vision to your team and infuse them with your enthusiasm and passion. That takes great communication skills, and we’ll be looking at that later in the book, but before you can articulate your vision to your team, you need to own it, and make it yours. To do that, you have to look into the future – visualize the project, how you are going to begin it, how your team will be involved and how you will deal with setbacks. Vision is not rigid – it has to be adaptable to circumstances and amendable when necessary in order to stay true to what you want to achieve. Vision is action when you’re a leader, and you’ll need to recognize when it’s necessary to step in and enthuse the team or change the game plan to achieve success.
ANYONE CAN BE TRAINED to do a task to a high standard, but when things go wrong, or when the game plan changes suddenly, it takes a leader to look for the best solution. It’s a cliché, but thinking outside the box is one of the greatest assets a leader can bring to his team. A follower will say ‘We’ve always done it this way,’ but a leader will say, ‘Why can’t we do it another way?’ Leaders are always on the lookout for better, more efficient, different ways to see through a project. They are always thinking, and their thinking is always creative. That’s why a leader can take his team in a different direction when things get difficult – he’s always looking ahead, and thinking of alternatives before they are even needed. Things happen to throw projects off course, but leaders will find ways to guide things back onto the right track.
OFTEN, THE MAIN DIFFERENCE between leaders and the pack that follows comes down to dedication. It’s part of the package that makes a good leader. Being dedicated doesn’t necessarily mean working around the clock, but it does mean staying focused on the goal, and being prepared to do whatever is necessary to achieve the desired result. That could mean working late, making an unexpected trip, having to bring someone new into the team because you need someone to take a fresh look, or even missing out on precious family time. True leaders are dedicated to the project, and to seeing it through successfully.
A leader will recognize what can be put off and what needs to be done to complete the project, and he’ll help his team to see the difference too. It’s a question of leading by example, because if you are not dedicated to your project, your team will soon pick up on it, and they won’t be as committed as you need them to be. Work on your dedication skills on the small stuff, and it will come more naturally when the big projects arise.
ULTIMATELY, A LEADER is responsible for the successes – or failures – of his team. If he expects to enjoy the congratulations, he must also be prepared to accept the criticism when things don’t go according to plan. A true leader doesn’t blame setbacks on others – although if someone in the team has made a mistake he should be able to deal with the situation and any consequences in a calm manner and ensure that the same problem does not arise again.
Leaders make mistakes – in fact anybody who never made a mistake never made anything worthwhile – but they learn from them. They learn where things went wrong, and they learn how to deal with the problem. Most importantly, they recognize when to accept the praise, and when they need to take the blame. Leaders never blame others for their own shortcomings. They admit their faults, and improve on their performance, and this encourages the team to do the same, so that mistakes are quickly identified and dealt with.
IF A TEAM IS TO RESPECT its leader and work successfully with him, they need to know that, individually and collectively, they are trusted and valued members of the team. This can best be achieved by the leader’s transparency. Without divulging sensitive information, the leader needs to keep his team in the picture on the projects they are working on. If the team don’t know enough about the project, you can’t expect them to channel all their efforts into its success. They need to be part of it all.
Transparency means being open to new ideas, and accepting that your way is not always the best way. Team members need to contribute ideas to validate their presence in the team, and feel valued for their contribution. Leaders need to listen with an open mind, and make a reasoned judgement based on facts rather than feelings. Whether ideas are accepted or rejected, always explain why a particular decision is made. This encourages the team to keep the ideas coming.
Always give credit where it’s due – don’t pass off contributions from the team as your own work or ideas. Ultimately, as team leader, you will get the accolades, but make sure your team members also get justified praise for their endeavors – and see that your colleagues and superiors know about it as well.
SOME PEOPLE CONFUSE assertiveness with aggression. Aggression is a negative quality which has no place in the skill set of a leader, because it’s likely to alienate team members rather than inspire loyalty and co-operation. Being assertive means making your expectations clear, and communicating that while you understand it may not be easy to fulfil them, you nevertheless expect your team to carry out your discussions.
Being assertive means dealing with complaints and objections in a firm but fair manner, and it sometimes means having to say ‘No’ to a member of the team or a superior. Lack of assertiveness, or being aggressive rather than assertive, is one of the main weaknesses in leaders. Learn to recognize the difference. It helps if you can remain calm at all times, and other leadership qualities, plus the right communication skills, should help you to get the balance right.
OKAY, YOU’RE A LEADER, but that doesn’t mean you are a better person than anyone on your team – or anyone else for that matter. You are just a normal person with specific skills that mark you out as a leader. Recognizing this is important, because it will help you to inspire your team and bring out the best in them. If you are humble, you can let them know that they can also aspire to leadership. Don’t go too far the other way and play down your position though. You got to be a leader because of your particular skills – it didn’t happen by an accident of birth or stroke of fortune.
If you want an example from history of a great leader who was also humble, and inspired people to follow him, Ghandi is a perfect case in point. Non-violent, a person of integrity, transparency and humility, he changed the course of history. It doesn’t matter whether you’re leading a nation or a small team of workers in a project, humility will help you become a true leader of men – or women!
A SENSE OF HUMOR IS a great asset to have in any situation. If you’ve ever looked at personal ads, ‘must have a good sense of humor’ is one of the non-negotiables for a dating partner. For many, it’s more important than traditional good looks.
When it comes to the work place and leadership qualities, a sense of humor is essential. It helps to foster a spirit of camaraderie between colleagues, and when the going gets tough, the ability to laugh at the situation – and yourself – can defuse tension and stress and restore harmony. Humor helps get you through the mundane, and gives your team a boost when they need it most. Be sure you laugh together though, and do not make a single person the butt of humor for no good reason. Read your team, and use humor accordingly, so you lighten the day but don’t upset anyone. Used in the right way, humor can be a very powerful leadership tool.
These, then, are the basic qualities you will need if you are to be a successful, effective leader, whether you are in charge of a small team or a whole department or region. A leader should be a person of integrity, creative thinking and humor, who is humble enough to realize that he is no better than those he leads, yet confident enough to realize that he has something special that others are lacking. He should be transparent, accountable, assertive and dedicated.
Don’t let this list of virtues scare you – most people have some or all of them instilled to some degree by their upbringing and training. What sets the leader apart is that he works on developing and improving those skills. A leader never settles for what he has – he always wants to be better, so that he can guide others to success.
