2004 LEADERSHIP ISSUE: Skills for Success

It goes without saying that good leadership is crucial to any successful business. But, what makes a good leader and how can someone develop himself or herself into one if he or she is not one to begin with? Fortunately, there are many factors that contribute to fair leadership, and whether a person is a natural good leader or not, anyone can become one with a little study. Follow these tips to achieve superior leadership status.

HAVE A FAITH. I’m not promoting a religion of any kind, but if you have a faith, practice it. Some of the greatest leaders the world has ever known have said that what sustained them, more than anything else, in their greatest times of stress and danger was their faith.

GIVE BACK. As the years roll along, you’ll start to accumulate assets and the daily struggle to make it to payroll will begin to lessen. Some people respond to this by working harder to accumulate more. Others will start to take occasional time off, take up a hobby, spend more time with family and friends and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Yet for others, a need to help people in less fortunate circumstances will arise.

They have a desire to give back to the community some of their good fortunte. It’s not a matter of throwing and extra $5 in the collection plate on Sunday. In fact, giving back isn’t always about money as much as it is about sharing your time and your life experiences – your basic desire – to help someone. Some examples of this could include helping a needy family man find a job, helping a Salvation Army food kitchen feed the homeless, mentoring a young man or woman who has promise but doesn’t have the life experience to succeed or volunteering your time to a worthwhile cause.

There is something you should know, however. If you are looking for people to make a big deal out of your kindness and generosity, you may be disappointed. Sometimes all you get is a mumbled, “Thanks,” or maybe nothing. If you can accept that many people in this world, even if they are very appreciative, don’t know how to show their appreciation, then allow the very act of your kindness to be its own reward.

You won’t know ho you’ll feel until on some cold, miserable night, you crawl into your war bed and know that somewhere, some person in this world is better off because they crossed your path.

BE CREDITABLE. This is very simple – as a leader, you must be a man or woman of your word. Never go back on promises to either employees or customers. Don’t vacillate on making decisions. If you are one of those people who fear making a decision because you might be wrong, get over it. Consider all possibilities and make your best guess as to the right course of action promptly. Otherwise, to those around you, your indecision will look to be a weakness and you will quickly lose their respect.

COMMUNICATE PROPERLY. To effectively become a good leader or manager, you must be a good communicator. When communication occurs, as a leader you should be able to accurately convey your ideas and thoughts to those who work for you. In fact, simply being able to convey these things in the first place, much less accurately, puts you in the right direction for leadership. If employees have no idea what is on your mind, your leadership is going to falter. Employees typically are not mind readers.

If there is a problem a certain employee is experiencing, good communication can filter the problem out. You, as a leder, can dissect the problem and offer solutions in various ways. Idead that are given to employees work both ways, as well. Employees can give helpful feedback and generate new ideas to you that help the company when good communication is present.

MOTIVATE OTHERS. Motivation is another variable that plays into good leadership. Employees tend to stagnate when motivation decreases – and it will decrease if ignored. Many leaders try to motivate the old-fashioned way, which is through fear (i.e., “Do what I say or something bad will happen.”). This is not advisable, since it tends to only deliver short-term results and cause even less competent work in the long run, due to resentment resulting from the fear tactics. A fresh challenge always adds excitement and spawns creativity. Challenge your employees with tasks that may be slightly out of their normal range, and don’t micromanage them. This increases motivation.

If they run into a snag, guide them towards a solution, but don’t’ offer the actual solution outright. Coach them into discovering the solution themselves. Once they have done that, their self-esteem will rise, thereby raising their motivation level.

If you want to stay motivated yourself so you can continue to motivate others, try these basic tips:

• Read good books and trade magazines, especially those pertaining to your business.
• Listen to good information. Get yourself some good educational or motivational tapes or CDs and listen to them as you drive to work. Instead of arriving at the office all aggravated from rush hour traffic, you’ll be energized by good idead to make it through the day.
• I believe winners hang out with winners and losers hang out with losers. Maintain a positive group of friends and colleagues. One of the best things you can do is to surround yourself with positive people who will build you up and encourage you to pursue your dreams. Hanging out with people who see life in negative terms – people who are always complaining and whining – will bring you down.
• Join a business organization – not a bunch of them – just one that reflects success. I suggest that you join only one because unless you can attend the meetings on a regular basis and get involved, there is no point. A place where there is enthusiasm and people who are always looking forward. It may be a trade association or chamber of commerce. You could even join an association that your best customers join. That way, you’ll be meeting prospective customers every time you attend a meeting.

For instance, a friend of mine sells commercial burglar and fire alarm systems. My friend could have joined his local trade association, but there he would only be among competitors. Instead, he opted to join a local chapter for a national association of security directors – most being from large corporations. He said at first it was slow going, but he persevered, got involved in a couple of committees and started to make friends at the monthly luncheons. He often found himself making small talk with corporate leaders of numerous big corporations. Knowing what he did for a living, they’d sometimes ask his advice. Often, it would lead to an invitation to stop by their office and discuss this in greater detail. He reported he had sold thousands of dollars in new business to these corporate giants. These, he said, were the same executives he could never get a call through to, let alone an appointment.

TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE. Teamwork is always something to consider when striving to become a good leader. This means not only teaching your employees to work together, but to become part of the team yourself. Use others’ potential. Many times, employees’ potential is wasted. A good leader recognizes that his or her employees are more than just employees – they are people, too. These people have lives outside of work where they have to make decisions on a daily basis, from how to deal with house and car payments, to raising children to countless everyday tasks. Yet, at work, their decision-making skills are not trusted enough to choose what type of toner needs to be ordered for a set of printers.

The point here is that employees need to be trusted to do more. A good leader doesn’t manage every single detail. Use others’ potential to your benefit. You will find that you have become a better leader for it.

BACK TO SCHOOL. As always, increasing your education is definitely a good thing when trying to improve leadership, but the school that really needs to be brought to attention here is the kind of school that you don’t get a degree for.

Take the time to learn as much about your position of being a leader as possible. Do some reading at the nearest bookstore or library. Talk to other leaders and see who they do things; trade notes. The more you continually evaluate yourself and your practices and search for as much information on leadership as possible, the more you will be able to keep up with the changing times and the better leader you will be for it.

FOCUS CLEARLY ON YOUR GOALS. Be able to say, “I know where I am going and what I want to accomplish. My goals are firmly rooted in my mind and heart. Because of this, my mind and heart are in an attitude of motivation all of the time. I want to hit my goals and since they are present in my heart and mind, I put my energies into them.”

Have you actually put your goals in writing, along with an action plan and timetable for achieving them? Only about 10 percent of us do that. The rest will tell you they have some vague idea in their head, but for the most part, their goals are really daydreams. Unless you can put it in writing, its’ really not a serious or achievable goal.

DISCIPLINE YOURSELF. We have to discipline ourselves, and as we do we’ll find that we become more motivated. If we discipline ourselves, it gives us wins and victories, which make us feel good and motivate us for further action. If we don’t discipline ourselves, we’ll feel defeated and fall into a downward spiral of despair.

The author is a sales training expert. He offers additional free sales and time management tips at www.trainingexpert.com.