How to become a great leader
I have met many exceptional leaders on my career and business journey and the consistent attribute that made them great and successful was that they take responsibility and full ownership, not just of those things for which they were responsible, but for everything that impacted their mission and results.
Those leaders took full responsibility, they didn’t blame others and didn’t look for excuses. They were looking for solutions. They fully understand they are responsible for people, who in turn, obtain the desired results.
Leadership is the most important aspect in the fields of business sustainability, profitability and success.
If you are a great leader and leading by example, in not only the business environment, you are creating a great family unit, an effective, high-performing team and a very successful life. You are naturally creating strong relationships, and therefore, a sustainable business. If you are a great leader you are naturally attracting great people, great clients and great employees.
Why is that?
Because of your leadership skills you are able to cultivate a high-performance culture. Create an environment where people thrive, contribute, grow, are productive, and feel happy and satisfied.
How does that sound?
Amazing, yes?
The most amazing thing is that you can be that leader.
There are a few rules that have to be adhered to first.
A few of them are:
- Take extreme ownership and responsibility for any results your team achieves
- Understand there are no bad teams, only bad leaders
- Believe in the organisational mission and vision
There are so many more, but those are to start with.
If you don’t understand that it is always your fault, as a leader, when your team doesn’t succeed and that there is no one to blame for any mistakes or failures in the team, other than yourself, you won’t be able to improve your leadership. Leaders are responsible for helping people to be able to achieve and deliver the desired results. If you don’t want to transition from a managing position to a leadership position, we have nothing to talk about.
Rule 1 and 2 complement each other and work hand in hand. You must analyze the situation, why didn’t your team, of which you’re a part of, achieve the results? If someone else in the team didn’t deliver guess what, you probably didn’t guide this person the best way or maybe you didn’t brief the person accordingly. There is always something you, as a leader, can do better. Evaluate yourself and your leadership first. If you identify the gaps in your strategy then you, and your team can work on finding solutions.
Strong belief is another attribute you need. Leaders need to believe in a mission and need to be clear on their “WHY.” From time to time, organizations have to make massive steps and changes in their systems or organizational processes. Sometimes they change services or move to new production. They usually don’t make any sense to people who are going to lose money or maybe even their jobs. Sometimes change is inevitable and the only way to sustain the business. It can hurt individuals but it serves the mission in the long run.
You, as a leader, must be the one that drives, manages, advertises, and implements new systems during the change with and within your teams. You must be the person to deliver this message to your team and help them to understand how this is going to help the team to achieve what they want. Tell them about your beliefs in the mission and help them to believe it too. If you don’t believe in the changes then you won’t be able to implement them, thereby winning in the long run.
Imagine you are a leader who must implement a change and you know that if you take full responsibility for your team, you won’t blame anyone for mistakes and believe in your people, mission and continue developing solutions. Then you will achieve a successful transformation.
Transformation and change management is a very important event in leadership because it can show how great of a leader you are. It will make your leadership position, trust, influence and relationships stronger than ever. Which means you will hit the pinnacle of your leadership skill.
What are your thoughts in complicated situations?
What is your first thought when the board or CEO asks you to initiate a change?
Are you reacting or responding?
Are you able to think strategically and take full ownership of the situation and your team?
Alex Terrey
