How do you measure up as a leader?

by Charlotte Garner

The importance of knowing how to manage people properly and effectively has long been recognised by business leaders.

Supervision, or management, is the art of achieving outcomes through other people and to do that you need first rate leadership skills.  You can supervise or manage business functions, but you have to lead people.

Leaders of people…

Leadership is to most people very elusive – it is often thought that you either have it or you don't.  But there is a lot of evidence to demonstrate that you need to learn leadership skills.  Yet how many people take the trouble to study leadership skills?

Organisations need well trained leaders to be able to guide and set direction for employees, so they can achieve the objectives leading to organisational success.

So perhaps it is time to ‘teach’ your emerging leaders!

How good are their leadership skills?

What does it take to manage people effectively?  Many things, of course!  Here’s our list of essentials.

Patience

People will tax your patience to the utmost and most leaders, ironically, are not patient people.  Their tendency is to want it done and want it done now.  But great leaders are patient and it reflects in their team members and productivity.

If you are constantly telling your people to hurry up, it will foster either frustration or fear and you want neither on your team.

Patience shows respect.

Adaptability

The speed of the market and our changing workplaces, powered by technological advancements, will only continue to accelerate.  Inflexible leadership may cause organisations to lag behind.

A successful leader needs to continually anticipate, evaluate and remain open-minded and agile.  They need to be flexible enough to accept and adapt to any changes coming their way.

Leaders are able to steer their people through change!

Versatility

Versatility across multiple areas of business is proving to be a coveted leadership trait.  The greater the exposure to various job functions, the easier it can be for leaders to adapt to changing business demands and provide beneficial solutions to their organisation.

Great leaders also require the versatility to lead teams with different personalities, ages and cultures.  They make sure that such a variety of people, in different roles, pull in the same direction.

Authenticity

Authenticity incorporates trustworthiness, openness, empathy and integrity.  Authentic leaders build trust and generate support from their team which improves individual and team performance.  Their people feel comfortable coming to them with questions and concerns, they promote openness and honesty.

Good leaders can also laugh at themselves when something doesn’t go quite as planned, even during busy, stressful periods.

Strategic in assigning tasks

Good leaders don’t just delegate tasks, but ‘strategically assign’ the task to the best person and in the most effective manner.

Leaders who try to take on too many tasks by themselves will struggle to get anything done.  They identify the skills of each of their people, and assign tasks based on that person’s skillset.

Good leaders also provide their people with reasonable leeway to formulate their own methods for achieving the task, ie. they invite compliance rather than demand it.

Provide recognition

Even when a team member asks for criticism, what they are really hoping for is praise and recognition.  Praise, when used properly (and not meaningless), is one of the most effective ways to motivate people.

Praise is part of making their people feel important and good leaders direct the praise at the performance, not the person, to be most effective.

Good leaders learn what motivators work best for their people to encourage productivity and passion and then recognise performance.

Feedback constructively

Self-esteem and high morale are practically inseparable.  And since all criticism wounds self-esteem and morale to some extent, effective leaders provide constructive criticism as a means of raising, rather than lowering, employee efficiency.

Good leaders show people that they want to be helpful instead of vindictive by the way they criticise – they use the event as an opportunity to teach, rather than one of fault-finding.

Constructive criticism is the art of correcting people’s mistakes without humiliating them.

Take responsibility and earn respect

Good leaders hold themselves responsible and accountable for both the successes and failures of their team.  They are willing to accept blame when something does not go right and devise clear solutions for improvement.

Good leaders are equally diligent to not view themselves as the most important person.  They are modest about their value and allow others to shine, ie. humble leaders use their skills, knowledge and experience to bring people together to achieve results and earn respect.

Learn quickly

The ability to learn new skills is crucial for any good leader.  They should always be on the lookout for ways to improve their skills, particularly in an age of advancing technology.

If they believe they have nothing more to learn, they restrict their ability to grow and adapt to change.

And finally…communicating and listening

A large part of communication involves listening.

Good leaders enable a steady flow of communication between themselves and their people, either through an open-door policy or regular conversations.  They make themselves regularly available to discuss issues and concerns.

Teams that are highly successful have strong communications and one of the first signs that a team is struggling is that communications have broken down.

Good leaders use effective communication and active listening skills to assist in resolving conflicts, having tough conversation, negotiating and motivating their people.

As a leader, your leadership skills will only be as good as your communication and listening skills!

Be a leader, not a driver!

The secret of managing people is to be a leader, not a driver.

The main goal of a leader is not to dominate, but to inspire.  You want to win the support and goodwill of your people so they get behind your plans and carry them out successfully.

And once your leaders have mastered these skills, you will double the cooperation and production efficiency from your team!

For further information, contact Dixon Appointments on 03 9629 9999.

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