Leadership

Having the support of others can vastly improve the rate of your ascend to success. No one can succeed alone; you might accomplish your goal alone but it will be harder and the journey longer. Therefore, leadership is a very important skill to learn and acquire. Good leaders are not born, they’re taught. Leadership skills are acquired through our life and the difference between a good leader and a bad leader can be seen when we try to lead a team of people.

You may be the manager or supervisor of a team of people but this does not make you a leader. The title will simply bestow on you the power of a boss. Being boss does not make you a leader. Not all bosses are good leaders, this is a plain and simple fact and we see this every single day in all organizations. Good leaders directs and organizes a team of people towards a common goal and the difference is…with a good leader, the team WANT to achieve the goal together while with a bad leader, the team goes along with the flow and follows orders because they want the salary at the end of the month!

People who are open to ideas and are willing to learn and listen are often natural leaders. They continue to learn through self-study, improve themselves when they listen to others and take others’ opinions into consideration and get sufficient training and experience.

Tapping into the skills of the team members
With a good leader, there’s no forcing and blackmailing involved. Instead, a good leader taps into the skills of the team member. The good leader observes how the team member works and understands his views. The good leader will try to utilize the inherent ability of the team member for the good of the organization instead of forcing each team member to do something he or she dislikes (or unable) to do.

Trusting the leader
In many studies, it has been found that the more people trust you, the better leader you will be. And trust is very hard to earn from your employees or colleagues. As soon as they team members know that you have their best interest at heart, they will trust you and believe you. And most importantly, they will follow your lead…not just OBEY you.

Heading towards a common goal with a vision
A good leader not only knows the overall vision of the company or organization. They are able to share and communicate this vision to the people involved in the process. The good leader will be able to inculcate the sense of belonging in the team of people who have been assigned to the project.

Show, don’t tell
Now, answer this. If you’re a technician, would you trust someone who knows only the share market or would you trust someone who knows BOTH the share market and how to fix a broken coffee maker? The answer is clear. You’ll trust the latter, won’t you? So, in order to encourage others to follow you, you not only need to be knowledgeable, you will need to be a good role model and show them that you’re good at what you do. This way, you have their unwavering respect.