Leadership qualities
Lal FONSEKA
You might wonder why we are discussing the subject of leadership once
again. Leadership is a one single word but the amount of things covered
under this word is enormous. The four pillars of an organization are
Leadership, Management, Command and Control. They are important for
every leader and manager to understand because they directly drive the
organization. Used properly, the business will grow; used improperly,
the business will sink which is why we discuss about the leadership once
more and there will be many discussions on this subject even in the time
to come.
Motivating people |
Just because people are in leadership positions does not make them
leaders. People are often placed into leadership positions well before
they are ready to lead. But regardless, people will still look to them
as their leader and expect them to lead them in the right direction.
Certain Leaders whom I know were placed in the leadership before they
were ready. The problem in this situation is that they did not have a
chance to develop before they started to lead.
In my view, a leader is one who leads and his ability to influence
and at the same time motivate all the people around him and to control
their minds and achieve all of the desired objectives is what is meant
by leadership. So, in order to lead it is very much important that one
should have certain leadership qualities in him. A leader is a person
who in fact walks the talk. He leads a group of people by motivating
them.
As a leader, each and every word that he speaks and each and every
action that he takes in fact should convey a certain message to his
people. But it rarely happens in Sri Lanka. No one is a born leader.
Here again we have seen certain people as born leaders. However, this
fact is often argued that leaders are always born natural and not made.
Even if we take this as a truth, still one fact remains that most of the
leaders learn leadership qualities over a period of time. Some of the
most important qualities of a leadership are the ability to handle
pressure without actually losing your focus. A good leader would always
rise against the highest tide facing it boldly.
A leader would always show a much practical approach towards any
problem rather than showing a simple approach and at the same time try
and exhibit patience with self-belief and all the courage in the world
to accept his mistakes. Believe me not much people out there ever have
the courage to accept their own mistakes. A leader is a person who
always needs to communicate with his people.
So a leader should have an excellent communication skill. Do you have
this quality with you? They should in fact be able to link very close
relationship with their people so that everyone feels more comfortable
in expressing themselves in front of a leader. It is very important that
a leader develops heart-to-heart relationship with all of his people.
A leader is a person who is a visionary. He should be able to see and
understand the future so that it becomes an easy task to take decisions.
Visionary is a quality that is usually considered as insane in its early
stages but later on has the power to change the face of history. A
leader should always be capable enough to take any amount of risk as
gain comes with risk.
A leader should in fact not be confined to a lying shell in a
comfortable corner. Or in other words he should simply not be satisfied
with whatever he has achieved, as our achievements are already history.
Leader should constantly motivate himself as it would help a true
leader to synchronize with the present time. It will also prepare him to
face new challenges. A leader should always be honest to himself as well
as to his people. Everyone has a tremendous faith in our leaders;
moreover it is a common saying that preaching is easier as compared to
practicing. A leader should be a man of action. So a leader is one who
shows consistency not to change his stance but the stance of the masses.
There are many great leaders who lead things from small businesses to
large countries. Each of those leaders had to start somewhere.
Leadership starts at different stages for different people; some start
learning as a small child while others may not start until adulthood.
But regardless of when they start, it is how they get there and where
they finish that matters.
Leaders are ultimately responsible for developing the leaders of
tomorrow. Leaders cannot be too consumed with themselves; they should be
consumed with the organization and the subordinates.
The leaders will guide their organization through today, but the
subordinates will guide them through tomorrow, and if leaders do not
properly train their subordinates, it will ultimately lead to demise.
Just because people are in leadership positions does not make them
leaders. People are often placed into leadership positions well before
they are ready to lead. But regardless, people will still look to them
as their leader and expect them to lead them in the right direction.
A leader whom I know was placed in the key leadership position in an
organization well before he was ready. The problem in his situation is
that he did not have a chance to develop before he started to lead. His
development started with “on the job training.”
He spent the first three years of his career learning, fighting
adversity and trying to find himself, all while he was being further
developed as a leader and learning how to lead. Furthermore, he lost
some of his supporting cast around him to help guide him in the right
direction.
Instead of supporting him, they grew impatient and ridiculed him.
With all the stress placed on him, he never quit; he kept learning. This
is all good but the organization suffered a lot and as I said before
organization lost plenty of associates due to the ineffective leadership
of this person.
There are many ways leaders can develop subordinates’ leadership and
show them how to lead. First and foremost, leaders must lead by their
own example and give subordinates something to follow, because
subordinates often times become a reflection of their leaders.
They try and emulate and follow in their leaders’ footsteps.
If leaders fail to properly set a good example for their
subordinates, one of two things can happen. Their subordinates will
become just like them and set a bad example. Or, their subordinates will
not want to be like them. They just learned what not to do as a leader,
which could result in them losing respect for their leaders.
To further develop subordinates, leaders must be approachable.
Subordinates should be comfortable enough to be able to communicate with
their leaders about anything. This is a major key to their success. This
will help build trust and confidence on both sides.
Once established, your relationship will continue to grow
rofessionally, which will make them more receptive to their development
and eager to learn.
Leaders have to teach them what they need to do without showing them
how all the time. By just teaching them, you are allowing them to think
and come up with their own ideas by exercising their mind, which will
result in them utilizing initiative and judgment. Keep in mind, everyone
does not process things the same, so some subordinates will need more
guidance, and require more attention and patience.
Leaders must be able to provide constructive criticism and twist it
up and end on a positive note. When there are initiative and judgment
errors, it is still the leaders’ job and responsibility to correct those
errors and guide them in the right direction.
However, leaders must not cause discouragement, because subordinates
may develop confidence issues and no longer want to excel. Help them
understand that all leaders make mistakes, but it is what they learn and
how they recover from them that matters.
Subordinates must be held accountable for their actions. Subordinates
must also understand that it goes far beyond that. They are not just
responsible for their actions but the actions of those they lead. I am
in touch with another leader for years.
When his team makes mistakes, it was him who took the responsibility
because he was the leader of the team. It was ultimately his
responsibility to teach, guide, mentor and motivate while leading the
team to success.
I do still remember this organization suffered a huge loss in a
particular year. All what he did was to analyze the entire period, the
team players and the actions to come up with a solution to help prevent
it from happening again.
He always tried to find ethical ways to reach success. And after a
couple of years, he managed to make it a success. That is passion. That
is dedication. That is the job of a leader! These are just a few things
leaders can do to develop subordinate leaders. Leaders should not be
afraid to do further research to educate themselves as well as their
subordinates.
No matter how good of a leader someone maybe, they should train their
subordinates to be better. If they developed them properly, their legacy
will live through them. And regardless if they chose to develop them or
not, where they stand today is where their subordinates will stand
tomorrow.
* The six most important words: “I admit I made a mistake.”
* The five most important words: “You did a good job.”
* The four most important words: “What is your opinion?”
* The three most important words: “If you please.”
* The two most important words: “Thank you,”
* The one most important word: “We”
* The least important word: “I” This is not the end of leadership.
Please wait for some more write ups about the leadership in the coming
weeks. Till then, try to be an effective leader. |