A promotion or job offer into a leadership position can be an amazing accomplishment. A milestone you may have worked really hard to achieve. Your skills and talents have been recognised and you have been given the responsibility to lead a team or business.
Now that you have arrived in this position, what does it actually mean to be a leader? What does it mean to lead a business and what happens to the business when leaders don’t lead properly or stop leading effectively?
Leadership is about adopting a certain mindset. Understanding that the art of good leadership is bigger than the single person. Being a good leader is not about you the leader, it’s about how you lead a team to achieve the common goals of the business.
Here are a few pointers on that concept.
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What’s best for the business?
A leader needs to think about what’s best for the business as a whole. There are no personal agendas or egos permitted.
A good leader will always reflect on the long term vision of the business and make decisions on how best to achieve that goal. Good leaders are always putting the business needs first. It’s not a popularity competition or a personal quest. It’s about what needs to be done to achieve the business vision.
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Working effectively with a diverse team
Every business will always be made up of people with varying personalities, backgrounds, unique traits and quirks. Many times without noticing, we gravitate to a certain type of person, as they may share similar personal values and opinions to us. Other people we may not always “gel” with as we may not have as much in common with them.
Good leaders are highly aware and in-tune with this and ensure that they are not influenced by this type of unconscious and biased segregation.
Leaders not only have the ability to create a common goal for all parties to work towards, but they create a nurturing, inclusive culture in which all team members can thrive, share their ideas and opinions, therefore being the best versions of themselves – irrespective of their background.
Leaders focus on what each individual person can contribute to the greater good of the business.
Leaders ensure there is not only a good cultural fit during the recruitment process, but ensures that there is a mix of experience, ideas and backgrounds to eliminate “group think” taking over.
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Emotional Intelligence
Great leaders don’t just focus on the hard measures, such as sales and controlling costs, they also focus on the soft skills or intangible qualities, such as good communication skills and encouraging courageous conversations to grow and develop the teams.
Leaders who don’t place emphasis on strengthening their teams EQ will very quickly see cracks developing. The team’s inability to communicate effectively will not only negatively affect how the individual team members engage with each other, but this will flow over into how clients are managed – ineffectively.
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Knowing when to step in
Leaders understand that they need to give their team members an opportunity to manage themselves and their work loads, and to work within the value system of the business. This is achieved through mentoring and guiding them along the way. However, a leader needs to know when to step in and to have the hard honest conversations.
When a leader allows for the vision to be compromised, this is a start of a slippery slope to chaos. Leaders shouldn’t be afraid of standing up for the business and the vision. Leaders must take ownership of their custodial role within the business.
So, when you get the opportunity to step into a leadership role or if you are in one already – take heed and ownership of your enormous responsibility.
Nicole is a certified professional coach as well as a certified trainer, advanced assessor and coach mentor. Based in Auckland, she provides a range of coaching options, from individual business owner and management coaching, group and team coaching workshops to personal coaching. Her coaching practice is aligned to the ICF ethos and ethics. Need to hire a professional coach? Contact Nicole [email protected]
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