How to Be the Successful Leader Everyone Wants to Follow

Leadership is clearly one of the most widely written about human subjects and at the same time one of the least appreciated in our day-to-day lives. The shelves in book stores are loaded with leadership models, biographical studies, and different techniques. Management education systems spend major time and energy in this area. Despite this, organisations from large firms to little groups are continuously encountering issues with identifying and cultivating individuals who actually motivate others around them. The biggest reason is not lack of knowledge about effective leadership traits. It is actually the discrepancy of getting to grips with one level and acting per that understanding at the next, that of knowing the right things and then doing them in a real-world setting which is full of pressure, ambiguity, and continuous challenges to one’s stamina. The kind of leaders whom people really want to follow are not those with the most impressive resumes or who use the most convincing power point presentations. Rather, they are those individuals that have put in the most hard work, which is also the kind of work that one is able to hear and not see, on their own development, their moral qualities, the way they make choices, their level of awareness of both self and other emotionally, and their dedication to those whom they lead.

Lead Yourself First

One of the prerequisites of good leadership that is seldom recognized, is self-leadership – that is, the ability to control one’s own thoughts feelings energy and actions, which must be as rigorous as managing any major issue. Leaders unable to control their emotional reactions will cause a change-able and anxious work environment. Un-aware leaders, will keep committing the same mistakes and not even recognize the reason behind it. A leader, who has not reflected on his own values, biases and blind spots, will do the same thing by imposing on others without his/her recognition. You will need to know who you really are before your leadership will help others very well – what do you represent, the way you act when you are stressed, the situations that bring out your worst side, and which circumstances you prefer as the best in your character. This is a process you don’t carry out once and for all. It is the ongoing pursuit of one’s own growth through a continuous and open reflection which truly good leaders keep up to with the real determination during their careers.

Build Trust Before You Need It

Trust is like the currency of leadership and can be built up gradually by consistent actions, but it can also be easily destroyed by one major act of betrayal. Those leaders whose people freely choose to follow – not out of obligation but desire – are the ones who have accumulated deep levels of trust among the people involved. Trust is created whenever there is a match between your words and deeds. It is created whenever you are honest, most of all with difficult decisions, and choose to confront the issue directly rather than letting it fester through ambiguity. Trust is created through the demonstration, by being loyal to your promises and making everyone clearly aware that you have changed your position due to external situations. Above all, trust is created through genuine care. Your words and deeds show your interest not just as organisational outputs but also as human beings whose fate you truly care about – a concern that you are not only ready to show but also to act upon.

Communicate with Clarity and Courage

Communication is the main tool leaders use to exert their influence so almost every leader makes a huge mistake when it comes to communication. The most common communication mistake that leaders make is not being able to speak publicly or write persuasively but it is not being clear. To be clear you have to know what actually goes on in your mind before you talk about it which makes being clear not so simple with the way people understand it. It also depends on one’s willingness to make absolute statements rather than playing down every point into a pointlessly empty statement and finally it depends on a person’s ability to courageously communicate facts people may not wish to hear.

It is also necessary to be clear with the communication. The most communicable communicators are the people who actually listen rather than pretending, they do not half listen with one ear and prepare their answer. Leaders who are good listeners obtain better data from the situation and are more likely to take good decisions, besides creating an environment where people truly feel heard – which is one of the most powerful ways to inspire and motivate employees.

Develop Your People Relentlessly

The common factor among leaders remembered and truly appreciated by their employees was that they contributed to employees’ self-improvement. They devoted time to figure out individuals’ abilities aspirations career plans, and learning requirements. These leaders preferred to deliver honest and detailed comments rather than just giving words of encouragement. They offered chances for employees to challenge themselves and pushed them out of their comfort zones, after that, they supported the employees to excel. They appreciated the development of their people and viewed failure as an opportunity to learn rather than assigning blame or determining the value of the individual.

Empowering employees does not mean sacrificing an organizational outcome for doing a kind act, in fact, this type of activity is among the most impactful for the leader at any level. A growing team is one that handles higher challenges, produces quality results, and creates a level of intellectual synergy that even the most gifted individual can barely compete with as an individual.

Make Decisions with Courage and Humility

Deciding about the course of action is one of the most influential and yet the most indicative actions for leadership display purposes. Respect for the most admired leaders does not come from their making flawless decisions, because who is perfect after all?, but from their decision-making through a thoughtful process, carrying out those decisions with certainty, as well as facing up to the consequences honestly when results do not measure up to the intent. Achieving this calls for possession of two characteristics apparently at odds yet equally necessary: courage and humility. Courage to make a firm choice in a situation of uncertainty, rather than waiting for the perfect information that almost never comes up. Humility to gather different view points to support the decision making process, to admit that a particular decision was wrong and to move away from it, without resorting to defensive behaviour that saves the face at a great cost of time and the organisation’s trust.

Create a Culture, Not Just a Strategy

Every leader is a creator of culture, those unspoken rules and norms which people within the group have gotten used to that reflect the ways the group actually functions. A certain part of a leader’s responsibility consists of a leader changing culture. The leader who is not trying to be an architect of culture still leaves the imprint of their behavior behind. A major reason for that being is because culture is determined not by what the leader says but by what leader does and by what leader is tolerant to. The manager who emphasizes mental safety but shuts down different opinions at meetings has, in fact, produced an unsafe culture regardless of whatever may be stated in the values charter. The executive who brings up the aspect of work-life balance at meetings while, in reality, sends emails during the latest hours of night and expects replies has, regardless of the written policy on the intranet, brought about the atmosphere of never-ending overtime.

It is only when a leader shows self-awareness and honestly looks at their own actions that the healthy, high performing culture can be developed. The leader, who wishes to instill certain norms in the team through actions, first needs to demonstrate that he/she is doing the same. And, the leader should be constantly ready and committed to deal with the situation whenever the values are not followed by team members and by themselves. Culture is not a project, neither having a date of launch nor of completion, it is the day-to-day manifestation of what the leader really believes and does when nobody is watching.

Stay Curious and Keep Growing

Great leaders that people want to follow are rarely people that have reached certainty and stopped learning. They are people who still show that they are curious – about their industry, ideas in other fields, their colleagues, and themselves through what they have been assuming and when might they have been wrong about their assumptions. Their intellectual modesty is not a show of weakness. It is one of the most important leadership qualities in situations of quick change, for the leader that thinks they are the only one who knows will always be the first one to be blind if the situation has changed under their feet.

Getting leadership doesn’t mean just being in charge or having a power. It is a personality developed day by day from making countless choices, like choosing ones behaviour, how one deals with problems, what one says and does, ones choice of ones own development, and a willingness to change and grow. People only admire those leaders who constantly, although they dont want to, change for the better to become worthy of others emulation.