Being a Great Leader – Do You Have It?

Do you have what it takes to be a Great Leader?

In my life, I have been fortunate. I have had the opportunity to work for some Great Leaders. I have been impacted by, learned from and aspire to the characteristics below. The Leaders in my life have taught me to:

• Think Strategically
• Always say “Thank You”
• Listen to Others
• Use Knowledge with Humility
• Find my Passion – and guide it
• Give to others – always

Perhaps you don’t consider yourself a leader – but I believe everyone has leadership qualities within them. It just takes a mentor to demonstrate how powerful each of these qualities can be. So, whether or not you consider yourself a leader, read on…reflect, share and learn! You will more than likely find that you have many, if not all of these characteristics.

There are certain traits that I always seek out in a mentor. I tell them they have these qualities and I want to learn from them. Some of the most successful people that I know carry these with them all of the time.

Vision – A great leader has a clear direction on where he or she wants things to be going. Not only do they have this Vision – they have the ability to see what their end goal will look like and will be.

Passion – Have you ever wondered why Bobby Jones was one of the greatest golfers to ever live? (Sorry Tiger). An amateur to the end, he was one of the best at the game. He played because of his PASSION. This created a following that still exists today – and his legacy – will never die. Do you take the road less traveled because it is what you love to do? Do you create passion within those around you?

Integrity –Be honest, predictable, approachable and trusted. If I know where I stand, that I can approach you and trust you, I will stand BY you as my leader when the going gets tough. Believe me – the going ALWAYS gets tough. Great Leaders keep their people during these times due to the loyalty of the team.

Humility – Be humble in all that you do. No one knows everything and hard as it is to admit it – we will never be an expert in everything. If you have a Leader that says, “I told this team where we should be headed. Then, I made sure I followed through on everything and because of this, we increased revenue by 10%”. ?? What? I think that would cause tension in a team…so, how about this: “Honestly, I did not have much to do with the increase in revenue, I have surrounded myself with a team, working towards a common goal – and they executed flawlessly!” I know which leader I would want to follow!

Fairness – A great leader always gives credit where credit is due. This creates a following of individuals that know you have their back. Great leaders acknowledge those that have done the work, set up the meeting, put together the presentation, assisted with the strategy, etc. I often forget how important that this is. When someone has worked hard – don’t forget to let everyone know about it. It will instill a sense of self-esteem in that person that they will only receive from you.

Openness – Good leaders are able to suspend judgment while listening to others’ ideas, as well as accept new ways of doing things that someone else thought of. Openness builds mutual respect and trust between leaders and followers, and it also keeps the team well supplied with new ideas that can further its vision.

Dedication – Show your team that you are dedicated to the effort! Your passion, drive and dedication to the work, team elevates your level of respect. There is nothing more frustrating than a leader that cannot dedicate them self to the cause that they portray!

Creativity – Ah Yes! The ability to think differently and to get outside of the walls that constrain complete solutions is imperative in a great leader. This instills in your followers and team the ability to know that they can generate new ideas – thus, creating a larger value proposition to your customer as well as a little healthy competition.

Sense of Humor – Above all, Lighten Up! A sense of humor is a vital component to release any tension within your team and energize the entire team! A sense of humor fosters good teamwork – and will defuse a hostile environment.

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion.”

….and you thought great leaders were just born this way!

So I ask you – how many of these traits do you have?  Want to have?  Just think what your team can accomplish if you have them all!

Teamwork, Leadership, Vision and Success: Can you cut it?

What is required to create and develop a winning team?

PATIENCE, PEOPLE, VISION and more…..

There is a level of patience required that some are not able to comprehend when it comes to creating and developing a winning team. Teams are extremely successful in improving process, performance and can help a business flourish if created with the right people – and the right leadership. Every team has multiple members, each with certain traits and characteristics that display their knowledge in a specific area. The role of leadership is to recognize this and exploit the knowledge of each team member. By creating trust within the team – a bond is created that is hard to be broken. If this bond does not exist, neither will a true “team” exist – nor will you have a successful vision or success. Oh you may have some short term gains – but long term success will never be in your grasp.

So, why is it so hard for some to come to this realization and cohesively work together?

A great team includes members that share responsibility and roles without hesitation.  They should include the best of the best in their area of expertise.  The people should be hand picked for the job.  They must share knowledge with others, not feel intimidated and communicate at all times.  A successful team must also trust one another – and when you have high quality team members – there is bound to be a little positioning from all sides.

Here are some important traits:

1. Trust, Support and Respect – The team must trust, support and respect the others on the team. No matter what happens, you are in this together, and when everyone supports each other, you look better to the customer. Your customers will notice that you genuinely care and work together cohesively. This means more ideas created for the customer – and a larger value proposition can be made.
2. Sharing of Ideas and Sharing amongst each other – The more that you share with one another, the better the team understands the customer and can create a winning strategy. If you have a team member that all of a sudden does not share or communicate, then everyone on the team shuts down. Although a non-sharing team member may think they are “protecting their turf”, it stops all ideas – and the customer will notice that the team is not in coordination with each other.

3. Dedicated and Equal Work Ethic – It is extremely important that one team member is not responsible for the bulk of the work – while others do not share in that type of work load. Many times, with a hand-picked top notch team, you have what I call “leadership” personalities. “We can do anything!” With a top notch team, remember that it is possible that all of them will want to take on more responsibility than they are capable of, or worse, take on responsibility in an area that they are not familiar with. Sharing the work load – and everyone spending the same time working towards a common goal – is important. If you have a team member not pulling their weight – get them on a different team immediately – resentment starts early.
4. Sharing Leadership Roles and Rotating to Learn from others – In a great team, everyone should share (and be allowed to share) in a leadership role and/or position. If you have truly created a top-notch team, the members all have seniority – and like to lead. It is important that this is recognized, and that time is given to all to share their vision. On the reverse, if is so important that the other team members learn from one another. This way, every person on the team is in a continual learning environment – and realizes the value that the other team member brings to the table. Have each team member put on the other person’s hat to try and understand another area of expertise. Get them out of their comfort zone and your entire team will be strong and able to lead in multiple functions.
5. Confront Issues and Manage Conflict – Let’s face it, with a top notch team, there is a lot of “high maintenance” people involved. Get the elephant that is in the room on the table. Do not try to pretend that he is not there! Leadership personalities and gelling with a team are at odds with one another. The “leader” in them wants to have their “idea” taken. The “leader” in them believes that their idea is best. The “leader” in each team member creates conflicts. Each member must have the ability to let this roll off of them, and just move on. When something happens, call it out, manage the conflict, move back to the goal at hand.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?

Without a Good Leader – team success will be impossible. It is important that a leader with a “high quality/high maintenance” team have the ability to create a Vision, Goal and have the others follow them. Setting goals can help each team member realize an even higher level of achievement than they already have.

I have a great mentor in my life (you know who you are) and I have always joked with them that “If you told me that we were going to Hell in 20 minutes, I would grab a pitchfork, not ask any questions, and also have convinced 3000 people to come with us”. Now that, my friends, is trust, respect and a GREAT leader.

I encourage teamwork – although, I would never state that I am a master at it. I work at it every day of my life. I believe that a healthy level of competition within a team is good, and can keep everyone striving towards a better job. Taken too far, however, competition can be detrimental as various individuals that make up the whole – fail to follow the same direction and everything falls apart.

Do you make a good team player?