What Makes a Good Leader Great – When you think about great leaders, some names may pop up in your head – Your father, Elon Musk, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey – and you can’t help wondering:
What makes them so special? What is the secret to becoming a great leader!
Receiving a leadership position can be pretty intimidating. With new responsibilities you get, you find yourself in charge of a team or an entire department.
The truth is that 83% of organizations believe it’s important to develop leaders at all levels but only 5% of them have fully implemented development at all levels. Leadership training in the workplace is needed to acquire knowledge through practice and individual research. But let’s say you do your part and you actually become a pretty good leader. You are likable, people even start trusting you, and your department is flourishing under your guidance and leadership. So things are going well… for now.
However, is that enough to hold a leadership position long-term? Or better yet, is being a good leader enough? And if not, how do you evolve from a good leader to a great leader?
The Difference between a Good Leader and a Great Leader
Well, sure enough, being a good leader is not that hard to accomplish. We achieve great things because we are capable, competent and can ensure that all team’s projects are followed through.
But then again, the bare minimum can only work for a limited period of time. What happens when a problem arises?
During these moments, a great leader proves to be solution-oriented and is not afraid to work alongside their subordinates. They are well aware of the fact that overcoming an issue is a team effort and they are very much part of the team.
While a good leader wants to impress others with their abilities and show just how well they are managing, a great leader will stay under the radar. Instead of individually standing out, a person who has an innate leadership ability will bring the best out of others.
We can talk all day about the characteristics that make a great leader, and there would still be plenty to discuss. So instead, I’d like to give you a few tips on how to grow as a leader and become great at what you do.
How Do you Become a Great Leader?
When it comes to being a great leader, there are many things you need to learn and improve at. After all, very few people are born with a natural ability to lead. But I believe the most important thing that you need to know is that the learning process never ends.
There isn’t any magic formula that will instantly transform you into a great leader. To achieve greatness, you must always strive to improve and to be better than the person you once were. This means brushing up your soft skills once in a while, reading leadership and self-improvement books, taking courses, and much more.
But of course, there are some trade secrets that will make your job easier and today, we are going to concentrate on them.
Communicate with Your Team
You have probably heard this a million times, and you’ll hear it again because open and constant communication is what makes any kind of collaboration a success. In order to have a strong team, you have to know how to communicate your intentions and share your vision.
But communication doesn’t resume just to that. In fact, it also includes the time you spend learning about each team member in part. Getting to know your employees on a deeper and more personal level will not only help you understand them but will also earn their trust. And as a leader, gaining your people’s trust is the best strategy for a long-term partnership.
Push People to Improve
Pushing yourself to become better is definitely a necessity, but you have to push your employees to become better as well. This doesn’t mean that you need to bring out their performance reports and make them feel pressured.
What you can do instead is get them excited about new projects and about reaching new goals. You can even try motivating them with bonuses, promotions, or educational opportunities, like free courses.
Another thing that you can do is work together with your team and show them that they are not alone in this process of self-improvement.
Be Open and Flexible
Just because you’ve got a certain style of leading, doesn’t mean that things have to be set in stone. A great leader will always be open to change, no matter where it comes from. Be it from a superior or from a team member, criticism should always be welcome and taken into consideration.
But not only opinions regarding your leadership ability should be noted down. You should hear what your team has to say about work procedures, other team members, team dynamics, and certain work tasks and projects. This way, you will be able to work on yourself, but also improve the work environment.
Get Guidance from a Professional
A good way of learning a trade is by observing and copying what the best people in the field are doing. That’s one way of doing it, but what if I were to tell you that there is an easier way?
The secret is getting a life coach. Now, I’ve said before that there are no shortcuts to becoming a great leader. And it’s true. But choosing the right resources and guide will make things a lot easier.
But how can a life coach help you become a great leader? Well, life coaching can teach you plenty of things that will be useful in the professional sphere, like how to establish rapport and how to practice NLP so that it becomes a useful leadership tool.
These things can help you build relationships based on trust and mutual respect, which stand at the base of teamwork and leadership. So if you’d like to see just how much life coaching can improve your leadership and your life, contact me today, and let’s turn you into a great leader.