LEADERSHIP “Power lasts ten years; influence not more than a hundred” “To be a good leader you must first learn to follow”

Leadership What or who is a leader? - A leader is considered to be an individual who guides, conducts, directs, and influences. - What is meant by a good leader? Good leaders are able to get more done with the resources given to them because they know that there comes a point where the increasing effort just isn’t worth the expense required to achieve to the effort.

Leadership In a poll conducted, most employees feel that they cannot do a better job than their current supervisor. In an independent survey, which included responses from 972 men and women of the age of 18 years and older, and who were employed in a professional environment, the response to the following questions are as follows:

Leadership Would you like to have your manager’s job? - No – 71% - Yes – 26% - Do not know – 3% When asked again, do you think you could do a better job than your boss? - No – 63% - Yes – 30% - Do not know – 6%

Leadership Most employees realize that the top positions are extremely demanding and also they understand the dedication that is required to hold these positions. Leaders do nothing more important than get results. Results cannot be achieved by one individual. The best way to have other people get results is not by ordering them around but by motivating them.

Leadership Motivation plays a critical role in achieving results. Some leaders misconstrue the concept and application of motivation. There are three critical factors and these, when put into action, would greatly enhance a leader’s ability to lead and achieve results.

Leadership Motivation is a physical action – the word motivation has common roots with motor, momentum, motion, and mobile – all these words denote movement and physical action. Motivation is not about what people think or feel, but what they physically do. When you motivate people to get results, challenge them to take actions that will realize results.

Leadership Motivation is driven by emotion – when you want to move people to take action, you engage their emotions. An act of motivation is an act of emotion. As a leader, you must make sure people have a strong emotional commitment to realize the results

Leadership Motivation is not what we do to others; it is what others do to themselves – the English language does not accurately depict the psychological truth of motivation. The truth is that we cannot motivate anybody to do anything. The people we want to motivate can only motivate themselves. Leaders communicate and employees motivate.

Leadership As a leader, motivation is like a high voltage cable lying at your feet. Use it the wrong way and you will get a serious shock. But apply motivation the right way by understanding and using the three factors – plug the cable in – as it were and it will serve you well in many powerful ways throughout your career.

Leadership As a good leader, one must know your strengths and your weaknesses. Maximizing your strengths is the path to success and fulfillment. First, you must determine your strengths. While it seems that most of us should be aware of our strengths, we often confuse our strengths as what we do well, with traits, our personalities, characteristics, work habits, or the conditions under which we perform.

Leadership Many of us also take our strengths for granted, failing to recognize that, in doing what seems absolutely natural and logical to us, we are actually creating outcomes far superior to what others might have expected. How do you determine your greatest strengths? One way is to examine your own past and present performance and try to discern a pattern of successful behaviour. What comes easily to you – negotiating a tough contract, analyzing financial data, creating an advertising strategy, leading a team – that might be more difficult for others

Leadership Once you know your strengths, you need to figure out how best to use them. Organizations used to manage the careers of their people, but today you have the responsibility to know yourself and determine where and how you would perform best. Often the difference between success and failure is not learning additional skills but rather figuring out how, given your strengths, you can adjust yourself to the demands of your specific position. This is particularly important when the nature of your job changes

Leadership We all have strengths and weaknesses and while there will be those, who encourage you to work on your deficiencies, the key to high performance is to look for what you do uncommonly well and focus there. Armed with this self-knowledge, you will better be able to determine how you can perform best.

Leadership Your greatest successes will come from placing yourself where your strengths can be regularly expressed. And, as maximizing your strengths becomes a habit, you will be in a better position to help those around you maximize their abilities, leading to greater productivity and satisfaction for you, your team, and your organization.

Leadership The number one cause of leadership failure is PRIDE Pride will stop you from building a team because you depend too much on yourself, you don’t trust, therefore you don’t delegate or give additional opportunities to others Pride renders you un-teachable Pride tells you that you know it all so you don’t commit to personal growth

Leadership Pride closes your mind to feedback Pride causes you to keep the wrong people around too long – This is because you are afraid of being seen as making a mistake Pride prevents you from admitting mistakes – when things go well you tend to take all the praise and the credit Pride causes you to pledge allegiance to the status quo

Leadership The shape of a leader – Leaders are willing to bet themselves on ideas and concepts and in so doing, enable others. There are four leader qualities that are most desirous and they are – Honesty Forecast/Foresight Inspiration Competence

Leadership Good leaders should be visionaries Good leaders should also treat people with dignity and respect Good leaders must have good situation sensing skills Good leaders should have a vision of the future Good leaders should have a set of strong, well-defined values

Leadership Good leaders differentiate themselves Good leaders should have an acceptable flaw Good leaders should communicate their vision and values with energy and enthusiasm Good leaders should be able to inspire and engage followers Good leaders should know that performance starts with the thinking process A good leader needs to create that blend and direct their team and resources

Leadership The 10 Commandments of Leadership Be a paragon of honesty – Integrity is exhibited in actions, not pronouncement of intention Know and communicate your purpose – Purpose can empower people to reach greater goals than they ever thought possible Reward acts of kindness – Recognize compassion in the ranks and inspire it with incentives, including monetary

Leadership Be humble – Even the most accomplished and acclaimed leader is still human and makes mistakes Communicate your message without ceasing – Use a variety of methods, media, and metaphors to keep the message fresh and make it truly meaningful Motivate by encouragement – Set ambitious but realistic goals for others. Be forgiving of honest mistakes made in pursuit of performance excellence.

Leadership Develop your team with care – A carefully selected team with contemporary strengths outperforms a collection of supremely talented individuals competing to be the star Act with courage – People are inspired by leaders who know the obstacles but challenge them anyway Work for justice – The most credible companies are committed to justice not just in the workplace but in the communities where they are located

Leadership Subordinate your ego to the greater success – Seek out and develop successors who share your mission and business philosophy. Active planning will welcome tomorrow’s leaders A leader must be a change agent. Change can be frightening for a lot of people, particularly as fast as change occurs today. The right kind of change can be very positive, making a positive difference for all concerned.

Leadership Leaders also interpret outside changes for the organizations, analyzing, and evaluating what current and future changes might mean to each employee and function. A leader should be a feedback wizard. People want to know how they are doing. If they feel they are in the dark and they are not getting good feedback, they will choose to go somewhere else to work. Be straight with people. Avoid playing games with the them. Direct, open, honest feedback, delivered on a continual basis, is genuinely appreciated.

Leadership Be receptive to feedback from others Good leaders are not born they evolve. Therefore with desire and willpower anyone can become a very effective leader