When the word ‘leadership’ is mentioned, so many ideas come into the minds of people. This is because there are types of leadership and there is no definite definition for it. Some examples of the definitions of leadership include:
- Leadership in the workplace refers to the ability of an individual to manage and supervise a company and its fellow employees. It also refers to the ability to positively influence others to perform their jobs to the best of their ability –
- Leadership can be broadly seen as the ability to understand people’s motivation and leverage it to achieve a common goal. Skillful leaders may achieve positive outcomes for individuals, teams, organizations and wider communities through different approaches and operating at any level. So it is important to develop leaders to fit the needs of an organization, as well as invest in environments that enable them to be effective –
- Most people equate leadership with a specific position or job title. But you need more than a title on the door to have followers. True leadership is the ability to influence people to achieve a better result for an organization or group. The most effective leaders have a strong sense of self; they understand the qualities that make other people want to follow them, and they know how to adjust those qualities when circumstances require them to do so – Trainingmag.
- Leadership is about much more than top-down policy making. It flows throughout organizations and can make or break your company. We all know leadership – good or bad – when we experience it. Fundamentally, leaders create a vision and then enlist people to help them realize it. As leadership expert WCH Prentice said: “Leadership is the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants” – Workplace.
Leadership skills can be learned and practiced at any level regardless of your title in the workplace. They are key skills to have because good leaders are able to bring out the best abilities in their team members and motivate them to work together in achieving a shared goal. A good leader is also organized and keeps the team on track and focused to avoid any delays. To be a successful leader, you must be able to engage others. Engaging a team takes some extra time and forethought, but the payoff can net huge gains in productivity and trust.
You should consider each individual’s strength, weaknesses and interests, and assign responsibilities based on your observations and feedback. Team members who are skilled and interested in what they do normally have their productivity soaring high. You should keep your team up to date on any important changes or plans in the industry through any of the group platforms that is effective for your workplace. In adopting this strategy, it fosters loyalty toward you and team members will feel trusted.
It always pays off when you go out of your way as a leader to invest additional time engaging your team members. Good leaders are key to every business, company or organization. They are capable of inspiring the very best from their employees and the organizations for which they work. Similarly, when you make a promise to reward your staff, such as an office party, you should always follow through. As a leader, you cannot expect your team members to commit to their jobs and their tasks if you cannot do the same.
The continuous focus on company goals is what sets business, company or organizational leaders apart from public leaders and politicians. Successful leadership is not something theoretical; it is practical in every sense of the word. Society will ultimately judge leadership on your business, company or organization’s performance in terms of employee engagement, productivity and profit. As established from the beginning, there are types of leadership and what works for one or the other depends on the kind of business, company or organization and their circumstances. You must continuously learn and keep equipping yourself as a leader to be able to meet the constant evolution in the workplace. Effective leadership of whatever nature or choice is key, because without the direction of leaders, businesses, companies or organizations tend to deteriorate.
In the past, people professionals have relied on so-called ’best practice’ to develop people management practices for their organizations. But the rapidly changing world of work means this concept is increasingly irrelevant in many contexts. Instead, professionals need to make situational judgments, underpinned by relevant evidence, and guided by fundamental principles to achieve impactful outcomes.
This approach allows people professionals to meet the specific needs of their organization and workforce without compromising core principles. Our Profession for the Future work encourages people professionals to act as ‘provocateurs’, encouraging innovative ways of doing business or new areas of strategic focus – CIPD.
Here are 4 points to consider on your leadership journey:
- BE SPECIFIC IN YOUR DEALINGS
To be a leader that is effective, you must be specific in your dealings – making of appointments, setting deadlines, sticking to your starting and closing time during meetings and so on. You must never leave room for ambiguity as a leader. Setting specific dates, deadlines and leading by example will help you to be accountable to yourself and your team. This trait will also become part of your team members as they look up to you in working with you. Any leader that is not able to self-discipline and becomes inconsistent end up frustrating their team members and ultimately harm their own career.
- HAVE AN ONGOING FEEDBACK SYSTEM
You should have a policy that allows employees to comfortably approach you as needed. In any workplace, ongoing feedback is necessary because it allows for corrections to be made as each project being worked on progresses. When delivered appropriately, feedback helps achieve a number of things; trust, cooperation, focuses on improvements, both possible and those achieved, increases skills, improves employees’ confidence, and enhances your interpersonal skills. When feedback is ongoing, the informal ones help to enhance the formal appraisal process. This is because, team members receive messages throughout the year that offers immediate corrective action for specific behaviors. Your team members and the business, company or organization benefit as well, since the formal review can be used to reinforce those messages and focus on systematic goal setting to ensure professional development of each person.
- AVOID A TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT
A toxic work environment is one negativity you must never allow anywhere near your business, company or organization. You must learn to prevent conflicts and manage those that are inevitable with consideration and purpose. Conflicts between coworkers and peers should be never be brushed under the carpet, they must be handled promptly to avoid the creation of toxic atmospheres and you being perceived as an incapable leader by your team members. You must always be a step ahead as a leader and make every effort to prevent conflict among your employees by getting to know their emotional triggers by your observation. For instance, when you get to know the personality types of your employees and how it affects their working styles, you will be well informed on how to pair them in fulfilling tasks to avoid conflict.
- STAY TRANSPARENT
Your transparency as a leader is very crucial since in today’s business environment it is becoming increasingly essential. Being transparent goes both ways. A workplace that encourages transparency from the bottom to top and vice versa makes it easy for problems to be communicated or shared for solutions, leaders are confident in delegating of responsibilities and tasks, and mobilization of resources to reach a solution is not difficult to achieve.
This helps the team to reach a high productivity in every project or set target, and the leaders experience a higher level of success as teamwork comes to play and the burden becomes a shared one. It is a common assumption that employees could not care less about aspects of their employer’s business operations that do not directly affect them, when in actual fact, the opposite is true.
Leaders who are transparent enough to share information with employees about their profits, losses, and the actual situation at hand, find out that employees are appreciative of their trust and become personally involved in the outcomes, as naturally, people tend to care about and fight for things they are responsible for and are connected to.
Leadership is key when it comes to a workforce’s continuity. Let me remind you that there is nothing wrong with sharing your naked truth and vulnerability as a leader. So far as we remain humans, imperfection will be part of us and that is nothing to be ashamed of; because it is able to let your followers connect to you on a certain level that they gain hope that no matter what their situation is, they can make it just as you were able to.
My book ‘The Essentials of Image Leadership’ is a must-read for you if you desire to know more about the kind of leader you are, the leadership style that corresponds to it and how to use it to your advantage.
Are ready to stand out and lead your Image?
Read my book: “The Essentials of Image Leadership”.
Designed with practical exercises for home or office,
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It also touches on dining etiquette,
Ensuring that in every space you find yourself,
You make a personal impact and achieve influence.
