How to be a Great Leader

Self confidence is required in so many fields of life but another quality that is a must in business is leadership. If you run your own business or head a department, even manage a large organisation, the people beneath you in the chain of command will look to you for leadership, inspiration and self confidence.

So what must we have to be a great, inspiring leader?

1. An extraordinary vision is definitely required. A leader has big dreams and motivates his team with those dreams. His communication skills convey emotion, continuously accentuating the positives to drive forward the business or project. Leaders are forward thinkers, seeing what doesn’t exist at present and then visualising it as existing with the sole aim of making it a reality. Their dreams will always be larger than those of the rest of the team; they have to be to create that magical inspiration and self confidence of the team.


2. A leader will have an attitude far more positive than those that he leads. They continuously have powerful thoughts and his manner is always upbeat with self confidence. It is so necessary to always show positivism and self confidence. Both positive and negative thoughts can be contagious yet negativity can spread so much more easily than positive ness. It is therefore so essential to remain positive, never allowing yourself to make criticism about the company, management or product. An organisation can so easily be weakened or destroyed by one critical remark (remember the Gerald Ratner effect).

3. How approachable are you for your team if you are always right, never ready to admit mistakes. Nobody is ever likely to make suggestions if they think that they are not going to make a difference. And when things go wrong, where should the buck stop? With the leader of course; the leader is responsible for the success of the organisation or project. A great leader will see the harm that can be caused by shifting blame onto others and will instead place him/herself in the firing line for criticism. Learning from your mistakes builds self confidence plus admitting them earns the respect of those around you

4. A leader has to be a decision maker. Lacking decisiveness and self confidence can be so frustrating for a team. They need to depend on those that can make a decision so they in turn can have a direction to follow. A manager is always concerned about doing things correctly whilst a leader is more concerned about doing the correct thing. It is impossible to always make the right choices but the important thing is that you are making them and making them for the right reasons. As long as lessons are learned, experience combined with self confidence will determine that more and more correct decisions are made in the future.

5. Those that lead will always put those that they lead first. By putting others before your own interest, will gain the trust and confidence of the team. By looking out for their best interests, your crew will work harder knowing that you want them to succeed. This in turn will build your self confidence as a great leader.

6. The best way to be a leader is to show how it can be done. To prove that you have the skills necessary will really gain the respect of your team. Yes, if the team is particularly large you will most likely not have the skills required in every department, but you should certainly have enough wherewithal to demonstrate to the people immediately beneath you. There has been recently a programme on British television where the owners or Managing Directors of organisations go back to the shop floor to tackle and see for themselves the tasks undertaken by the productive staff. This exercise usually demonstrates their lack of abilities in this field, but being involved and showing a willingness to understand the needs of their workers nearly always gains them respect. It also helps build their self confidence in order to run the business more effectively.


7. By doing the right thing and having pride in your team, confidence in you as a leader will be built in your team at every level. Upon you, all the hopes and desires of your team will be on your shoulders. As a leader you must show a hundred percent commitment to honesty and truthfulness. By being honest and true you know that everything you do and every decision you make is entirely for the right reasons and does wonders for your self confidence in the process. A leader must seriously consider making this his/hers number one priority.


8. There is no place for inferior workmanship or performance from a leader. Your attitude to appearance and courtesy plus a total dedication to excellence will mark you down for success or failure. Your team will only look up to you if this attitude is at a level above theirs. If you can only mark yourself as an 8 in this area, only the people whose attitude is 7 or below will look up to you as a leader. By striving for a perfect 10 not only gives you the respect of all your team members it creates the desire to do everything to the best of your ability and enhances your self confidence in the process.


9. Self confidence is a part of personal growth. But so is the need to understand your business and constantly keep on top of new developments within your industry. The University of Life teaches us something new every day and if we are not prepared to learn the lessons, how can you expect your team to. The business, like your knowledge, will fail to grow. It is so necessary to grow personally as nobody likes to be around a leader who is just prepared to stand still. That would be a sure fire way of loosing some valuable members of your crew. Be positive and be prepared to learn and you along with your self confidence will grow enormously.

Whilst it is said that many great leaders are born, many more can develop the self confidence and skills for leadership. If you have the strong desire to succeed and you need a highly motivated body of men and women behind you, you can and must create those leadership qualities. Self confidence is an extremely important attribute required for success, but also is leadership, the power and ability to lead and inspire others to greatness.

How fantastic is that?

Terry Norrington

http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com

http://www.whitedovebooks.com/index.htm#terryn1