President, CEO, Owner, Supervisor...Does a title make a leader? Do you need a prestigious label to be in charge? Can a janitor or a waiter be a leader? Of course! Then what makes a great leader? Good leaders have the ability to delegate, the capacity to solve problems, and the power to manage others. Great leader's use learning and teaching, personal drive, and empowerment of the people around them. It is okay if you can think of more characteristics. One should always look for ways to improve, but these qualities are the difference between good and great. If you do not currently exercise these techniques or if your employees do not apply them, it is okay. There is no such thing as a born leader! Well...maybe one. A consultant friend of mine was speaking to a large group of people when he said, "There is no such thing as a born leader." Immediately, a person in the crowd stood up and announced that he was a born leader. My friend replied, "Interesting comment. What is your name sir?" He responded, "James D. Leader." Now that man was a born "Leader"! However, everyone (including Mr. Leader) needs training on how to lead others effectively. What experiences have taught you? What skills do you have that help you lead others? Would you like to be a leader or would you prefer to follow? How can you improve? The first two qualities of a great leader are the willingness to learn and the ability to teach. By having the ability to ask yourself questions like the ones you have just read, you will be on the path to setting yourself apart from the others. How many people can name the last ten books they have read that can help them lead? Or three? Or just the last one? The average person goes to school for 12-19 years and then quits advancing knowledge. The people who continue to further their education after high school or college are included in the nation's top one percent. This top percent makes and maintains 40 percent of the nation's wealth! The way to make it there is to educate yourself a half an hour a day. Read! This is one of the keys to success in leadership. The second part of this concept is to teach others. Training is easy: Take the information you learn and share it! People working for you must be taught something new a minimum of every 90 days. Now think about corporate America. Countless companies quit training people after the first month of hire. How effective do you think that is in the long term? Learn and teach! The next value of a great leader is personal drive. The way to promote personal drive is through goal setting. What do you want out of life? It may sound easy but take some time to think about it. It may not be as easy as you thought. Once you have an answer write it down. Next, think about why you want it. Write that down. The response to the Why question is your driving force and is important to motivate yourself. It is what inspires you, your purpose. The last question that you should ask yourself is "When?" When do you want to complete your goal? Be realistic and do not procrastinate. Come up with a plan of action to complete it. A study conducted in 1953 on the graduating class at Yale asked students 20 questions. Of those 20, three had to do with goals: Have you set goals? Have you written them down? Do you have a plan to accomplish them? Only three percent of the class answered yes to those questions. Twenty years later, in 1973, surviving members of the class of '53 participated in another survey. The three percent who had said yes to the goal questions were more happily married, more successful, had a better family life, better health, and they held 97 percent of the net worth of the class of '53! Would you have fit in that three percent? The last skill of a great leader is the ability to empower people around you in two ways. Have you ever had a boss that never said thank you? How about a manager that never acknowledged your work? How did that make you feel? The first way to empower the people around you is by making them feel good! Say good things about them in front of coworkers and upper management. Recognition. Thank them for a job well done. The nation's most profitable companies reward their people for the smallest things and constantly challenge themselves to find even smaller accomplishments to praise their people. The second way to empower the people around you is by making them all leaders! Delegate power and responsibility. How many times have you heard, "I'll have to ask my manager," or "That's company policy"? Employee empowerment raises productivity levels and professionalism sky-high. Members of upper management will experience a hundred times less stress. Would you like a business that operates itself? That is one benefit of empowering your people. You do not have to relinquish control, but, rather, share the responsibilities. Allow your people to make business decisions. The reality is your people know more about the problems than you ever will because they are in the field talking with the customers and other workers. They are taking out the trash. They are sweeping the floors. They deal with problems on a daily basis. They are the business! Ask them! What can we do to make your job easier? How can we improve the production in your department? How can we make our customers' experiences better? You will be amazed by the responses you get. They know! With the information given earlier: "One percent of the nation makes and maintains 40 percent of the wealth," "97 percent of the net worth of the class of '53 was in the hands of that three percent," and "The nation's most profitable companies reward their people for the smallest things," it makes one thing very clear: There are enough followers. We need more leaders! Are you willing to change? Are you willing to lead? |
