How To Become a Better Leader?
Many of us strive to become leaders in life. It is a position we want to acquire and be celebrated for, but to be a good leader takes a lot of time and effort.
Many managers or directors or those in leadership positions are not understanding the basic fact. Being a good leader is not an achievement; it is a commitment to creating new leaders among those under our care and those who are learning from us. You cannot be a dictator and be a good leader. You must nurture, teach and lead by example.
So what is the difference between effective leadership and management?
Where managers follow the guidelines to fulfill the obligations and meet criteria and goals, leaders have the vision, and they develop the actual goals. Leaders innovate and create and focus on the people; they think about how to make a change for the better. Influential leaders need good managers to follow through with their visions, through tasks and activities, so the leaders themselves can focus on finding a way and aligning the process, as good leader knows how to delegate and share responsibilities.
As Kingsley Kobayashi, the CEO of Kobayashi Group Japan, says, you must align yourself with the Universe and those around you, to achieve anything in life. One of his primary goals in life is that everybody who works for him will become better and greater than he is. Only then, in his own words, he succeeded as a person and as a leader.
Being a manager is a title, a job description, but being a leader comes from within. Yes, great managers are leaders, but not every manager is. It is not the same. Leadership is a quality that is shaped in the process, with life experience, acquiring skills, learning how to influence others in a positive way, how to encourage, and how to boost everybody’s performance. You do not need a position to be a leader; it is a skill you either possess or not.
As an effective leader, you cannot just focus on yourself and developing your skills. You must nurture those around you and create an environment for others to thrive.
Good leaders have many abilities, and I would like to mention three of them today
1. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, is the ability to understand and manage your emotions and recognize the feelings of those around you. By building your EQ, you can influence others around you to do their best.
For that, you need self-awareness. As a good leader, you must know your limits, weak points, strengths, beliefs, and what motivates you. If you do not have self-awareness, you risk making bad decisions and putting your team in jeopardy, as you and your team will be far less effective.
You also need self-management. As Kingsley Kobayashi says — If you cannot manage yourself, how can you manage others? This is a simple truth. Self-management goes hand in hand with self-awareness. The more self-aware you are, the easier it is to self-regulate and act accordingly. Simple steps to self-regulate include
- Pause before responding — get your personal feelings out of the way before you reply
- Take a step back — yes, sometimes you need to step out of the room for few minutes to clear your head instead of reacting.
- Acknowledge your emotions — that might mean to write down your feelings and what caused them so that you can identify a pattern. Knowing your triggers will help you manage your reactions next time.
To be a good leader, you need Empathy. By actively listening to your employees and team members, you can understand their needs and wants, build trust and coach them through challenges. Your team members look up to you not only for business advice but also for personal advice. Empathy is one of the top leadership skills recognized, and empathetic leaders perform better than others in coaching, planning, and decision-making.
Self-motivated leaders can inspire their teams as they lead by example. So set goals for your team, rise to the challenge, and motivate them with positivity and optimism throughout the process. A motivated leader empowers his team.
As a good leader, you need to sense your team’s emotions and issues and resolve them. You cannot reach your goals alone, and you need a harmonic, positive, and driven team behind you to achieve them.
2. Employee Engagement
If you want your business to be successful for an extended time, employee engagement is crucial. Highly engaged employees perform better; they deliver higher quality service to existing customers and bring in new clients, they experience less burnout and stay with your organization longer. And that is precisely what you need as a leader because if you can retain your employees, you have far less work than if you have to train new staff constantly.
As a good leader, you need to provide feedback effectively to your team. Observe your team performing their daily tasks and deliver feedback based on that, not on your impressions. When your feedback comes from actual observations, your team will act on that and become more effective.
Same as giving feedback, you should also give recognition. Team members who believe their voice is heard perform much better than those who think they are ignored or overlooked.
Kingsley shared with me that he holds company meetings regularly, where he doesn’t only give the team his feedback; he first asks them for their opinion about the happenings in the office and what they think they can improve on. When the suggestions are valid, he then follows up with the staff that suggested them and makes them implement them. It creates a thriving environment as everybody engages in the daily activities and observes what can be improved.
The best way to empower your employees and team members is to delegate tasks and assignments. They feel trusted and want to perform even better. When delegating tasks as a leader, make sure you assign tasks to team members based on their abilities, knowledge, and skills. Employees that can successfully perform assigned tasks stay with the team longer.
As a good leader, you know that knowledge is power. So support your team members when they want to attend seminars, extra courses and learn new skills. If your company budget allows it, create an educational budget for your team members to motivate them to learn more.
All this can be accomplished even if you are working remotely, so do not give up and hold regular online meetings.
3. Negotiation
As a good leader, you must be a good negotiator.
Attitude is everything when it comes to negotiation. Go in with an open mind and be ready to improvise. But do not be afraid to say what you want; lay your cards on the table. That will create a space for the other side to think about it, and you can make progress. If you have a clear goal in mind and know your clear bare minimum, you have suitable space for negotiation. Do not rush the process. A good leader is patient. Remember, emotions and feelings have no place in business negotiation. Be firm, know your goals, and don’t be afraid to walk away. Project power and confidence. After all, in life, you do not get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate for.
To become a good leader, you must identify your personal leadership style that will motivate and encourage your team. Understand that by performing your best, you create a thriving environment for your team to perform in and new leaders. And that is an accomplishment worth your while.
Kingsley Kobayashi is a Japanese Finance Mogul and turnaround expert. His vast knowledge and over 30 years of experience in international trading are an inspiration to many of my articles. You can follow him on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter for more insightful posts.
