Leadership is a behaviour that is learned and drilled into you over time. Let’s take an example; leaders can make many decisions and choices in the blink of an eye, whereas other people would take more time to understand what is going on and what the question was. A lot of people wanting to become team leaders and lead their own team often wander how the successful leaders make the best decisions under immense pressure. Most of the time these choices come from huge experience and encounters with multiple different circumstances.
Experience in the leadership field becomes learned and instinctual over a period of time. The successful leaders master the art of anticipating business patterns which gives them the ability to make the choices almost instantaneously. Let’s look at some things that the successful leaders manage to do on the fly.
- Make Those Around Them Heard
Many people feel intimidated by the power of the leaders talking when they walk into a room or are at a conference meeting. Successful ones deflect the attention away from themselves and direct it towards their colleagues, which encourages them to speak up for themselves and put in their point of view.
- Make Decisions
Successful leaders make expert decisions, they have the power of using a huge team to reach a strategic conclusion or they take on the task themselves. Their focus 100% of the time is on “making things happen” – making decisions that sustain progress. The top leaders are artistic in politicking and therefore do not waste time on issues that distract them or have nothing to do with the project in hand.
- Expert Communicators
Successful leaders make great communicators especially in performance expectations where they remind their colleagues of the main organisations goals and core values. I once had a boss that managed the entire team by reminding us all of the expectations he had of the group. She made it all easy for us to stay focused and on target with all projects that needed to be completed. The protocol used here was clear communication and expectations which increased performance ten folds and helped everyone identify the people that could not keep up with the standards she expected.
- Challenge Thinkers
Successful leaders are able to understand colleagues mindsets and can identify areas which need to be improved. They are able to use this knowledge to challenge teams to think outside of the box and stretch them to reach for more. This type of leadership keeps people on their toes and never allowing them to get comfortable, this gives them the tools they need to grow and climb the ladder. If you are not thinking, you’re not learning and if you are not learning you are not growing.
- Deeper Insights
Another great tool new leaders to new job roles like to use is 360 Degree Feedback, where everyone rates one another on progress and they get a score at the end which tells them areas that need improving, this can also be used by the leader to move people about and put them where they will be more productive and useful.
