Being a leader holds an awesome responsibility and should not be taken too lightly, it can be the making or breaking of a perfectly functioning business unit, department or organization. A person could be a manager and yet not be a leader, or they could be a leader and not yet the manager. On the other hand I feel that every manager should be a leader. What this means is that the team that they manage will also follow their leader through thick and thin and give their best performance at all times.
A leader or manager position in an organization is not for everyone, some manager skills can be taught and learned but to be a leader you need certain basic intrinsic skills that are part of some individual people and not others. The six most basic intrinsic skills are listed below in the leadership section and a list of manager traits thereafter.
A Leader:
- Knows what they don’t know.
Resists the “I know it all” impulses. They will probably excel in an area, but as a leader they are, by definition, a generalist. Rely on and surround themselves with those who have relevant qualification and expertise. They know when to defer and delegate. - Resists falling for their own publicity.
We all do it at one stage or another: whether we’re managing a project or a department, we put the best spin on our success, and then conveniently forget that in reality it was a team effort that achieved the goal. The glory of a triumph can be energizing and intoxicating, but this intoxication can blur vision and impair future judgment. On the other hand a leader will praise the team or any outstanding performance in public and reprimand an individual in private. - Never underestimates the competition.
As a leader you may be brilliant, ambitious, and audacious, but the world is filled with many hard-working, high-IQ, and creative professionals, don’t kid yourself into believing that they and their innovations aren’t a serious threat. - Embraces and promotes a spirit of service.
Staff and or customers quickly figure out which leaders are dedicated to helping them succeed, and which are scrambling for personal recognition and success at their expense. This brings up the number one rule in business “Look after your customers and staff, or Somebody else will” - Listens, yes, even to those weird ideas brought to them by others.
Normally only when they are not convinced that their idea is or will be better than someone else’s do you really open their ears to what they are saying. However there is ample evidence that they should: the most imaginative and valuable ideas tend to come from someone who seems a little offbeat, and may not even hold a position in the organization. - Is passionately curious.
Constantly welcome and seek out new knowledge, and insist on curiosity from those around you. Research has found linkages between curiosity and many positive leadership attributes (including emotional and social intelligence). Take it from Einstein. “I have no special talent,” he claimed. “I am only passionately curious.”
A manager:
- Gives answers.
- Having the power to and enforcing their way at each turn is a sure way to place a wedge between staff and management, it is counterproductive, a de-motivator, and a destructive force.
- Takes the credit.
- Managers who lack leadership abilities are always first to take credit from their superiors. They will normally confirm that it is their work that produced the results and success and show the flaws of each team member.
- Criticizes mistakes.
- It may seem more efficient to point out your employees’ mistakes directly, but this will only leave them feeling embarrassed, frustrated and less productive in the future. They may never again take the initiative to do something on their own making the situation worse and perpetuating the cycle. If you’re interested in ensuring your employees take pride in all that they do, regular feedback and recognition is certain to do the trick.
- Forgets to acknowledge, praise or reward.
- Praise pays off when it comes to increasing the overall performance and success of your team. Finding time to recognize your employees for even the smallest accomplishment will not only increase their interest in what they do but also their desire to please you. Everyone wants to be genuinely appreciated for their efforts.
- Focuses on the bad.
- This really comes down to seeing their own failings in their staff. Point a finger at somebody else to take the focus of your own failings. This reminds me so much of the daily negative television adds that focus on the failings of the competitive product or company and not on the benefits of their own product.
We can’t imagine that any individual or manager exposed to the six leadership principles above and encouraged to take them to heart would not become anything else but a better leader.