The task of leadership isn't easy. Some say it's gift a few people are born with, others know that it can be taught.
If you study the most effective leaders you'll understand that most of the qualities of a strong leader can be learned and developed.
One must not think, that the leader is just a boss at your office that gives your instructions. The characteristics of a good leader go way beyond that.
Being smart, enthusiastic, disciplined, being able to understand and being cheerful are some of the underrated things that make a good leader.
Leaders are everywhere you look in today's world, from a CEO to a team leader, from a teacher to a parent. All these people have leadership roles. Even if don't have a team or a group of people, you need to know how to lead yourself to achieve your goals.
In any case, to help you out with your leadership efforts, we've enlisted 45 ways how to be a good leader:
How To Be A Good Leader In 45 Ways
1. Know who you are and what you stand for. What are your core values? What do you believe in? What's your purpose for living? These things shape you and will be fundamental in your leadership task.
2. Have a vision. You have to know where you're headed to and what you have to do to get to that place. You must make your team focus on creating a better future, to stop: worrying about present problems and hanging on the past.
3. Stay proactive not reactive. Of course you have to solve problems, but don't just hang on to that. Most problems are avoided before they even start by a proactive approach.
4. Be a good example. If you demand professionalism from your team, you must be the first example of it. Show up on time, dress well, finish your tasks, communicate often and so on.
5. Be unafraid of showing your flaws. The best teaching tool you have is your professional experience. You made mistakes but learned from them. your team can learn from it as well.
6. Clearly state your mission. One time is not enough, constantly remind your team what's the purpose behind all your operation.
7. Create a code of conduct or guidelines. A simple page with 10 golden rules should do the trick. Put it in a place where everyone can see and send an email with that document attached to all the members of the team.
8. Follow the rules but show some flexibility. If someone steps out of line, make sure they are penalized. But it's good to show some flexibility also, depending on the degree of that mistake, manage your feedback and actions.
9. Set goals. Start from big to small. What is the ultimate goal of your project? What personal goals are you attempting to achieve? How can your co-workers help? Give your team a target to hit on, they must know were they are supposed to go.
10. Be consistent. Nothing worst than a leader that is always changing is mind. You need to make some adjustments, but don't compromise the trust of your team, keep doing it consistently.
11. Give great feedback. People need to know what they are doing right and what they need to improve. Try to stay descriptive and instructive while advising your team.
12. Be open to feedback. Your team has something to say about the project, let them speak. Ask for opinions as well, make them feel that their ideas can help.
13. Get to know your team. What are the strengths and weaknesses from each individual? Know this and adjust their tasks, also help them develop their weaknesses into strengths. This is also useful when recruiting new members.
14. Do group and individual interactions. Meetings are a must to get everybody on the same page. But individual talks are also vital. By knowing your team you can adjust your approach to each individual.
15. Keep their motivation up. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are crucial. Create a working environment where all your team feels they are growing and getting better. Reward people for their good work, with compliments and prizes.
16. Develop relationships with your team. First and foremost you need to have a basic professional relationship, you can achieve that by a good working environment and cadence.
17. Friendships are allowed but not indispensable. Sometimes you need to get personal and interact with your team as a friend. Be there for them, but don't get caught up. It can influence your judgement and make you take bad decisions.
18. Love relationships must be avoid. Few times this works (specially in small businesses) , most times it's bad for your business so avoid it. There's plenty of people outside work to be romantic with.
19. Just decide! Decisions are an important part of being a good leader. Don't take much time to decide. If you are clear about your purpose and mission, decisions will be a no brainer. Make them quick.
20. Delegate minor tasks. A common mistake inexperienced leaders do is to try to make everything by themselves, not trusting people. Do otherwise, some tasks you can just delegate on valuable members of your team. Show them that you trust their ability to deliver results.
21. Be the brain not the body. This is related with the above, the task of being a leader is similar to the brain of the human body. You command the rest of the body to work in a correct way. Your team is the body.
22. Win or lose, you're still the leader. It's easy to lead people through good times, but it's when bad times arrive that you show real leadership. You lost a battle not the war, recover your team and keep them focused on the next battles. Embrace failure as the starting point of something good.
23. Be helpful. Despite having to delegate minor tasks, you should sometimes do them, to show your team how important these minor tasks are and that everybody (including the leader) should be there to help others.
24. Stay humble. Admit your mistakes, be open to dialogue, show that you don't need to control everything and that you respect your team's work.
25. Find creative ways weekly. The same old tasks can be boring when performed for a long period of time. Every week try to come up with a new ways that can inspire your team to perform better.
26. Offer team building activities. There are a bunch of team building activities out there, pick one monthly and build a stronger team.
27. No excuses! Don't make excuses and don't allow others to blame others. Every member should be responsible and assume their mistakes, nobody is perfect. Move on.
28. Interact with other leaders. Want to be a better leader? See other leaders at work. People that have a similar position as you do, can be great advisers and serve as inspiration.
29. Work with other teams. You can't be an island in the business world. Other teams and other brands are necessary to achieve your goals. Be open to collaborations.
30. You need to prioritize. You have numerous projects, but some are more important than others. You can't do them all, finish the most important one, then the next, and so on.
31. Keep learning your lessons. Leadership can a never ending learning experience. Stay sharp, learn with the process and become better with it. Read constantly, search for classes and tendencies about your specific field.
32. Don't look for followers, look for new leaders. A bad leader just demands and wishes to be worshiped. A good leader inspires others to be leaders also. Make them think with their own head and make decisions.
33. Work on your communication skills. Everything from the vision, mission, your posture, team members, team tasks and rules to relationships relates to how you communicate with your team. Work and constantly improve this skill.
34. Be an influencer not a dictator. Don't demand respect from people, earn it. People will be influenced to like you if you have strong values, act according to your beliefs, display a great skill set, make decisions, stay humble, help people and make them grow.
35. Be kind and polite to people. This is essential part of leadership, no need to be rude and careless. A simple word of kindness can make wonders in the relationship with your team.
36. Don't act impulsively. This is a common mistake, sometimes leaders tend to react quickly without thinking. Analyze the situation, try to see all variables before taking action.
37. If you don't know the answer, just ask. Again this about being humble and being unafraid to show your flaws. Get the right answer, the important thing is the process. Put your ego on the side and ask.
38. If you need to teach know the topic well. Sometimes your team needs to be coached or trained. Make sure you know what you're talking about. if not search for someone who does.
39. Always analyze how your team can get better. What are the needs of your team? Who's negligent? Who deserves a promotion? Always keep track.
40. Keep an open eye on the market. You don't have to remain with the same team for the rest of your life. Be open to accepting resumes and hire new people for your team.
41. Don't give up. The captain is the last to abandon the ship. As a leader you must live to this statement.
42. Push the envelope. Don't settle for the ordinary. Dare to go where others are afraid to go. As a leader you must take risks to achieve great things.
43. Dream big and think big. Always see the bigger picture. Analyze situations from all angles, see things that others don't see. Think about an alternative reality.
44. Recycle yourself from time to time. Great leaders are all about innovation. The business world keeps developing, you need to improve and sometimes change yourself to stay relevant.
45. Never be satisfied. There is always space for improvements, don't stop just because you've achieved something big. Set another goal, always ask what's next?
We hope now you know what it takes to be a good leader and are inspired to become one.
Share this ways with your social connections and help them improve their roles as leaders.
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