Do you have all the ingredients for success as a leader? Read on to find out.
Many people aspire to be a leader in their career. Many make it while others get stuck and find it difficult to move beyond a certain level. In this article I am going to highlight 8 areas where you need to be skilled to achieve success as a leader.
Success Ingredient 1: Change identification
Many people know how to set up and run a change programme in a very structured and efficient way. These change managers are excellent at what they do and if you are looking for someone to deal with implementation they are ideal people. The best leaders on the other hand are those who can pinpoint that there is a need for change and often radical change.
Success Ingredient 2: Selecting people
No matter how great a leader you are, it is impossible to do everything on your own. Great leaders recognise this and are masters at selecting a great team of people to work alongside them to deliver their vision.
Success Ingredient 3: Setting goals
Leaders are experts at setting clear and challenging goals and avoiding those that are vague or fuzzy. Goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, results orientated and time limited. They describe with absolute clarity the outcome that they want to achieve.
Success Ingredient 4: Prioritising
Many leaders fall into the trap of failing to prioritise and spend a huge amount of their time on areas that are not related to key results areas. If you are a leader, a big part of your role is about future focus. How much of your time do you spend on future focus compared to fire fighting the here and now? If you don’t know, start a time audit to see where you are spending your time.
Success Ingredient 5: Developing teams
Leaders know that teams play a major role in delivering results and spend the time and money in developing teams. Think about the difference a well developed team that is highly productive and highly positive would make to your success.
Success Ingredient 6: Handling external pressures
External pressures come from employees, unions, customers, suppliers, competitors to name just a few. As a leader you need to become confident in handling these external pressures.
Success Ingredient 7: Dealing with the media
The media are continually on the look out for news stories. With 24 hour news channels, the web as well as traditional print, there is a lot of space to be filled. Businesses often fall into the trap of only ever dealing with the media in times of crisis. Good leaders recognise that working with the media can be good for business as they can help you get the good news stories out.
Success Ingredient 8: Influencing
If you are a leader or aspire to be a leader, you need to be able to influence. If you cannot influence, it becomes difficult to get people on board and worst of all deliver results. If you know that you could be a better influencer, make the investment to develop your skills.
Leadership success depends on having the right ingredients. So where do you need to develop to become a better leader?
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