Do you think you are a leader?
How do you know?
Leadership is a set of behaviors that allow one to guide, direct and influence self and others. The good news is that these can be learned. Here is a list of essential leadership behaviors regardless of your title –
- Deliver – They are passionate about their work and good at what they do. They do not take their eye off the ball. They deliver what they promise and build credibility, win trust, and expand their influence.
- Take responsibility – They take ownership of the outcomes while empowering teams to take decisions and exercise power. They solve problems and find solutions. They make choices that reflect the vision, values, and strategy of the organization. They do not make excuses or shift blame if things go wrong.
- Include other people – They bring diverse skill sets, expertise, and experiences together to create more robust solutions. They keep an open mind and use disagreements to strengthen the organization. They collaborate to drive the team’s success and expand their capacity. They offer to help others succeed. They empower others to do their best work and build informal credibility and relationships across the organization. They make themselves accessible and open to feedback.
- Speak up – They share their ideas and speak up to champion others’ ideas too. They care for developing others and freely share feedback in helpful ways. They ask questions to clarify thoughts and help teams think through ideas.
- Enable others – They set others up to succeed by setting the vision, clarifying expectations, and providing resources. They create conditions for their teams to be effective. Their messages guide the path with simplicity, clarity, and consistency.
- Connect emotionally with people – Leaders put people first. They are curious about how people are feeling, thinking, and doing. Leaders listen to people and connect with them at their level to help them see the meaning of their work and their future. They create a safe space enabling people to speak openly about their needs, fears, and challenges.
- Challenge the status quo – They constantly look for opportunities to improve the organization and serve their customers better.
- Learn from their mistakes – Leaders treat failure as feedback and mistakes as learning opportunities. They focus on lessons learned to recover from missteps and move on.
- Constantly learn – They never stop learning new things formally and informally. They stay on top of what is happening in the world in their chosen fields and how it might impact them and their organization.
- Strategic – Leaders consider the long-term future and overall vision of the organization while taking decisions. They draw out this vision such that others may follow and implement it.
Which one of them come naturally to you?
What do you struggle with? Work with me to overcome the struggle. Book a pressure free meeting here.
PS – This blog was first published on LinkedIn as a part of the Your Career Matters series.