Tips for improving Leaders

Leadership is the road map to success. It brings continuous excellence in human life.

Are there born leaders? Everyone is a leader and leadership is evolved within and it flourishes in every aspect of living; let it be business, your office, in sports, in politics, in society, family and in every corner of the world.

Leadership begins within. The seeds are already embedded inside us. We need to care for it, water it, nourish it and get the best out of it continuously.

If you can develop your personal leadership skills you begin to set examples for others.

Leadership is a multidimensional activity and covers many aspects of thought and behaviour.

The following tips give template for improving our leadership skills.

1 Set the right attitude

2 Fine tuning 'the self'

3 Developing vision and conquer time

4 Knowledge building

5 Courage builder

6 Creativity - cultivate different seeds

7 Change adaptability

8 Setting the environment

9 Communication with understanding

10 Understand emotional needs

11 Art of positive motivation

12 Appreciate, recognize and reward

13 Breaking the shell

14 Transfer leadership

1. Set the right attitude

Attitude contributes a lot to success. A study in Harvard University found a person gets a job or promotion because of his attitude, contributing 85% and remaining 15% only to other factors.

Always be positive, optimistic. Stay away from negative areas. Take life with a smile. Inhale positive thoughts and spread positive energy.

If one believes he can win, he will win. We have to develop our positive believing attitude.

Learn from other mistakes and avoid it happening to you. Success is routed through failures but the 'never say die' attitude leads to success.

2. Fine tuning 'the self'

Self discipline is the key in a leader's life. A system should be developed so that the maximum level of performance energy can be achieved. One has to manage oneself first.

For this we need to fine tune ourselves both physically and mentally. Setting good habits are very important and it directly results in positive ness and optimistic vision.

‘The first and best victory is to conquer self.’

- Plato, Greek Philosopher

Bring a system in your life:-

• Most leaders wake up early. In doing so they have lot more time to organize and feed their mind & body with positive energy. Too much sleeping makes you dopey. It won't fresh you up, rather it tires you. So Sleep well and wake up naturally before the alarm rings.

• Energize your mind & body.  Get up early, devote some time for yourself, do some mind and body exercises. You will feel refreshed and calm for the whole day and also will boost your confidence level. This is because the human body generates lot of enzymes and fluids when we exercise and these help in increasing the performance level of our body and mind.

• Good Food habits. Food habits play an important role in your body and mind activities. You are what you eat, So take a balanced diet.

• Releasing of stress is very important and our body and mind needs to relax. Regular breaks are essential.

 3. Developing vision and conquer time

Vision is your goals; it can be a combination of goals, your career goal, business goal, financial goal, family goal, etc. A goal is time bound. Your goal should be broken down into smaller goals; it should be clear and specific. You can also have short term goals running parallel to your long term goal. Goals cannot be vague and it should be realistic and balanced. It must be SMART.

S - specific (prioritize)
M - measurable
A - achievable
R - realistic
T - time bound

You have to balance the goal with environment - let it be your family, business, finance, health, society.

The most important is the plan. You should have a specific plan that helps you to achieve your goal in time. Goals are dynamic because of the changes that life brings.

So it's important to adapt or foresee the change and update your goals.

4. Knowledge building

Feed your mind continuously with good thoughts and knowledge. In this competitive world it is important to gain external & internal knowledge.

External knowledge is on the world around you; it may or may not affect you. It can be the market knowledge.

Internal knowledge is directly related to your vision. It is a critical success factor for accomplishing your vision.

Knowledge is intelligence, its wisdom. Knowledge is power and power is success.

Act on the knowledge and wisdom attained. Just acquiring the knowledge will not lead to success; link it with your vision and move.

5. Courage builder

Courage is the strength and power of leadership. Most people don't like to take risk. They don't even initiate opportunities, because of fear of loosing or the change involved in it. People are afraid to take ownership of situation, either it be a good situation or bad situation.

And, if it's a bad situation it's the blame game they play. Eliminate fear! The best way to control fear is to face it with determination.

6. Creativity - cultivate different seeds

Stop doing the same thing over and over if they are not working. Dare to be different. Use that time when the mind is relaxed and full with positive energy.

7. Change adaptability

Learn to manage change. Life is full of choices and compromises. It's dynamic and changing. The environment around us is changing, society is changing, people are changing, technology is changing, and almost everything is changing. The best way to manage change is to embrace it. Anticipate it, monitor it, accept it, adapt to it & enjoy it. Make, 'change' part of your life, a leader is a continuous learner so he has to change continuously by enhancing skills and move forward.

8. Setting the environment

Set the office environment right, display or hang motivational posters, product banners, policy documents, incentive charts, mission statement etc around.

Establish a positive quality environment where the staff are motivated to deliver their best.

9. Communication with understanding

The greatest road block in communication is our tendency to evaluate or make judgments once you hear or see something. This is our natural urge.

We usually agree or disagree to a statement from our point of view. This impulse to evaluate any emotionally meaningful statement from our point of view is what blocks interpersonal communication. 

Refuse this tendency by always seeking first to understand.

10. Understand emotional needs

A leader's greatest job is to bring out the value of his team members. Let them know their value. A leader should be compassionate at times, which will bring in an extra bonding and emotional attachment, developing into trust, understanding and value for each other. It develops unity.

It is a great feeling when your team leader listens to you; values your points and helps in solving the problems. It reduces stress and promotes confidence.

11. Art of positive motivation

The best motivation comes from within. A good leader just has to ignite the belief system and fuel it; success will ensue.

If one person in your team is de-motivated it can ruin the entire team. Be vigilant and where a problem exists bring it out rather than encasing it.

Further, keep promises, give respect and seek respect, be committed to the staff and be one among them.

12. Appreciate, recognize and reward

Appreciation, reorganization and reward, works magic on individuals and teams. Employees who feel recognized deliver excellent results. Keep the team and the individual team member well informed on the company activities and their performance status.

When a job is well done give sincere recognition

Recognize employee performance at the right time, delay can cause de-motivation.

And, reward them at the right occasion. Results are best when you reward.

But remember it's a regular process.

13. Breaking the shell

Life is a continuous learning process. Regularly update your skills and be hungry for new updates in different areas. Read and listen to motivational books, tapes and disks. Arrange presentation and learning session. Let every staff contribute to it.

The whole idea behind it is to develop a family environment, free of stress and fear.

Employees can free themselves and display their strength in every area. They are encouraged to take risk and develop new ideas which will help to discover new processes and strategies.

14. Transfer leadership

Be a transparent leader, be committed at all levels, keep even the small promises not just in your work place but in your life also.

Be sincere and caring. Don't put things off, do them without any delay.

Lead from front, be a role model. Show expertise and confidence.

Leaders show the route to success and help their subordinates to become leaders. They spread the light of leadership and bring the subordinates to their level.

They give the freedom to develop oneself and grow. Subordinates look up to the leader for guidance and direction. Leaders leave a legacy!

Use the following questionaire to help identify areas for improvement.  Rate yourself from 1 – 10 on each question with 1 being low and 10 meaning you have very little room for improvement.

When complete pick your 3 lowest ranking items and brainstorm actions to begin the improvement process.  From there you can create a personal one page plan to control your activity.

If you would like to know how you can learn to become a better leader visit the Partnercorp Leadership Centre where you will discover a range of training and mentoring programs designed to fast track your growth both personally and professionally in these key areas

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