Achieving Success As A Leader [Final Part]

Leadership is not about occupying a certain position, neither is it about forcing people to follow orders and do your biddings, but it is about influence, responsibility, and the decisions you make. You can be appointed, selected, or even elected into a leadership position, but you have a personal responsibility to build yourself and develop capacity to fit in, so that you will create impact and achieve success. We took the first part of ways to succeed as a leader, here we shall be taking the last part. Always have in mind that you do not have to wait until you ascend into the highest position in your field of endeavour before you cultivate these traits. Right from where you are, you may still find yourself in various places to serve at the leadership capacity.

The first point to make you succeed as a leader is to lead from the front by showing examples. It is not just about what you say nor is it about dishing out orders, but it is about what you do. As a leader, what you do, which is what others will see, is more important than what you say. If you want others to be disciplined, committed, and dedicated, then you have to model the same. When they observe that you are dedicated, you will not beg for them to be dedicated too, it will just flow naturally. Your team members will be glad to make sacrifices, take responsibilities, and put in hard work when they see that are doing the same.

As a leader, when you lead from the front, you will gain more respect, more credibility, and more loyalty. In fact, you will not have to force them to follow. People have more tendency to follow what they have seen practised, than what they just hear from your words. If you want them to do something, start by doing it yourself. Let them see how it is done, let them know that it can be done, let them also see you already doing it. Good leadership is not about "doing as I say," but "doing as I do." In a football team for example, the person they give the captain of the team is someone that is with the rest of the team right inside the pitch playing. Imagine a scenario where a captain is on the bench and no one is the captain in the field, the team will no be coordinated as needed. As a leader, you have to lead with examples.

The next point is to inspire commitment. I have come to realise that people do not just commit to tasks alone, but they are committed to someone with purpose and vision; a visionary leader. A committed leader influences and inspires the team members by helping them to understand why they should do a task, not just about doing it. The "why" is more important than the "what." When they know why they should do what they are doing, they will feel motivated to do it. You may have a vision of what to achieve, but you should also learn to carry your teammates along, so they will also share in your vision and know why they should do what they are doing.

The third point is to plan strategically. Having even a big vision without planning will simply lead to frustration. It is your strategic planning that will turn your vision into action and results. Dreams do not just become reality, they are empowered by planning and actions. A successful leader will think ahead and set clear goals, but not just that, they will also create a workable plan for the goals. As a good leader, you should anticipate challenges, welcome changes, manage resources, and track your progress. It is your strategic planning that will keep you focused, effective, and proactive.

The last point to note here in order to succeed as a leader is to learn to communicate well with your team members. That you are a leader does not mean you can talk to them or do to them as you like. Your words have the ability to inspire them or discourage them. More often than note, it is not just about the context of what you are saying that matters, but you should also put into consideration how you are saying it, your tone and your body expression. When you have this in mind, you will communicate and relate well with people.

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