How to grow great leaders
I was on a coaching panel the other day and was asked an awesome question.
Here’s the question:
“On the assumption that anyone can be a leader, what are the key traits of a leader and how can you develop these traits?
I firmly believe that anyone has the potential to lead.
Leadership is not a lottery handed out at birth and I’m yet to meet a new born with the ability to lead. Leadership is rather a set of skills that are combined to create someone with the ability to inspire others to greatness.
The real art of leadership comes from making it look easy, making it look natural and this happens when your leadership is aligned with your values, your strengths, your gifts and delivered authentically.
Here’s what I think are the key traits of a leader and how to develop these traits.
Love Yourself
Knowing yourself, accepting yourself, and truly loving yourself are the bedrock on which leadership is built. This allows you to engage with others from a place of confidence. You don’t need to fake anything, knowing you are enough exactly as you are. You can develop this trait by understanding your physical, emotional and spiritual needs and making sure you meet them.
Engage your team
Know your people, connect with them and engage them. Your capacity to engage your team is the scalability of your leadership. You can develop this trait by spending time with your team. It has been recommended to spend 15 minutes each week with each of your direct reports and ask them “What went well last week"?”; “What are you working on?”. This is not to micromanage them but rather to listen and engage.
Actually get shit done
Leaders are thought of as the visionaries, the inspiration. They also need to ensure shit gets done the execution is important and will show the effectiveness of your leadership. You can develop this skill by doing what you say you will do. Keep the commitments you make, especially the ones you make to yourself. Once you hold yourself to account you can then hold others to account and ensure shit gets done.
Delegate
I don’t mean assigning tasks to others, but rather letting others lead. Let your team be the expert in their space, and you can be the expert in getting everyone to work cohesively. This skill increases both your scalability and your effectiveness and stops you from defaulting to taking the lead in all situations. You can develop this skill by creating opportunities to let others lead. This could be as simple as getting others to lead a meeting or a client pitch. If you are a soloprenuer ensure you engage in activities where you don’t have to lead. I have a PT who leads my exercise and gives me a space to step down from leading others.
Shift your perspective
Perspective is one of the beautiful gifts of leadership, you need to be able to see and understand the perspectives of others and then share this with the group. Having a flexible perspective allows you to zoom in and out switching between the big picture and the detail, the whole company and the individual worker, the client experience and the internal experience, the short term and long term. You can develop this skill by intentionally switching your focus. Prompts like “What is the big picture?”, “What are the details?”, “What does this mean for … (go through your stakeholders)?”. Changing your physical location can help change your perspective, work from a different spot, or from outside - or go for a walk in nature and notice what happens to your perspective.
If you need support growing your leadership skills or growing your leaders, I can help with that. Use the link below to book a time and discovery how I can help you.
