Leadership Qualities to Excel
ABILITY TO LEAD SELF
Leadership is all about leading a team of people who can meet organization goals and assist in growing, not only the organization, but themselves as well. Budding leaders, aspiring to reach leadership heights, therefore, should first be successful in leading themselves. This can be done through a 3-step process:
Self- Awareness
Exercising Self- Control
Continuous Self- Improvement
Self-Awareness
This step includes a process of carrying out weekly self-retrospective on self-performance (what went well and what did not), continuous self-assessment and visualization as to how to enhance/maximize the potential and seeking feedback from boss, teammates, family members and close friends.
Exercising Self-Control
All human beings have their own limiting behaviors which includes reacting to situations, short tempers, biases etc. Building strong relationships and handling situations in a mature manner is key for the growth of all, especially for the budding leaders.
Budding leaders should become very conscious about their thoughts, feelings and emotions. The weekly self-retrospectives and seeking feedback from boss, team mates, family members and close friends will also help in a big way to identify such behaviors.
Budding leaders should be able identify such reactive behaviors soon as the same happens and take corrective actions immediately. Some of the common ways to do so are taking a pause, having a glass of water, and temporarily stepping away from the situation.
Regular exercises and meditation should help to bring more calmness of mind as well as awareness in the long run.
Continuous Self-Improvement
Self-improvement is a continuous process for all, especially so for the budding leaders. This is a very important tool for the growth of people and the organization. Budding leaders should be constantly adopting self-improvement techniques to enrich their knowledge, especially in the areas that are identified during the self-awareness process as areas that need improvement.
Budding leaders should do the following to keep self-improving:
Attend trainings/seminars (relating to technical area of expertise, self-improvement as a person, mindset, leadership, public speaking etc.),
Reading books/articles
Exchange thoughts/ideas with industry peers using social media
Get mentorship
The knowledge gathered should be shared and implemented.
Work Ethics
Budding leaders should exhibit strong work ethics at all times. Only then, can they lead by example in the future. Work ethics include integrity, respect, punctuality, and discipline. Adherence to company rules and regulations is also very important. Leadership and Management Training
PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE
Leadership Training Programs is about building a high performing team who can meet the performance goals of the organization. For budding leaders to become such leaders, they should maximize their own performance to start with.
This process starts with knowing about the organization. Seek information about the organization:
Nature of activities (Product or services provided; customers and geography)
Organization vision and values
Organization chart
Key policies (Employee handbook, etc.)
Benefits (Health, welfare etc.)
Awards and Recognition System
Seeking and receiving feedback system
Performance appraisal system
Scope for learning and development
The next step is to do proper expectation setting about the role:
Details of the role
How does the role align with the company goals?
Key Performance Areas
Criteria on which performance will be evaluated
Boss’s expectations
Armed with the proper role expectation, budding leaders should keep continuously scaling new heights of performance, keeping the following key aspects in mind:
Be result oriented. Always work with goals & targets
Quality of work is uncompromising
