What makes a good leader? A good leader is simply anyone who leads and people follow. Period! If that’s it, then everyone on Twitter and Instagram is a good leader. Spoiler alert: you’re not. Great leadership is all about having the ability to serve others, and not being a demanding tyrant always yelling out instructions. But there’s more to being a good leader than being of great service to your fellow followers. Here are three rare signs that really makes you good at leadership.
Related media: What Are The Qualities Of A Good Leader?
Good Leadership 101
Aforementioned, great leadership is about service to others, more specifically, given equal and par service to your employees as much as your customers. Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL Technologies, was so successful because of this principle; in 2010, he published the most sort after book, ‘Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down.’
He testified to HCL’s rapid transformation that eventually made them one of the fastest-growing and profitable digital service companies. Sounds crazy, but this doesn’t mean you hand the company over to your employees and turn your directors into errand boys.
What this means is that your company is trust worthy enough in fostering entrepreneurial transparency and information sharing across an organization that’s willing to give employees the power to take decisions, manage their own work, and hold themselves responsible for their productivity. Simply put it, a decentralized company.
Let’s be honest, such a company structure ensures that all members, directors, and employees in the company are cordially cooperating to run the company. This means the policy makers of the company will even let employees weigh in on decision and policy making, inasmuch as to implement them themselves.
(Not to brag, but that’s exactly what happens here at The Factionary).
Give it a try at your company and see your productivity skyrocket. Here are three traits you have to consider.
#1. You Have To Love Your Employees
Why do you think your employees work for you? Before you answer it, consider the premise that people naturally feel emotions where ever they find themselves, even at work. So its not because they want a job, they want a purpose. Its not because they want that paycheck, they want to make a difference.
If that isn’t the reason why you employed them, then they will never feel glad working for you. Your employees are human just as you are, and the fact that you are a business owner and they’re not doesn’t mean they are your working tools.
If you’re going to place your employees first before your customers, then you’ll understand this premise better. This creates the corporate environment that triggers a sense of trust (see #2 in this list) and a motivational attitude towards work from your employees.
This ensures that your employees are catered for and well set for success. In return of this act of unconditional corporate love, they will do all their best as if the company were theirs, making sure they work with passion and strive to achieve the purpose of the company.
#2. You Have To Develop Trust
Trust: a word that seems not to exist in our world today, and trading it demands integrity from whoever you’re giving it to. Leaders nowadays don’t rely on the fact that they are in charge of all affairs.
They rather prefer a working environment that’s open, decentralized, and diverse well enough; yet they are faced with the risk of really trusting who is competent enough to get the job done. By placing your employees first before your customers, you gain their trust and they gain yours, too.
This creates a sense of corporate welfare — the assurance that your employees see you as dependable to handle their actions towards your work. In short, they feel safe and at peace working for you.
As Forbes contributor Charles Green writes, “Leaders can no longer trust in power; instead they rely on the power of trust.”
For instance, SAS Institute was voted as Fortune magazine’s Best Companies To Work For for 20 years straight. They achieved this by ensuring a community of “trust between [their] employees and the company,” says CEO Jim Goodnight.
#3. You Have To Connect With Your Employees
Well, that sounds like a corporate cliche; but here are a few ways to demonstrate that you connect with your employees.
Be humane: Of course, we’re all human, and to man is to err. You’ll surely mess up as a leader inasmuch as your employees would. So if you commit, admit that its your fault. This communicates the sense of authenticity, and when your employees, too, mess up, they admit their wrong and do better.
Be involved: A company means you all work together. Being involved with your employees always gives them the feeling that they’re really a TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More. Create an environment where everyone feels free to communicate their ideas openly. That “we-are-in-this-together” attitude.
Be teachable: No one knows it all, even the best teachers learn. (We always do). By accepting the role of a learner in your company, you open the door to innovative ideas from your employees. They might even be way better than you are. Learning from them will even make you more of a better leader.
Be open-minded: Do we need to explain this? If you’re not, then you’re not even a smart leader to begin with. Always let your employees weigh in on the policies of the company just to make a more informed decision. This increases morale at work because everyone feels they contributed their part to making it a success.
So do you believe that you’re a great leader?
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Written by: Nana Kwadwo, Sat, Sep 25, 2021.
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