Building Great Leaders - How to?
Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr, and Nelson Mandela are some of the most renowned leaders. They are renowned because of their way of doing things, or the kind of legacy they left. Can they be branded as great leaders? That is for you to decide. A leader is a torchbearer. Leaders instill a sense of direction that is best for everyone. They ensure that targets are met, inspiring people along the way. However, people define leadership differently. Some consider dictatorship as a form of leadership, some go the free style way and others reach a consensus.
The Role of Leaders
- Creating a vision - As a leader, you have to know what you are working towards, and what you set out to meet. The vision you create should be meaningful to your subjects.
- Motivating and Inspiring subjects- People look up to leaders for inspiration to behave in certain ways. It is the duty of a leader to find ways of motivating people and channelising a course.
- Managing successful delivery of the vision-The bigger picture is to ensure the successful execution and implementation of a project.
Qualities That Make Great Leaders
The making of great leaders is based on qualities that define leadership. Some of these imperative qualities include:
- Honesty- This is always the best policy. Everybody is looks up to the leader. If your honesty bar is high, the rest of the team will be obliged to follow suit.
- Openness to delegating- Delegating duties is a way of avoiding a backlog of undone duties. This can in turn slow down productivity.
- Communication- A communication plan and strategy are some of the ways to make communication easy internally and externally.
- Confidence- Your confidence level ought to be high, even when things go haywire. When your team sees that you are confident, they will also display confidence. Confidence is key to be taken seriously.
Can leadership be taught? This is a debatable issue and calls for mixed reactions. Some people are born leaders; it comes naturally to them. For some, leadership qualities need to be inculcated. However, for training to be successful, the trainees have to be put in positions where they can practice their acquired skills.
How To Make Great Leaders
Training of good leadership involves the use of practical programmes that will enhance the survival and performance skills of the trainees.
- Use programmes emphasizing on personal growth- In order to grow, participants should be engaged in real activities that will force them to take risks for survival. Activities should focus more on the emotional, imaginative, cognitive, and behavioral levels of the participants.
- Use programmes enhancing skill building -Practical activities like public speaking make participants learn new skills faster.
- Use programmes based on feedback- Feedback is a mirror to certify one’s strength and weaknesses. The information can be overwhelming, but important in making better leaders.
- Use programmes building conceptual awareness - This approach shows the behavioral differences between a leader and a manager.
It is unfortunate however, that most learning experiences focus on ideas instead of skills. You can have all the right theory but lack the skills to implement the ideas in the professional sphere. Practice always makes perfect.
