Becoming a Better Leader

There are many practical reasons for becoming a better leader. After reading the following paragraphs, you will be able to cite additional ideas that are even more relevant to your work structure.

1.  Recognize the world is rapidly changing. Global competition, increased customer demands, and the rapid increase of information and technologies, mandate constant change. Many managers in large organizations are finding change is the one thing they can count on. Your ability to adapt to change will significantly impact your organizational success.

2.  Develop a positive mental attitude. No one wants to follow someone with a rotten attitude. Enough said!

3.  Focus on what you can change...not on what you cannot change. Where are you going to spend your energy? Complaining about things you cannot change or creating the things you can? If you feel your destiny is in someone else’s hands, you do not have to take responsibility for your actions. Focus on what you can do and take responsibility. There is power in responsibility.

4.  Lead with your heart and head. We recently heard a manager say that he did not care about people’s emotions. He went on to say, “We have a job to get done!” Unfortunately, people are the ones who are going to get that job done. And, people have feelings. In fact, everything about motivation and the desire to do good work is based on a feeling. If we do not consider people’s feelings, it is impossible to be an effective leader.

5.  Reach out to people who have different perspectives. It is easy to communicate with people who think just like you. It is difficult to effectively communicate with someone who has a differing viewpoint. But, if we only have the ability to communicate with people who think like us, we are limiting ourselves from learning new and valuable information.

6.  Become comfortable with the unknown. One of the necessities to becoming empowered is to feel comfortable with the unknown. This is called having the ability to deal with ambiguity. As fast as our environment is changing, it is impossible to know all the facts or have all the answers all the time. If you think you know everything, you are obsolete.

7.  Develop a leadership “tool kit.” No one can have all the answers. What you can develop is a “tool kit” of resources that can help to solve problems. If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. Collect information, and then learn and practice leadership and management techniques. Remember, good leaders never stop learning.

8.  Look for multiple right answers. With information and the environment changing as rapidly as it is, we can no longer afford to look unilaterally for one right answer. Become multilateral in your thinking. Search for possibilities—not just one solution.

9.  Substitute effectiveness for perfectionism. If you wait until all the available information is in to make your decisions, the chances are you have waited too long. In today’s environment, we no longer can afford the luxury of waiting until something is absolutely perfect. We need to ask the question, “What’s the goal or purpose?” If we can satisfy the goal, then we are effective.

10.  Develop the flexibility of a sapling. In San Diego, we have huge, beautiful eucalyptus trees. Unfortunately, it seems like every time there is a rain or windstorm, some of the biggest trees blow over. Fortunately, eucalyptus trees are great at dropping seeds that start new saplings. What is amazing is that the wind and the rain do not bother the saplings. They are pliable and just blow with the wind. The large trees are not so adaptable. They snap because they are not able to sway with the changing wind. In today’s environment, supervisors need to be like saplings.

In closing, true leaders understand that success does not depend on their titles, but on the values they uphold and the choices they make on a daily basis. True leaders know that leadership is not achieved through technical expertise, but rather is based on an emotional connection or relationship with followers. It is our hope that the insights we presented in the previous chapters will help you with both the technical expertise and “people smarts” you need to be not only a great supervisor, but an outstanding leader!