Skills can and should be honed

Reana Rossouw

In any business, exceptional leadership skills are required in order to succeed. Whether you own the business, manage it or are an employee looking to make his/her way up the corporate ladder, the right leadership style is essential in order to reach your goals. It can be said without argument that well-honed leadership skills are the most important component of being a success in the business world.

Much has been written about leadership: rules, pointers, styles, and biographies of inspiring leaders throughout world history. But there are certain leadership ideas that we ourselves fail to recognise and realise in the course of reading books.

Here is a short list of things you need to know about leadership:

Leaders come in different flavours

There are different types of leaders, and you will probably encounter more than one type in your lifetime.

Formal leaders are those we elect into positions. Informal leaders are those we look up to by virtue of their wisdom and experience, such as in the case of the elders of a tribe or our grandparents; or by virtue of their expertise and contribution in a given field such as Albert Einstein.

Leadership is a process of becoming

Although certain people seem to be born with innate leadership qualities, without the right environment and exposure they may fail to develop their full potential. Like learning how to ride a bicycle, you can also learn how to become a leader and hone leadership abilities.

Knowledge on leadership theories and skills may be formally gained by enrolling in leadership seminars, workshops and conferences. Daily interactions with people provide the opportunity to observe and practise leadership theories.

Together, formal and informal learning will help you gain leadership attitudes, gain leadership insights, and thus furthering the cycle of learning.

You do not become a leader in one day and simply stop. Lifelong learning is important in becoming a good leader, for each day brings new experiences that put your knowledge, skills and attitude to the test.

Leadership starts with you

The best way to develop leadership qualities is to apply it to your own life. As the adage goes, “Actions speak louder than words.”

Leaders are always in the limelight. Keep in mind that your credibility as a leader depends much on your actions: your interaction with your family, friends and co-workers; your way of managing your personal and organisational responsibilities; and even the way in which you talk with the newspaper vendor across the street.

Leadership is shared

Leadership is not the sole responsibility of one person, but rather a shared responsibility among members of an emerging team. A leader belongs to a group. Each member has responsibilities to fulfil.

Formal leadership positions are merely added responsibilities aside from their responsibilities as members of the team.

Effective leadership requires members to do their share of work. In this light, social interaction plays a major role
in leadership.

To learn how to work together requires a great deal of trust between and among leaders and members of an emerging team.

Trust is built upon actions and not merely on words. When mutual respect exists, trust is fostered and confidence is built.

Leadership styles depend on the situation

Why does dictatorship work for certain countries and not others? Aside from culture, beliefs, value systems and form of government, the current situation of a nation affects the leadership styles used by its formal leaders.

There is no rule that only one style can be used. Most of the time, leaders employ a combination of leadership styles, depending on the situation.

In emergency situations such as periods of war and calamity, decision-making is a matter of life or death. The case is different in times of peace and order – different sectors and other branches of government can freely interact and participate in governance, such as during times of war.

When employees are highly motivated and competent, a combination of high delegative and moderate participative styles of leadership is most appropriate. But if the staff have low competence and low commitment, a combination of high coaching, high supporting, and high directing behaviour from organisational leaders is required.

Below are seven leadership rules to consider which will help you reap the rewards of contributing to your business or company effectively in the 21st century:

Adaptability

As a leader, adaptability means reacting in an effective manner to shifting circumstances in your business environment. Everyone experiences adaptive challenges, but leaders are keen to resolve these issues with a carefully thought-out plan of action.

If adaptability is not your strongest asset, then hone your skills by:

• Learning to accept differences as just that – differences, not a problem;

• Developing ways to anticipate problems and prepare backup plans;

• Keeping an open mind and committing yourself to learning constantly, learning quickly and reacting accordingly; and

• Adopting a flexible approach when faced with any situation that requires adaptability.

If you design your work style around a plan that provides plenty of adaptability, you will be able to provide better support and leadership to your team or company, be the person whom others turn to for guidance during change or an unexpected crisis.

Lead by example – if you show that you are adaptable, open-minded and flexible, you will discover more opportunities opening up for you.

People skills

Experts classify people skills as a term to indicate four sets of skills:

• The ability to observe people in your business, giving you the insight required to take the appropriate action required for the right result.

• The ability to communicate effectively: A leader should be able to communicate effectively to everyone – not only some people – in order to be productive.

• The ability to motivate – gives you the leadership edge to get the best out of those who work for you or with you; and

• As previously mentioned, adaptability.

Developing better people skills, specifically in the aforementioned, helps you attain business objectives much faster by working more productively with today’s very knowledgeable generation X and Y workforce.

When you connect well with others, you develop a trusting, productive relationship that benefits everyone.

Self-awareness

Leaders who are aware of how they are perceived by others or how they impact the behaviour of others are more likely to succeed than those who are not self-aware.

Most of us are guilty of believing we are better than we really are because of intent. Living our lives on intent and assuming others can read our minds or instinctively understand us can be a recipe for disaster.

Others can only judge us based on our behaviours. You cannot, as a leader, assume that everyone around you instinctively understands the ‘how and why’ behind what you do. You need to practise self-awareness to establish a more positive working relationship with your employees and coworkers.

Identify your personal strengths and weaknesses and then determine what you need to do to overcome them – whether it is explaining things more clearly, being more willing to compromise, or developing better team-building skills.

If you are self-aware, people will see that you are making the effort to overcome your faults – a very important trait of a great leader.

Decisiveness

Decisiveness is an exercise in good judgment, affording well-informed, fast and sound decisions when needed from a leader, but it is not to be confused with inflexibility, which sometimes makes it difficult for leaders to enforce their decisions comfortably.

Everyone has some degree of fear of being liable for a conspicuous, albeit incorrect, decision. However, the alternative is worse.

Even though you are less conspicuous if you remain indecisive, the chances of facing more tragic consequences are higher and will be remembered longer.

Decisiveness is an important rule in leadership; the decisions you are willing to make will have a direct impact on how you are accepted as a leader. Deciding by going with your gut feeling or intuition would not hurt.

Purposefulness

Every business needs a vision to set its direction, and every successful leader can tune into that vision to achieve success. Business books of yesteryear clearly advocate businesses using vision as a resource, but having a vision in the 21st century may not be enough for today’s leaders.

What may be more advantageous today is the ability to own a strong sense of purpose and the ability to convey this purposefulness to your employees and coworkers. Understanding what the real purpose behind the vision is, will inspire others.

Collaborative skills

Technology has opened new avenues for communicating and working in today’s workforce. Today’s business environment benefits greatly from a culture of collaboration within your business and across all departments, both internally and externally.

Collaboration is a technique that can quickly add to your bottom line if you are able to develop a system where everyone can play their part in contributing ideas or increasing sales.

Innovate and execute

Another advantage of inculcating a culture of collaboration is the constant exchange of innovative ideas within your organisation. To be a great leader, become the person whom everyone approaches when they have a new idea or innovative approach to a problem.

Leadership means understanding that you do not have to come up with ideas yourself – you can nurture growth and innovation in others, which will benefit everyone.

This article is part of a series on 21st Century Leadership. Next Generation Consultants develops customised leadership training events for organisations. For more information, contact Reana Rossouw at 011 258 8616 or visit www.nextgeneration.co.za.

Reana Rossouw is the CEO and director of Next Generation Consultants