How Do We Develop Good Leaders, And Why Is It Important?
After seeing heartbreaking images of what is currently happening in my beautiful country, I decided to talk about the importance of being a good leader; specially if the future of “ a group of followers” is in your hands. For more than a decade my country has been lead by individuals who called themselves leaders but often forgot what it really means to be one. Since this post is about what a leader should do to NOT be them, I won’t focus on what is going on in Puerto Rico; but I invite you to watch this video https://www.facebook.com/fusionmedianetwork/videos/1911510175541618/ in order to have some basic knowledge of this issue that somehow is your issue too. Please, do some research on this matter, so you can understand what people like me are going through…
So back to leadership… Why is it important to be a good leader? Good leaders are necessary because leaders have the task of driving people towards a particular mission, one that everyone can get behind. They should constantly keep their team, or “followers,” motivated in a way that awakes a genuine passion towards a goal or cause. A study shared in the book Leasing at a Higher Level showed that leaders that had a strong vision had the higher performing teams. Indeed, a good leader must recognize the importance of his team, and understand there is direct correlation between their level of engagement and performance (it is surprising something so obvious is so often forgotten). According to Jacob Shriar, great leadership matters because it helps motivate and grow “followers,” it also moves goals forwards, it creates passionate ambassadors, and inspires others to lead.
“Great leaders inspire other leaders to be great, both internally and externally”.
The Management Study Guide also shared various reasons as to why good leader were important:
1. Initiates action
2. Motivation
3. Providing guidance
4. Creating confidence
5. Building morale
6. Builds work environment
7. Co-ordination
So, how can we become good leaders? Let’s start by shifting the focus away from ourselves and redirect it towards others (our team perhaps). Be open minded and listen to what others have to say. Find ways to include and help others. Build relationships that create trust, an open dialogue and complete transparency. For example, Robert Devine in his publication Developing Great Leaders stated the first step in becoming a better leader is performing an objective assessment of the leader’s ability to use the building blocks of leadership.
One thing is clear, being a good leader is necessary not only for those who lead, but also for those who follow. There are ways to help develop your leaderships skills to become a better leader. It is important to recognize there is always space to grow, so we should take advantage of those resources available to us that could help us improve as leaders before is too late.
For those interested in this topic, an 11 days free online course to “become a better leader” is available at: https://workleap.com/solutions/employee-engagement-solution/
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