8 Points for effective leadership at any level

Leadership isn’t about a title; it’s about influence and the leadership traits you exhibit that come from within. 

What kind of leader are you? What kind of leader do you aspire to be? 

Here are 8 Points for effective leadership at any level: 

1. Give your team credit for the victories. Your team did the work. They did the heavy lifting. Take none of the credit, even when it was your idea and even when you worked harder than anyone. The victory belongs to your team. 

2. Take the blame for the mistakes, the missteps, and failures. Your team may have had their share of missteps, failures, and setbacks, but the responsibility is yours. Because you are their leader, you own the mistakes and failures. You take responsibility, and then you lead the team to better results. 

3. Invest as much time and energy as you possibly can in building relationships. If you want to get things done, invest your time in building relationships up and down your organization. Invest in building relationships with your clients and suppliers. You’ll need these relationships in the future, and you want strong relationships before you need strong relationships. 

4. Spend more time in informal meetings than required meetings. You will learn so much more in informal meetings than in formal meetings. If you want to understand where to find the roadblocks, obstacles, and bottlenecks that need your attention, meet with the people who don’t report to you directly. 

5. Say the same thing over and over again, especially when you believe you have said it too often. If you want people to believe, you have to say the same thing over and over again. You will feel like people are getting bored with what you say. You will feel like they want something new, like they need something new. They don’t. You just need to be more creative and find new ways of saying the same thing and new stories to tell. 

6. Build leaders. One of the main challenges you will face as a leader is identifying and building more leaders. Your role is necessarily to further the organization’s goals and your legacy is going to be found in the people who can pick up and take the organization further than you did. Don’t worry about having a painting of you in the boardroom. Worry about all the portraits that come after yours. None of the faces that follow yours will be dependents; they’ll be leaders. 

7. Embrace the “new” new thing. If you want to doom your organization, the fastest way to do so is to resist change. Leading is about the future. Leaders look around corners, embrace, and lead “what’s next.” You protect purpose and values; you embrace the new ideas, the new technologies, new trends, and new demands. 

8. Change when necessary, not because the calendar changed. You embrace the new and you change. But you do it when it is necessary, not just because the calendar flipped to a new year. You can’t whip your people from one new shiny object to the next. Much of the time, you will find that the reason your initiative failed isn’t because it wasn’t the right idea but because it was poorly executed.

Confident vs. Arrogant Leaders

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. This is especially true given both entail a strong belief in one's own abilities. When it comes to the responses they provoke, however, that's where the similarities end. 

Confidence is inspiring; arrogance is a turn-off. 

Confidence gets hired; arrogance is shown the door. 

Building confidence takes work; arrogance is simple. 

In fact, it's easy to come off as arrogant. 

 Avoid these behaviors so you don't leave the impression of being a Class-A jerk people would rather avoid instead of the confident leader they want to follow. 

1. Openly ask for feedback. Confident leaders are constantly looking to find out what they can improve upon. Therefore, they actively solicit feedback from ALL levels in the organization. 

2. Be willing to take an unpopular stand. Great leaders look to be respected by others. They don’t seek to be liked by all because they realize that, at times, the decisions they have to make will not be the ones everyone will agree with or like. 

3. Don’t show off. Top leaders realize that their value is in drawing the best in all around them. They don’t show off or try to make themselves stand out as wonderful to anyone. 

4. Own the consequences of your decisions. Great leaders absorb the blame and share the fame. They take ownership of what wrong. 

Some business leaders are unquestionably arrogant — people whom you may have heard about or even for whom you have worked. Be a leader people want to follow and not one people would rather avoid.

Motivating Another Person

This one is a tough one since we can’t actually motivate a person to do something. Motivation has to come from within. 

But we can spark people and push them in the right direction. 

1. How do you ask for things? Are you vague? Do you make assumptions? Do you use “we” too often? "We" is good to use except when you are trying to get someone to take direct accountability. Then the use of “we” allows the other person to NOT take the accountability. 

2. Make sure you remove judgment but hold the person accountable for their part. 

3. Candidly step back and see the lesson you want learned and take a good look at whether you are hindering or helping the problem. This is best done through a series of questions. 

Here is an example many parents can relate to: Your teenager not turning in their work. 

• What is the worst that will happen if I do nothing and let her fail? 
• If I take control and check on her work and assignments what lesson will she learn? 
• If I take something away, like TV, time with friends, what message will that teach? 
• How hard will it be for me to let her fail? 
• How will I handle that and why will it be difficult for me? 

4. Go through each option with the other person so they OWN the result. Let them continue to walk through and handle each situation. Ask them to set the punishment if they do not follow through and the reward if they do. Then stick to it.

Who Will You Be This Year?

2014! It’s the start of a great year! 

And as it begins, think about this: You are your own greatest asset. 

What are you going to do for you this year? 

Your obligation to yourself is to fulfill your potential. Your obligation to yourself is to achieve all that you can achieve by increasing and improving your capacity to do so. You are only limited by your own vision, and your willingness to take action to realize that vision. 

2 important questions:

1. Is what you are doing helping to enrich and improve your life, as well as helping to ensure you reach your full potential? 

2. What are you going to do for your health to ensure you have the energy and the capacity to accomplish all that you want to accomplish? 

Time is short. 

This year will be gone before you know it. Your personal and professional development is your responsibility alone. It is not your company’s job to develop you to your full potential. 

You cannot—and will not—reach your full potential and generate the results you are capable of generating for yourself and for others by sitting around waiting for someone to discover you and your potential. 

The sooner you recognize that your growth is your responsibility alone, the sooner—and the faster—you will begin to reap the rewards of developing your own skills, attributes, and abilities. Your personal development is an obligation you owe yourself. 

No one is going to check on your progress, and no one is going to hold you accountable here. You alone own the outcome that is your personal development. You are your only real asset. 

Get started! What are you waiting for?