Human beings are not moved or influenced by just thoughts or words. A group of human beings cannot be called as a team unless they have a strong leader. A leader is a crucial part of every team – be it an organization, an educational platform, a game, an orchestra, an army or even a flock of birds. Without a leader, nothing can ever run smoothly.
What is Leadership?
Leadership is the most essential component in achieving success. Leadership skills play a crucial role in organizing and working with people to achieve a common goal. A leader inspires and motivates his team to complete tasks within a stipulated time and brings out the best work. A strong leadership brings people together as a team who work for a common purpose. Leadership also helps develop effective communication and builds relationships bringing in more creativity and best results.
Now the question is whether leaders are born or made: The answer is that some people are born with natural leadership abilities. They have an innate capacity to effectively manage and lead groups of people who have common goals. They have an indistinguishable ability to motivate and inspire people to follow their vision.
On the other hand, there is a possibility that leaders can be made. Leadership skills can be acquired by training, practice, and experience over time. People can learn how to be a good leader at work. Leadership qualities can be acquired if you choose to focus on developing them. Anyone can become a leader through strong determination. Here are some tips that can really help you if you are planning to play a leadership role in your life.
Ways to Transform Yourself into a Leader:
1. Be Positive and Optimistic:
Learn to be positive and optimistic even during the tough times. Spread positivity wherever you go and create a belief among people that you all as a team will succeed despite of obstacles. People in your team are going to look for you for what they are supposed to believe. When you remain positive, your team members also begin to think positively and will understand how they are supposed to respond and hence you will be able to reach your goal and overcome all the challenges as a team. Positivity energizes everybody around you. Never let your team have moments of frustration and disappointment. In fact, encourage the team to take a positive approach to handle challenging situations.
2. Motivate and Inspire Your Team:
Inspire the people around you by helping them find their own strengths. The best way to inspire your team is by refining your vision and communicating it to your team. Inspiration empowers people to persevere through the most difficult situations and work on achieving their goals despite all the obstacles, difficulties, challenges, and discouragement. Communicating with your team is one of the qualities that will strengthen your bond with the team. Don’t just communicate information with your team, you should also know how to communicate goals and vision and make them excited about the work. Learn how to transform your words into emotions and build constructing communication. This could lead to breakthroughs in your career.
3. Empower Everyone in the Team:
Team empowerment is the act of developing a shared perception in the team. Support your team members and let them have the control over their lives. Treat them with respect, involve them in all the decisions, provide them necessary training and recognition and support them in decision making. Empowerment allows team members to work with full potential, experience continual growth, and attain success. Empower your team by cooperating with them, appreciating them, and helping them find their strengths.
4. Do Not Fear About any Situation – Be positive:
As a leader you will need to develop the courage within yourself as well as within your team. A true leader is recognized by his ability to take action in spite of fear. Oftentimes, it happens that people lose the ability to act when they fear any situation. They try to escape the danger when they are afraid of challenges. People in your team are going to look towards you for how they are supposed to act when they are afraid of any situation. That’s the reason you will need to stay strong and face the danger by not leaving the threat unaddressed and unopposed. You will need to confront all the challenges and deal with the problems boldly providing your team the courage to act instead of stepping back.
5. Let Others See Through Your Vision:
Have a clear idea of what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. Make sure your team understands your vision clearly and knows how the efforts of the team contribute to reach the goals. A powerful vision is an important attribute that creates and unstoppable belief that will help achieve the dreams. The leader’s vision should be so clear that the others can see it too. Having a clear vision allows you to achieve your goals as well as to foster leadership among the rest of your team.
6. Communicate With Your Team:
Communication within the team is very important to increase the productivity. When you communicate, it increases collaboration and reduces conflict. Be open while communicating and listen to what everybody says. This will allow you to understand the ideas and needs of the people in your team. Communicating effectively is a great skill that will strengthen your bond with the team because words transform emotions. When you communicate as a leader, you inspire and energize your team because they will be happy to communicate with their leader.
7. Introduce Proactive Thinking and Encourage Innovation and Action:
As a leader, it is brilliant when you think out-of-the-box. It is important that you encourage your team members to come up with new ideas each day which is a concept of proactive thinking. This could lead to technological advancement and unbelievable discoveries that will position your team on a higher level. When you bring about proactive innovation, you stand out from the competition and grow much faster and have much greater success. Innovation is something that can deliver significant benefits and helps improve recognition.
8. Learn to be Decisive:
One of the major aspects of the leadership role is to be able to make difficult decisions. You will need to handle decisions in tough times when you are under high pressure. As a leader, you will be subjected to making challenging decisions. While taking any decision, it is necessity for you to be logical, timely and thoughtful. Even if a wrong decision is taken by you, it is very important that you correct it quickly rather than letting others to make a decision for you. You will be required to make a right decision and not an easy decision.
Talk Like a Leader: Support Your Team and Make Them Comfortable by Being One Among Them
Strong leadership doesn’t only mean that a leader is only supposed to lead his team. In fact, a strong leadership means that every member of the team feels supported and motivated. A leader is expected to continuously invest in his team by communicating openly with the team and making them realize that he's one among them. It is very important that your team understands that you are all a support to each other. Here are some positive speech differences that you need to bring about to make your team more comfortable so that they become positive team players.
When you find something is incorrect, instead of telling “You have to correct this” say “Let’s figure out how to correct this”.
When you are angry at someone, instead of saying “Who is responsible for this?” say “How best can we resolve this?”.
When something goes wrong, instead of saying “You have done it wrong” say “Have you tried doing it this way?”.
When you’re unhappy about some approach, instead of saying “This is not good to go” say “We need to do it better”.
When you want clarity on something, instead of saying “How are you going to do this?” say “How do you think we can do this?”.
When you want to know if someone needs help, instead of saying “Do you need any help?” say “How can I help you?”
While correcting someone, instead of saying “I don’t think you should have done it this way” say “Why don’t we try doing it this way?”.
When you address your team, instead of “I” always say “We”.
Final Thoughts:
If you inculcate these habits, it will definitely create a great sense of comfort among your team members, and they will happily work for you and contribute maximum in achieving a common goal with the same vision as yours. They will be glad to have you as their leader and give their best as a team. Having fun with the team during work is also important because it fosters a sense of happiness. It is easier and more fulfilling to work together when the team communicates, laughs together, and enjoys each other’s company. So, go ahead and earn respect as a good leader by supporting, encouraging, and inspiring your team to always remain positive and assuring them that the best is yet to happen! If you want to be a leader and you truly want positive team players under your leadership, you need to be one yourself!