As a leader, your job is to inspire, support, and motivate your team to succeed. Great leaders know that developing their teams and helping them to improve is absolutely critical for success. Great leaders want to see their people succeed and do everything in their power to ensure it. A great leader must be able to inspire, rally, and focus his team during times of uncertainty or turmoil so the organisation’s overall health and business remain intact.
Rather than micromanaging each task or employee, a great leader acts as a support system and provides the type of environment for their team to operate autonomously. The best leaders ensure their teams feel ownership over their work, and each team member has the opportunity to grow.
The better leaders understand what their team members are going through (good or bad), the better they are at supporting them as best as they can. Leaders understand, fundamentally, that every mistake is ultimately their own fault and do not seek out scapegoats or indulge in political game-playing to the detriment of their teams. Weak leaders are terrible at managing expectations from their teams and from other departments. Too many leaders are too busy selling their vision of success to step back and look at how they are managing their teams on a daily basis.
To step back and look at the bigger picture is extremely important for leaders as it helps them to learn from their experiences. This, in turn, increases their self-awareness and helps them to make better decisions. The self-awareness process doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and effort. What differentiates a good leader from an average one is their hunger for more knowledge. They tend to be interested in leadership development programs and other activities that can help them to grow personally and professionally. You can rest assured that if there is a great opportunity for team development in Sydney, the inspiring leaders will be looking right into it and thinking about how they can make room for it in their busy schedules.
Moreover, good leaders are delighted when their employees or teams are flourishing, and they know how to give them the tools, resources, and support to make that happen. Remarkably good leaders know all there is to know about every single member of their teams, are amiable, and always keep in mind the preferences of the individual in charge.
Great bosses communicate effectively with their team as they are able to see things from other people’s eyes. Although great leaders are brilliant and know a lot, they are humble enough to acknowledge there are smarter people in the room who they can learn from.
Great leaders want to know you as a person, not just as a person filling a role in the group. If you realise listening is more important than talking, and if people know that they can trust you, then you are a leader. If people are drawn to you because you are open to the opinions of others, you are a leader. You are going to need the charm to be successful as a community leader, as you will have to be able to convince people to listen to what you are saying.
If you seek out the best in each person you meet and respect them for who they are, then it is very likely they will have a higher regard for you and see you as the leader. As a leader, when you recognise others and celebrate their uniqueness, it increases your credibility as a professional. When you dedicate your time to support, mentor, and share your knowledge with the people around you, giving them a chance at success, and find yourself being concerned about their well-being and trying to find ways to help them, then you are a leader. Being a good leader allows you to coordinate better with your team, make decisions, set goals, and accomplish them more quickly.
A leader will strive to cultivate a culture that encourages team members to develop and present new ideas and allows them to feel assured they are being heard by someone they authentically know and trust. A strong leader will promote diversity and growth in their team and will even encourage top performers to leave their teams if they are interested in working at another division.
Leaders leave lasting impressions on their people because they spend time cultivating genuine relationships and investing in others’ goals. They spend time getting to know each person’s capabilities, understanding not only how to best leverage their skillset but also how to best develop the person’s potential and motivate them to excel. Leaders realise their greatest assets are their people and know to prioritise the growth, career development, wellness, support, and overall level of satisfaction of their employees. They have the internalised belief that it is more of their responsibility to help their teams work from a growth mindset instead of a fixed one, as it hinders creativity.
The best leaders will struggle, sacrifice, and advocate for the resources that their employees need in order to feel empowered and be genuinely successful. Great leaders build up their competencies, continually learning and gathering knowledge in a variety of areas, not just in their area of focus. In addition, smart leaders are also acutely aware of the balance between giving ownership of the team’s success and making their contribution known.
In a nutshell, a leader’s most important role is building a great team of people and, equally importantly, not letting toxic people on board. Remarkable leaders create excitement for the work they do, and their positivity is contagious, showing up in the quality of work in their teams.