Unleash Your Leadership Potential
Leadership ability and effectiveness are enhanced tremendously by a leadership philosophy that calls for belief in the worth of people, belief in their abilities, and belief in their potential for growth. This leadership philosophy forms a bedrock foundation for building sound relationships with team members — relationships that lead to personal growth and success for them, for their manager, and for the entire organization. Effective leaders possess this philosophy. They light the spark of imagination and creativity in themselves and in their followers. Effective leaders seek to unleash their own untapped potential as well as that of their people.
This optimistic philosophy of leadership is based on the assumption that you, as a motivated individual, can learn the skills essential to effective leadership. You undoubtedly already possess many of the skills needed for both personal and organizational effectiveness in a management position. The skills you now possess will serve as a foundation for further development and for adding techniques to your inventory of available resources as you work to achieve results through other people.
Any leadership position carries with it certain status, privileges, opportunities, and power. These benefits are a part of your compensation. You have the right to enjoy them; you have earned them. But privileges carry with them their own responsibilities. Recognize that the unique position that brings you honor and prestige also requires making decisions, solving problems, and performing services that no one else in the organization can perform. Your willingness to accept personal responsibility for your own leadership effectiveness will be admired and emulated by your team members. Acceptance of personal responsibility also means you admit to your team when you make a poor decision. After all, you are not perfect. People will respect you more, not less, for your openness and candor.
Good leaders often have unique opportunities for achieving personal and professional success. Typically, leaders have a large supply of resources for productivity— resources such as time, the capacity for work, and the ideas, creativity, and enthusiasm of a whole group of people. The synergistic effect that the leader and team enjoy produces more than the sum of the results that could be achieved by each individual team member working alone.
The rewards of effective leadership begin with the most personal areas and extend outward to the professional arena and to the entire organization. Some personal rewards may include:
- An adequate income for the needs of your family with some left over for luxuries and enjoyment
- A position of prominence that brings acceptance and respect from others
- The satisfaction of knowing you provide a product or service that benefits people
- The sense of fulfillment that comes from seeing other people grow under your leadership
- The fulfillment that comes from contributing to the over
- The spirit of team pride, knowing that you have helped make success possible.
The demand for effective leaders is heard throughout the business world, and the rewards are unlimited. Effective leaders often have the ability to make decisions, to set goals, and to achieve a level of success far above the average. But achievement through leadership is always based on sound planning and persistent effort in addition to knowledge and skills. The development of those skills—and the cultivation of the knowledge and attitudes required to use them—is the basis for your success.
LMI JOURNAL, VOLUME V, NUMBER 11 Leadership Management® InstituteReprinted with permission === Strategic Essentials is a Managing Partner for Leadership Management® International, Inc.
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