Leadership Lessons
At one point in time, all of you must have been a leader. This can be in the office environment, maybe in some societies, or maybe at home functions, where all your loved ones counting on you to get the work done. Even though Leadership is common, most of us find it challenging to be a good leader, mainly due to the challenges that come with a leader.
I see leadership as a process rather than a title, where we need to learn continuously to become better leaders. The nature of leadership positions can vary from one organization to the other. Also, this may change from people, country, and structure of the organizations as well.
So, let me share three critical leadership lessons that will benefit you to thrive as a leader in your organization.
1. Communication
Even though most of the day-to-day functions of organizations evolve around communication, as a leader one of the most challenging tasks is to communicate effectively.
It’s because sometimes the message we intend to give and the message the others receive can be different. This is mainly due to misinterpretation of information, which may be due to the gap of information or lack of clarity of the message.
Especially, when we use electronic messages and even the calls make this misinterpretation more often. Therefore it’ is essential to continuously communicate, communicate accurately and clearly. It’s also useful to reiterate messages, give reminders, progress checks, and friendly chats to understand whether the members are on the right track with the given guidance.
Hence, the first leadership lesson is to communicate clearly while continuously monitoring whether the communicated messages are well received. This will enable us to keep the work on the correct path and get the corrective actions immediately.
2. Teamwork
There’s a famous saying that “A chain is as strong as its weakest point”. Always in a team, there are people with different skills, competencies, and knowledge levels. These differences help to make a better and more diverse team.
As a leader, it’s important to understand the differences in these group members to encourage teamwork. When one person is underperforming in an organization, it’s important to understand the reasons for these changes. It can be family commitments, sicknesses, and office-related matters.
It’s impossible to judge that one reason is more severe than the other as for that individual that can be the most stressful situation they’ve ever faced in their lives.
Therefore, as a leader, you need to have empathy and solve personal issues more humanely. Maybe for some time, all you can do is give them some time to recover and then see the available options.
So, to build a team and get the team to work towards achieving a common goal it’s required to understand the team, and their concerns and have a humane approach to solving problems.
3. Reliability
The third aspect I would like to focus on is reliability. Since many people depend on the initiatives taken by the leaders, it’s essential to work on time and meet the commitments. It’s important to manage the time, delegate work, and meet the deadlines as per the plans. The team also must keep updated on the tasks ahead so there won’t be last-minute surprises.
Reliability is essential for long-term relationships with leaders. They must have the ability to work under stress and take accountability for their work. A reliable leader will gain more loyal followers, and this will helpful to enhance the performance of organization under that leadership.
In sum, leadership is a wonderful journey where you learn from each step. The leadership process will help you to communicate effectively, build a good team, and be a reliable individual. So, whenever you have an opportunity to serve, take it and learn it as it will help you to become a better leader eventually.
