Great leaders are made, not born. These sound tips will let you grow leadership skills in managerial and executive positions.
They say there is an outstanding ruler behind every successful company. Indeed, the CEO’s philosophy and management style has a great impact on the company’s development and success. But how to become the one who can grow a small business into an international giant? The answer is simple, by growing yourself as a mighty leader first.
Mindful leadership is not something that comes naturally. It takes efforts, time, and energy, but most importantly, it takes a sound approach to how you set up working relationships and establish communication within your team. This article is based on Computools’s management experience and dwells on the importance of transparent and mindful leadership in the business environment. The next six points will tell you more about the fundamentals of sound leadership and how you personally can put it into practice.
1. Accumulate expertise
Being a leader means above all being mature and proficient. So the first precondition for becoming a strong leader is having many years of relevant expertise that you are ready to share. How can you understand it is about time to start doing it? A sure-fire sign is your complete independence in decision-making and lack of fear when you are faced with unexpected difficulties. A team leader is more than just an experienced specialist in their field. It is a pundit that perfectly understands the major trends in their industry and knows how to sail through any challenges without bearing losses. So, if you feel like fitting for this role, let your leadership journey begin.
2. Face your weaknesses
Readiness to mentor the less experienced is a good starting point, but this willingness does not prove you will succeed as a leader. At the very start, it is also important to analyze your potential strengths and weaknesses that may have a substantial impact on your guidance and management style as well as affect your decision-making. When you are true to yourself and clearly realize where you might fail as a leader, it allows you to stay watchful and avoid unnecessary risks. Moreover, the awareness about your imperfections help you set the right priorities and start working on them from day one of your leadership position.
3. Ask the advice of more seasoned leaders
There is a misconception that leaders must be all-knowing and all-powerful. Embracing this stereotype can result in false thinking that can make you feel vulnerable or even paralazed when someone expects you to be and act above reproach. But frankly speaking, the world has never seen a person that managed to please everyone. So, it is better to give up on the idea of perfection at once and put up with the fact that even the wisest people need help and may consult with someone now and then. Mentorship, as well as leadership, can be practiced on different levels. So, being a team leader, you are still free to ask for advice of more seasoned chiefs and officials who have learned much from their long-time leadership and can tell you more about effective business management.
4. Make time for mentorship
Bonding with your team does not happen only in working hours. Good leadership is cultivated when you have something more than work in common, which you can easily discover at team-building events. You have to know your people well, and it does not mean knowing them as professionals only. The best ground for effective working relations is when you both share the same ethical values, aspirations, or non-work interests. Thus, it is best to schedule at least one monthly meeting devoted to discussing an employee’s level of commitment, satisfaction, and interest in their job role and duties with each individual from your team. This type of conversation will let you understand whether your people feel comfortable with their positions as well as help you know their strengths and weaknesses, which you can leverage at work.
5. Cultivate transparency
Team leadership is tightly intertwined with the notion of transparency. A good leader is bothered with setting an unbiased and open attitude to job responsibilities, workplace challenges, and colleagues. A transparent business environment is a necessary basis for achieving productivity and performance in teamwork. So, being able to honestly express your ideas, suggestions, and complaints is an important soft skill that should be adopted from a team leader. This is why mentors and managers should lead by example, showing how to solve work-related issues in a non-violent manner. Whether developers perform badly or brilliantly, a team lead should translate this information in a way that allows team members to accept and realize their achievements and missteps without getting offended or discouraged about their job role.
6. Keep evolving
The last thing to remember is that along with more freedom, high job positions bring more responsibility. So, it makes you study, work, and read more than ever before. You have to realize that every word and decision of yours will impact the product’s success and therefore the company’s reputation in the eyes of clients. Unlike your subordinates that mostly follow your instructions, you will have to learn the ins and outs of every single project and constantly ask yourself: Am I doing the right thing? Over time, it will get easier for you to make smart decisions and detect flaws in your work. But before, you will have to realize that self-learning is the flip side of leadership, and if you are able to keep yourself organized and disciplined, you will manage to help others do it too.
