How to Improve Leadership Quality

Leadership can sometimes be a rather unknown thing to managers. It's certainly integral to good management but is quite complicated to know what leadership is. Often it can be separated from management as while you can have good managers who are bad leaders and bad managers who are great leaders the goal is to be balanced in both areas.

But leadership is not just limited to business, government and other service based societies or organisations. Ultimately its about being a leader to ourselves that we can lead others, for with one, we can understand the needs of other people. Leadership must start at the beginning basic level to be universal.

This article looks at how to improve leadership in order to have the best of both.

1. 
   1
   Consider how leadership plays a role in your project and what you may need to address. A leader should inspire and motivate and ensure the team works, but if the leader has no strengths in keeping to a deadline, or being able to follow through and act on problems, then leadership quality fails on the inability to act and resolve issues. On top of this, being unable to delegate and follow up on the issue loses respect of your team members. Leadership and management in a reductionist sense ultimately is about one thing: satisfactory completion of a task. Leadership can be used to make the task completed quicker, but that limits the quality of the experience as few people can learn anything from it. A quality leader makes both the task and the experience better.
2. 
   2
   Analyze your own strengths and weaknesses in order to explore what leadership is. In business this is often done in a SWOT analysis, known as Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. It can also be done with good success for personal leadership. The method is simply to write down what you feel are your strengths (etc) and then allow another person of integrity to do the same of their opinions of yourself. This allows a flow of ideas and allow you to see problems you may not be aware of. The benefit is that being able to understand others on a subtle level can only come from being able to know ourselves. Once we can successfully identify the nature and habits of our own mind can we see the motivations of others, as well as how we can effectively lead. Consider what your own ethics are. A leader who is without ethics - treating everything as a means to an end can sometimes be the strongest, but at the same time, the weakest leader. This very complicated paradox is because a person who has a strong sense of boundaries, how to make a bad situation good over and above their own feelings, even if it is to just strive for a minimum harm outcome needs strength and is therefore stronger as they understand that ultimately its not about "us" or the "me". Such a person can then lead by experience and wisdom as personal feelings often masquerade as true ethics therefore be misleading and can harm others. But the person who rules with an iron fist based on personal feelings and opinions, or does not consider the price and outcome of their actions is simply dictatorial. These people do not have the greater strength to transcend the personal for the greater good.
3. 
   3
   Be Natural and be Humane in practice and analysis. As obvious as this one sounds, its is surprisingly often that people are often trying to scrape up motivation and inspiration inside to be able to inspire and motivate others. Just as some are born leadership material, but others have to just become good leaders. Natural leadership, likewise natural ethics comes from an expanded sense of cause and effect, or, action and outcome. The most important goal is to measure against your own experiences. What really matters to the project? How can the goal be achieved to the best outcome? What do the team members need to grow? Very often what makes leaders great is that they could transcend personal feelings to help a person to see only they can help themselves to be more productive but also more effective and intelligent. By bringing in your own empathy, insights and understanding, as opposed to relying solely on other people's ideas will help you far more in the context. Humanity inspires and consoles, but it is human nature as well as human ability that is the central focus to stay in touch with reality.
4. 
   4
   Understand a few key unwritten rules that can make or break a good leader and evaluate yourself and your own environment in relation to them and what good leadership is to you.
   • If you are the leader in charge, you have the authority to make the decision, but also the responsibility to do so and take the consequences. Authority and responsibility go hand in hand. Trying to have authority while shaking off responsibility (and vice versa, being encumbered with responsibility and no authority) is a train wreck waiting to happen. If you don't have the authority to be able to act, it is wise to resign as soon as possible. Know who the boss is - it might actually be you.
   • Never make threats you are not willing to see through. If you have a malignant team member who has no interest in having integrity or getting their job done, then should you warn them about dismissal then it should be within your powers to dismiss such a person. Never casually threaten a person as then a genuine warning is not taken seriously.
   • Set boundaries. This oddly enough is something that few people do. Many unskillful leaders want to think that a team runs itself and that members should have their own ethic and should work together, but this is seldom the case. It should be known from the beginning what your expectations are, how they will be done, who will do them and by when they must be done as well as company boundaries such as hierarchy and duty boundaries. Many leaders want to be leaders and leave the running of the place to the managers, but this is another disaster simply by its foundations.
   • Encourage team discussion, but stick to the boundaries. Like running a meeting, it is important to notice when people are stirring trouble, wasting time or thinking about things that are not practical.
   • If you cannot sail the ship yourself, change careers. You might be a team leader but if you are acting with other management departments such as being dependent on others to fund you or manage your section for you, then unless you can correct this situation it will become a source of resentment amongst others. Like a figurehead on a ship is an important symbol, its only a chunk of wood or metal that cannot set a course, or prevent the ship from sinking. Not only are you at frequent risk of the exposure of low skills, but you may be caught when real skill is needed in emergency and be unable to prevent tragedy and disaster.
   • Delegate. Like management it is essential to get the job done, but delegation in a leadership context is a sign of trust and faith in the team members abilities. Delegation is sharing skills and experience to be able to allow people to grow, but it must be done wisely. When delegating to a person not capable, or is resentful at being issued such a task then they are not a person who should be involved.
   • Learn body language or more generally, your team members body language. It is not just to know when you are being told untrue information, but also when office politics are present which should be addressed as early as possible. You should be able to learn your own body language as there have been times that a leader must act like a poker player in order to keep confidence.
   • Encourage education and experience. This may be to have team members on a rotation which grows skills and can be used should a team member fall ill that another can fill the gap. But also more broadly; if a team member has a taste of management and leadership of their own, they have more understanding how complex the job is and what makes a good leader stay as leader and how good teamwork is important. This applies to the leader as well as the team members.
   • Consider carefully before you commit or act and if necessary take extra time to consider the implications, risks and how to implement strategies. Another one that sounds obvious, but consistency, integrity, ingenuity and reliability are things that make or break leaders. History has shown many times that leaders who do not take their duty and instructions seriously have not been successful. Some innovate and are successful.^[1]
     
     While it is not unknown for some leaders to be so well organised and analysed all outcomes, they have been able to effectively stage manage their projects and appear naturally effective, it is important to communicate wisely and never consider it a weakness to ask for help. When a person is too proud to ask for help it sows the seeds of failure early as when they cannot ask for help or advise when it is really needed, either emotionally or symbolically as a way to save face, they lose their ability to act and implement change or strategy, as well as losing integrity and ability to inspire at one stroke. A good leader very often follows others and must be able to. Not only does everyone start somewhere, but no one ever stops learning and expanding in experience and knowledge. Sometimes we may feel wise and capable but be able to be stunned at the most simple of insights.
     
   • Know what is going on and stay in touch. Not only within your team, but in the company, your clients, your suppliers and the general world around you. If you run a section but have no idea of the whats happening in other sections or the direction the company is headed, then the only one who would be surprised when your section is closed would be you. This does mean you may have to pursue the information be it good, neutral or bad, rather than wait for it to come to you.
   • Be proactive. Oddly enough some leaders love or loathe this word. It means being aware and acting against possible problems and also to make possible opportunities into real opportunities. It is a mark of a good leader how proactive they are and "A stitch in time, saves nine" is an old gem of wisdom.
   • Have fun. Its not about a slave master and slave and the leaders who don't make this distinction end up with a mutiny. Keep things fun and help others to work with each other, but don't let the boundaries be compromised as no one will really know what is appropriate and inappropriate and the duty fails.
   • Talk to other team leaders and managers for ideas. "Consult, consult, consult" is a quote found throughout hundreds of leadership focused organisations. You may find someone has already tried the idea and found it failed, or alternatively has some ideas on a problem you have that could resolve it, sometimes you can also collaborate to save time and money and be more effective. Many cities and countries hold business management forums that are free which are a fantastic resource of information and goodwill.
5. 5
   Consider what your own personal feelings are and where your leadership standard may be lacking in quality, while acting accordingly. This way you can act to address your own shortcomings. If you are the team leader but have no respect for your position or your team, then the problems are only waiting to come. Resolve the issues by building quality into the foundations and repair or remove damaged parts of the team structure.
   
   Ironically, perhaps even tragically, people try to keep personal and work as separate as possible, but "personal" is from what insight and human understanding comes from and "business" is from where management experience comes from. The disadvantage of this separation however is that a person who does not understand their own failures will frequently have the same problems in the personal and business world and cannot overcome them or escape them. The two should go hand in hand with awareness and a broad, expansive understanding of cause and effect, action and outcome.

Read More

How to Be a Good Manager: 8 Quick Tips

Being a manager in any industry can be a fulfilling job, but it can also be a difficult one. You will need to find the right balance of friendliness and authority. You will need to create a good team atmosphere whilst achieving the bigger goals. So how do you strike that balance?

1. Do Your Job

First and foremost do your own job. Managing people isn’t an excuse to let them do the work whilst you look on. Of course, sometimes your job may involve being more strategic but your staff will respect you for doing what needs to be done and being willing to pitch in like everyone else at times. Many of us have had managers who use their role as an excuse to do less or attend more meetings. Get the balance right and earn respect from your staff.

2. Acknowledge The Positive

See the positives in your staff and their work. Don’t be one of those bosses who only sees what’s missing rather than what’s been achieved. It is demoralizing for staff to have someone only see what they have done ‘wrong’. Positivity breeds positivity. Genuine and meaningful praise goes a long way. If this is difficult for you, get in the habit of noting down positive things you notice about how your staff work. Give feedback regularly and let them know that you see the good work they do.

Don’t Be Afraid to Manage

Things don’t always go smoothly in any workplace. You are a manager, so you must be willing to manage. Some people find it hard to set boundaries or give feedback but it is important to get over that hurdle. If you need some help with this don’t be afraid to ask your own boss for help or request training. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone. You can make a work situation worse by not being clear with staff if you are hesitant about managing. People appreciate genuine leadership. Practice managing and making the tough decisions. These things get easier with practice but people will appreciate knowing where you stand and any changes they need to make.

3. Be Vulnerable

If you make a mistake, be big about it and apologize. It can be scary and seem like you are making yourself vulnerable, but your staff will appreciate your honesty. No one expects a manager to be super human. Everyone likes someone who takes responsibility for your actions. Being honest will help you create a culture of honesty.

4. Be Real With People

The way we work is changing. You don’t have to be superhuman or untouchable. Be the real human being that you are. Let people at work know about your life and find out about others. If you let people know the “real you” it is much easier than having different personalities for your work and home life.

Communicate

Let your staff know what’s going on behind the scenes, as appropriate. If something will affect a member of staff, make sure they are included in the communication. This doesn’t mean you have to let your staff know everything. Sometimes keeping communications back until the correct time can save panic and needless worrying. Communicate appropriately and consistently but be aware of how communication (or lack of it) can affect your staff.

5. Lead By Example

If you want your staff to behave in a certain way (professional, good team players), then lead by example. It is not fair to expect your staff to do something if you are not doing it yourself.

6. Be Self Aware

Be aware of your moods and how you communicate. You may not realise how much of an impact you have on your team as a manager. You may know you are in a bad mood about the dog chewing your shoes this morning but staff may feel that they have done something wrong if they don’t know this! Be aware of how and what you communicate. Your team will pick up on it.

7. Have Fun

Having fun at work can help make the work easier for everyone, forge positive relationships and strengthen your team. There is usually room for more fun in any work environment, but if the nature of your work makes that difficult, be sure to schedule fun activities when you can. Meeting for lunch or drinks after work can help build relationships and help your team to see you and each other in a new light. If you create a positive work atmosphere it also becomes easier to deal with challenges as they arise.

8. Trust Yourself

At the end of the day, there is no one right way to be a manager. Trust yourself and learn through your mistakes.  Managing others is a great way to develop and enhance your leadership skills and create a positive work experience for yourself and others.

Read More