According to Simple English Wikipedia, A leader is someone who has the authority to tell a group of people what to do – somebody whom people follow.
However, is being in charge what defines you as a leader? Maybe our idea of leadership has changed over time and perhaps it goes slightly deeper than that.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
–John Quincy Adams.
You can also read about this in our SlideShare here.
Being a leader is both a privilege and a Burdon at the same time. There are so many responsibilities and qualities that they must uphold every day; and some blogs state that leaders always get the blame. Of course, there are many redeeming qualities such as having your own team and being respected (If you are a good leader of course!).
In a ted talk by Drew Dudley, the idea of leadership nowadays is described as something large and ‘full on’ – A leader is someone who can change the world. Drew talks about how we need to get over this conception and take a step back to appreciate that a leader is someone who has a positive effect (no matter how big or small) on someone and can inspire them. He defines leadership as the everyday act of improving each other’s lives.
5 Apps every Business Owner and their Employees should use.
Transformational leadership
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”
– Warren Bennis
Leadership isn’t about how successful the leader is, it’s about how successful their team is, how motivated their team is, and how loyal their team is. So how is this achieved? Through Transformational leadership. It is broken down into 4 steps that a leader should follow:
1. Create a vision – this is an ambitious change or idea that has a positive outcome for your business.
2. Motivate your people – To do this you can use the expectancy theory. This follows the basis that hard work leads to positive results and that positive results lead to rewards. Defining these linking expectations can motivate your staff.
3. Delivery of Vision – This is all about management to achieve the vision. Set goals and KPIs to ensure the work needed to deliver the vision is in play.
4. Coaching and development – putting the needs of your team first and developing their skills can create trust and respect.
Transformational leadership helps to set direction by inspiring, motivating and managing your team, for a transformational result.
A leader is one who is humble, bold, inspirational, and a path setter. Lead the way and people will follow.
“You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.”
-Ken Kesey
Do you know what else a great trait of a leader is? Having an impressive VoIP system. Read why Businesses have recently been moving to VoIP here.
