It doesn’t matter if you are managing a team, teaching class leadership skills, or running a business.
Every team requires a fearless leader that can help, grow and push them to become the best version of themselves.
Some leaders are natural born, but it doesn’t stop you as any skill set can learn, and this one is no exception either.
To become a great leader, you need to be more self-aware and understand which traits you lack.
Well, if you are looking for ways to become such a leader, here are some of the important ones that can help.
Why is leadership important in the workplace?
Leadership holds an important role in every kind of organization, no matter if you are small or an organization.
A leader has the role of making sure that their team is happy to bring the best that they can do. Also, in a lot of cases, they have to tackle difficult situations to keep the working environment stress-free.
When you have the traits of a true leader, people look up to you and follow you as a leader or guide.
Leadership makes sure that no talent goes to waste and effectively utilizes every resource to achieve the goal set by the organization. Also, leaders help employee to achieve their individual goals in the workplace.
But how do you know if you are doing it the right way or not? Well, here are some of the signs that can help you :
- You care about your people and their success. Their wins are yours too.
- You have good communication skills, as you can reach more people and connect them together with the company’s vision and goals.
- The best leaders know how to impress others. They know to articulate the vision to a wider group and inspire them to do their best perforce.
- You understand the biggest asset that the people have and use it for helping in growing, developing, and supporting to become better.
- You have the empowering skills that fight, sacrifice, advocate, and lobby for those resources for the employee who requires them to become successful.
- Your feedback makes a difference, it gets communicated well, and the employee takes that feedback seriously.
- You feel comfortable with taking risks; you understand the importance and accept the situation when risks become important to take.
20+ Tips To Become A Great Leader
Well, learning skills and improving them from time to time can make you a great leader. If you believe that there are some parts that are not that effective for you and it’s lacking, you work and make sure it gets better over time.
It’s important to remember that leaders are not always perfect. They make mistakes, but the difference that makes them expect is that they learn from it and improve.
And to improve your skills and become a Great leader, here are some of the ways that you can consider :
1. Managing Your Emotions
Your emotions drive your energy. If someday you feel low, you can notice that your energy is low too.
If you are running high on emotions, your body and mind feel positive as well as energetic.
That’s why it’s important that you know how you can manage your emotions. It will also help in managing your energy too.
2. Admit When You Are The Faulty
Accepting when you are wrong requires a lot of confidence and a strong personality.
True leaders are those who know when they did wrong and confidently accept it. When you do that, it gives you more opportunities to make it right.
Also, accepting your mistakes won’t make you weak; in fact, when you are being honest and have courage, people feel more connected to you.
3. Keep Your Vision Clear
For leaders, it’s their job to define what goals and vision the company has and communicate with the team.
The more clear vision you have, the better communication you can do. It helps the team to know which path is effective for taking and achieving the goals as well as vision.
When you all have the same vision, the efforts can be made in the right direction, and it becomes easier to achieve.
That’s why make sure that you have a clear understanding of the vision and know-how to express it better to encourage your team.
4. Show Instead Of Telling
It’s important for the tears that they walk the walk, not tell them about it. Be the role model that you want your team to take inspiration from; it’s important you be an example instead of telling them what to do and what to not.
To become a great leader, you should have the qualities that you expect from the employees.
For example, if you want your team to be punctual and not cross the deadlines, make sure you don’t do it.
Be the person in their life from which they can take as an example.
5. Show What You Are Passionate About
The great leaders on this globe have one thing in common – they all are passionate about their work, and that’s extremely hard to miss.
What they do, shows in their behavior, talk, and body language. That can rub off others, and they feel motivated to do it more and share the passion or be a part of it.
However, it should be genuine passion instead of overdoing it; if you are not feeling excited about the project, others can easily guess from your actions.
6. Never Put Yourself Above
Being a leader gives you a certain power; however, those powers come with a responsibility. It’s important to understand that even if you are a leader, you are still a part of the team. So everyone is on the same level, and you all are working towards the same goal
When you are the leader, it’s just not limited to having the charge but to taking care of the team and making sure they all, including you, are sharing the same thoughts and actions.
7. Learn To Spot Talent
The ability to spot talent is one of the huge elements that help in becoming great leaders.
When you know how to spot talented people who are right for your business, it will help in moving the vision forward. Also, surrounding Yourself with talented people with great minds helps in developing better strategies.
But when you do the hiring of individuals, as you are winning the half-game, it’s also important that you know how people from diverse backgrounds and talents can come together and work for the same goal.
8. Give Credits To Those Who Deserves
It’s not uncommon that lots of leaders take the credits that they don’t even deserve; maybe it was your team or individual idea, however, to make sure you become a great leader. You should learn to give the credits where it’s due.
True leaders are generous when it comes to giving credit. They know that people are the ones who you need to achieve any goal.
9. Don’t Be A Preacher
People are into knowing what to do for growth as well as development. However, they need a mentor to guide them, to show them where to go and what to do to achieve what they want.
The leader is also a mentor for a team. And that you should have the understanding of becoming the best mentor to make sure your team is well guided.
However, avoid becoming a preacher. Do not boss your people; let them make their decisions.
10. Offer Flexibility & Freedom
People don’t like when someone is standing on their head, telling them and directing their every action.
As long as they know what to do, make sure you are staying out of their way. It is important to show flexibility and let them handle their work and freedom.
Creativity happens when people have the space to think about it.
11. Praise Quick And Appreciate
People seek appreciation and acknowledgment. They feel motivated when they receive praise from their higher-ups or leaders.
So when your team does a good job, appreciate them. Make sure you do it on time and don’t delay it too long.
Appreciating on the spot makes your team feel happy, motivated, and understanding. They like to do more and get acknowledgment from their leader.
12. Don’t Always Be In Your Office
Mark Zuckerberg is a prime example that you can consider for this. The employees are free to communicate with them; in fact, he roams in his office, meeting his employee, and talking with them.
This helps in creating the bond between you and the team. Also, it breaks the barriers that create between the team and the leader, which makes the communication as well as intersection awkward.
13. Stop The Micromanaging
The greatest leaders have one thing in common, most of them don’t believe in micromanaging.
They don’t tell everything that their team should do; the level of understanding they have lets their people do the action when they are clear on the vision.
That’s why you should stop doing that. Micromanaging has its own disadvantages, but it kills creativity, and people feel demotivated.
14. Hold Team Accountable
Well, not holding people accountable is one of the derailments that happens in leadership.
If you are a leader who takes responsibility and accountability seriously, then don’t let those slick ways which are not doing this properly.
Let them know what happens when they slack off; it will help in getting a team who is more responsible and understanding towards their job.
15. Trust To Earn Trust
In order to gain trust from others, you need to show that you trust them. And for that, you must show responsibility and share the burden, let them know that you have confidence that they will do the job.
More To Explore:
- What Is Transformational Leadership: Unleashing The Power Of Influence
- Top 10 Qualities of A Great Leader For Organization Success
- Choosing the Right Leadership Styles in Management
- Leadership vs Management: differences+ Similarity
- Defining Leadership: How to Lead And Manage A Team
“Vision, strategy, and inspiration – these three words describe me the best. I am the founder of “TheLeaderboy” dedicated to leadership and personal development. As a self-taught practitioner, I have been studying the principles of effective leadership for the past decade and my passion lies in sharing my insights with others. My mission is to empower individuals to become better leader