Business ?November 29, 2014

There are numerous books being written right now that are striving to answer the question of what makes a good leader. There is not much argument that leaders possess various characteristics, skills, and abilities that make them stand out as a leader. And, there is much agreement that in different situations an effective leader will use different approaches to get the desired result. There are three things about leadership, regardless of the situation, position, or role that are universal. As you explore these leadership characteristics, think about the leadership in your organization and what the development opportunities are for them.

The first characteristic is a leader gets results. At the end of the day, the bottom line is did the job get done or not. The leader is the one that gets the job done. A leader is not stopped by circumstances or other things beyond their control. The take what they are dealt and make it happen. In going about getting the results the leader is confident that the result will be achieved. A few years ago, a professional basketball coach was interviewed just before going into the locker room for half time. His team had played a miserable first half and was down by 28 points. The coach said his team had not played as well as they were capable of playing and that he was going to discuss this in the locker room. To close the interview he said that his team was going to come back and win this game. And his team did! The leader never doubts, even when things are not going well.

The second thing a leader does is get results through people. A leader recognizes that a major goal cannot be achieved through the efforts of one person. While the leader is a hard worker, the leader is also able to inspire others to work hard too. The leader has the ability to establish a direction and engage others in going in that direction. Dwight Eisenhower said: “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” This quality of a leader is one of the most important. A person seeking to be a leader needs to constantly develop this skill.

Lastly, a leader makes the difference. In other words, what got done would not have gotten done had the leader not been there. Achieving goals and results is not an accident. Results only show up when the leader shows up. You can have a tremendous amount of talent on the team, but if you don’t have the leadership, the talent will not come together to hit a target.

In summary, many skills and attributes make a leader. All of the attributes and skills are inside of the three things I have outlined above. The real point to get from this is that leaders are not born. They are developed. So if your organization or team is not achieving the result you want, look at the leadership and determine what is missing from the leader’s toolbox and help them develop the skills they need to succeed.

By Austin Becker

Easy to say but tell me how to do it!
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