Becki recently offered up “5 Things New Leaders Should Know” and I recommend you read her post as her 5 points are definitely worth taking on board.

Instead of commenting on them, I’m bringing up the 5 most important things I’ve learned about leadership over recent years.  Some of my points overlap Becki’s and some are different.

1.  Vision Cast in Every Conversation

Sometimes I think that when God made us, for some reason, he used a very porous material.  The result is that vision leaks.

You can sell your vision to someone one day and they get all fired up and on board, but within a week, other issues in their life have gotten in the way, the vision has leaked and they need a top up.

It’s really important to know that it doesn’t matter where from within the organisation you are, it’s still your responsibility to be visionary.  Read John Maxwell’s book “The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization ” to see the importance of being into vision transfer if the vision comes from higher up than you.

Photo by C Bueno

2.  Make Courageous Decisions

The worst thing a leader can do at any time, but especially during difficult times, is to procrastinate over decisions.

In a recent post Maxwell states there are 5 decisions that need to be made during crises.  They are:

1. What must be done?
2. What must be done first?
3. What must be done differently?
4. What are your options? and
5. Who can help you?

I agree wholeheartedly, and remember you need to make these decisions and then act on them.  Often a bad decision made well, (if you know what I mean), is still better no no decision being made at all.  At least you’ve given yourself a chance of winning.

3.  Confront Issues

Hiding from issues and hoping they’ll go away never works.  For many of us the most difficult issues to face are those of non-performance by a direct report.

Recently I was given the following template for dealing with these types of issues:

Describe the Behaviour

• Be objective
• Be concise
• Use a recent situation

Explain the Effects of the Behaviour

• Do it simply
• Don’t exaggerate
• Avoid judging or labelling

Explain What You Want to Happen

• Be clear with your expectations
• Make goals measurable

Explain the Benefits

• Benefits for organisation
• Benefits for person (NB: Not a negative expressed as a positive – eg. Don’t sy, “A benefit is that you won’t get fired.”)

Get Agreement to Course of Action

• Check to see if you can reach agreement
• Secure a commitment to change
• Agree a review date

Remember that failing to take action on these types of issues never improves a situation.  It also never means the situation stays static – For some reason un-confronted issues always degenerate.

4.  Your Credibility is All Important

It doesn’t matter how great your vision is, if people can’t trust you, they’ll never follow you.

It’s that simple…  Whatever you do:

• don’t over promise and undeliver;
• if you make a mistake, own up to it and don’t blame others; and
• be scrupulously honest in all your dealings.

5.  Never Stop Learning

In all things leadership, never have a goal of having “got there”.  Your goal should always be to grow in your leadership, (and to grow those who report to you as leaders).

Comments…

Now you’ve read Becki’s post and my thoughts too.  I invite you to post your comments here.  Add to these ideas, disagree, whatever!

If you have your own blog, write your own post on this topic and leave a comment here with a link.

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