The key to becoming an effective leader is to surround yourself with potential leaders and to find the best people. Great leaders produce other leaders. They think about the big picture and plan for the future. A great leader has to also think about the small things as the small things lead to the bigger picture.
Leadership is influence; it is as plain and simple as being able to inspire and influence those around you to work for and to a specific mission and goal. The small things are as important as the bigger picture: the mission statement.
To be an effective leader, the following 3 leadership tips focus on the small things of leadership, yet are often forgotten or neglected because of the big things.
1. Be able to serve
2. Be able to be led
3. Be able to give credit
Leadership is not sitting back and controlling people and things around you. This is often the idea of leadership but is a misconception. Leadership is opposite of control; it is to serve. It is to choose service over self-interest.
"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." Max DePree
1. Be able to serve
"A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better." Jim Rohn
Too often a boss or a manager sits back and expects results without helping their staff produce the results they want. This is the authoritative approach to management and it is ineffective. Being effective is through influence, not authority. In the end, expectations are not met and the immediate blame is on the employee or team.
If leadership is to serve, then sitting in an office and overlooking staff from a far is not leadership. A crucial task is to nurture potential leaders by believing in them, encouraging them, sharing with them, trusting them, and serving them by helping them achieve results.
2. Be able to be led
In order to cultivate and nurture potential leaders, a leader also needs to first know how to follow and to be led. A person of influence, based on their hierarchy in an organization, may achieve this position without any understanding of leadership. They climb the ladder and strive for success, but in this process it is possible that they have overlooked everything it takes to become a leader. Most fall into the role of the authoritative 'leader' and find that they are not respected and potential leaders seek structure and true leadership elsewhere.
Leadership and learning are absolutely necessary to coexist with each other, and a great leader cannot be an effective leader if they do not know how it is to be led. To learn from both people 'above' them as well as people 'below' them in hierarchy is key. Training for great leadership is leadership - by learning from great leaders. If you do not know how to be led, you will not be able to lead.
There is a saying, "Be able to obey before you command."
3. Be able to give credit
"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it." Andrew Carnegie
If you respect a potential leader, he or she will do more. Success begins and ends in leadership and the role of the leader is to take the blame when something goes wrong, and let their potential leaders shine when things go right. This is respect.
This absolutely reinforces choosing service over self-interest. The ultimate failure for any team, department or company is the responsibility of the leader. If something goes wrong, the leader should step up and take the blame and take ownership and responsibility of that failure. If something goes right, it is the leader who should step and give credit to the individuals on the team who deserve it.
This is a 'small thing' and so often, this small thing is overlooked because of ineffective leadership. Effective leadership is to serve, and if 'taking the credit' and 'pointing the blame' is how a person in a leadership position leads, they are far from becoming a great leader.
These 3 very important tips on leadership are small, but influence and contribute to the bigger picture. Great leaders produce other great leaders but if they only think about the big picture, sometimes the small things are neglected and their effectiveness diminishes. They say, 'don't sweat the small stuff', but to be an effective leader, sweating the small stuff leads to effectiveness and the bigger picture.