by D. P. Noe

Created on: February 14, 2010

Effective leadership will result in having other individuals willing to believe in you and follow you. Individuals do not follow you just because you have a tittle of a leadership position. Leadership requires an earned respect because you have the ability to recognize that you need the support of others who understand and share your vision.

Effective leaders do not focus on themselves. Ineffective leadership happens when individuals in leadership are out to promote only themselves. Organizations are looking for individual as leaders with an understanding of the vision of the organization and demonstrate that they care about the success of the organization.

Effective leaders are the role models for change. Implementing change requires that a leader develop a plan before implementing any changes. Effective leadership will require you to expect challenges to your decisions.  How well you handle the challenges that are thrown to you will determine if you can be recognized as an effective leader. You need to be prepared to explain any new initiatives and how it will benefit the organization. Effective leadership requires that you find the connection to new and creative ideas, you always need to have your ears wide open.

One of the best communication tools for leadership is the ability to create a stage where you can create a picture of how things currently are and how they could be. This is a method to win over even the most difficult and resistant individuals. If you learn the value of creating a picture, situations or projects will have realistic solutions.  If you can successfully create this stage, you are on the road to successful management.

Integrity is a key component of successful leadership. Individuals will respect the leader that is willing to stand up for what is right and not always follow what other individuals would like you to say. Ethics play a key role in effective leadership, because decisions cannot be made without incorporating ethics. Leaders without integrity and those that do not find value in ethics and demonstrate good ethical decision making will never become an effective leader. 

Leaders should always be prepared to practice a positive attitude. Look for the positive side of a situation or problem. Learn that humor is a valuable tool for to help put the people you are working with feel at ease. Humor always needs to be in a positive mode and never attack or put down any individuals. Leaders need to build effective relationships and not destroy them. There are times when leaders will experience rejection, but they key is to learn to control your emotions. Your ideas will not always be the right decision, but take away the positives from the situation and learn from them. If you can accomplish this difficult task, you can be the model of an effective leader.

Effective leadership is a continuous process of learning and adjusting to ever changing obstacles in the environment your are working in. Effective leaders do not fear mistakes and challenges, they know the importance of learning from them. Integrity require leaders to acknowledge their part in mistakes and show  that they are willing to make changes and determine what they would have done differently. If you can demonstrate and practice the requirements for effective leadership, you are an effective leader.

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