As a business owner or manager of a division, your success depends on your ability to marshal the strengths of those who report to you. Here are six areas of personal work which every strong leader constantly works to improve.
SELF MASTERY
Everything begins here.
Self-mastery means taking a humble approach to life and its issues. The humble leader is often very forthright and fearless. A humble leader listens to others and seeks the best of everyone’s contribution. The leader with self mastery knows his core strengths and does not need bravado.
Every strong leader knows that the pretentious fakery of some in authority is in fact a pretending to be something that person is not. Those who are at peace with who they are don’t need to pretend to be something else.
A strong leader is empowered by standing alone and is unafraid of the criticism of others. Taking full responsibility for his personal thoughts and actions, he is comfortable when alone or in a group and does not depend on anyone in the group for moral support.
Self-mastery allows you to maintain a “clinical separation” between yourself and the challenges in the business. That means that you do not build your self-image based on your success in dealing with a particular individual or particular project. You do your best but are not “attached to the outcome.”
FOCUS
A great leader has a strong sense of what is right and wrong for the business and for all of life and is more committed doing what is right than to the way he is seen by direct reports.
Focus means full awareness of whatever is occurring at the moment without regard for distractions or appearances. A leader is constantly and relentlessly focused on the objective and evaluates everything in terms of advancement to the right objectives in the right way. While the leader understands much of the detail necessary to advance the leader never gets lost in the detail.
BUILDING TRUST
Every business is in the people business. People live, work, and exist in relationships. We thrive or die in relationships. Our businesses also thrive or die by the quality of the relationships between people.
The strength of human relationships is determined by the strength (quality) of trust in them. It is the key to great relationships and opens people up to ways of creating together.
When trust is not present doubt and struggle take over, innovation stops, and stake holders work against each other.
Trust cannot be sought or taught but it can be caught: the climate for its growth can be created. Trust is a byproduct of a culture steeped in reliability, care and competence.
Your job as a manager will be easier and more productive when you trust yourself and your direct reports trust you.
PERSISTENTLY SEEKING STAKEHOLDER ALIGNMENT
As a successful manager, you will be constantly seeking ways to bring all parties to the goals of the strategy and business objectives.
You are persistent when faced with resistance or rejection. While you listen to and understand well based suggestions, you do not cave to pressure or unfounded resistance.
You do not ever seek to coerce cooperation, nor do you always have compromise available as a solution.
Instead you seek to know what motivates each of your direct reports and show a connection between them and the business goals. You build engagement by expecting quality and rewarding excellence.
CREATE A CULTURE OF CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
People enjoy working with others who are smart and creative and such a business will begin to attract higher quality employees.
Because the business is able to solve higher level problems, it stays ahead of the competition and makes a greater impact in the marketplace.
The creative company also lets people know that they were hired for their brains and their abilities. There’s a general understanding that people are far more capable than even they believe. And they are led by a “boss” who does not need to be the smartest person in the room.
STAMINA Leadership
is hard work. You need the mental, emotional, and physical stamina to keep going. This requires a reserve of physical and psychic energy deliberately kept full with a practice of exercise, personal quiet time, good diet, good sleep habits, and a strong emotional with something far larger and longer lasting than yourself.
Personal coaches and mentors can help a leader maintain a sense of balance while moving the company forward. A strong leader knows that he or she needs to be about the business. The business is not about him or her. The leader needs to see life and business issues not as battles but as dances and maintains a strong and resilient ego while dancing.