Leadership Quiz

QUESTION

What are the skills and qualities that good leadership reflects’

ANSWER

  • Active listing
  • Patience
  • Empathy
  • Positivity
  • Reliability
  • Team building

WHY IS IT RIGHT

SHAPING THE MODEL OF LEADERSHIP

The Perfect Leader

There are no perfect leaders, that is why good leaders are always trying to improve themselves through self-study, training, education, mentorship, making mistakes and learning from them (experience), etc. We can be sure of a few things that good leaders have:

A vision of the future (‘where are we going”).

The ability to encourage followers to jump into that experience (overcome the challenges in order to achieve the vision).

A love of self-improvement for themselves and their followers. This love makes them good coaches and mentors.

Empowering their followers to get things accomplished (delegates).

Motivation

Motivation comes in two forms: extrinsic and intrinsic.

Extrinsic motivators come from the outside. For example, one reason that I go to work is that I need to make a living in order to survive. Intrinsic motivators come from within. For example, another reason that I go to work is that I get a great deal of satisfaction when I accomplish a difficult task.

Good leaders set and achieve goals that allow them to get a healthy balance of both motivators. Although many people believe that intrinsic motivators are the best, that is not necessarily so. Often, the extrinsic motivators lead us into new situations and then our love for doing it (intrinsic) carries us through and on to new heights.

Managers

All good managers are leaders to various degrees. They need to carry out their leaders’ visions by creating their own visions that support the larger vision, and then getting their workers to accomplish the vision.

A CEO cannot be the sole leader of a large organization. There are simply too many leadership tasks that must be accomplished.

Unhealthy / Healthy Traits

Anyone can become a leader that has the willingness and drive to achieve that goal. Traits can be changed by focusing upon the more desirable traits and then using them to overpower the unhealthy ones.

This is one reason there are no perfect leaders ‘ we all have a few unhealthy or weaker traits. But the better leaders concentrate and grow their desirable traits so that they over-power their weaker traits.

Leaders and Followers

Leaders are change agents who guide their followers onto new heights, while along the way, they develop and grow their followers. A leader’s two driving goals should be make the organization a success and if he or she departs the organization, they have trained and developed people to readily fulfill their shoes.

Worst Faults

A failure to see the benefits of diversity. This creates like-people throughout the organizations and leads to one-way thinking. If you do not have a diverse team, then you cannot come up with the creative brainstorming solutions to stay competitive. Also, you alienate your customers and consumers who can be quite diverse.

Being Shy and Being a Leader

Communication, from a leadership point, is more than just directing others (which shy people would draw back from), it is more about maintaining healthy relationships (which almost every shy person is capable of doing). One of my favorite quotes is from Captain Henry ‘Jim’ Crowe, USMC.

Leaders use both actions and words to get things done. Bossing others is the act of directing others to get things done without having any concern for them. Shy people do not normally become bosses, but many of them do become leaders… while the outgoing bullies become bosses.

Practice / Practice / Practice

Leadership is like many other difficult skills’it takes skills and practice. That is why it is important to develop leaders throughout your organization; although you can learn the knowledge and the skills in a short period of time, it takes practice and experience to get it right. Senior leaders should always be coaching and mentoring their subordinates on the leadership continuum.

Prepare to Lead

Training every front line person to lead has a powerful effect on morale. Do NOT write the followers off or give them superficial attention. You must embrace the notion that front line workers can lead.

Learning when to create teams and when to create single-leader work groups:

Genuine teams are rare in the business world where a single individual leading a group is the norm. Real teams get most of their motivation from its mission and goals.

Managers and Leaders

Managers can get things done, but they have to have leaders and leadership abilities of their own.

It takes leaders to have visions. Once you have your vision, it needs to be framed in general terms and communicated to your team. Your team then develops the ends (objectives), ways (concepts), and means (resources) to achieve the vision. Except for developing the means (resources), all of these are leadership tasks.

Leadership is more about enabling people to do their best and become the best, than it is about loyalty. Leaders inspire people while managers set polices that buy loyalty. Besides, organizations that have effective leaders throughout their organization will find themselves downsizing much less than organizations that are lacking leaders. That is because they will be performing the necessary steps to carry them on to the visions they have created. Also, if you have good leaders throughout the organization, you are going to find yourself doing the right things if and when it becomes cost-cutting time’being honest and compassionate.

Lead by Example

Most leaders still go to the ‘office’ on a regular basis. In fact, it is extremely important that they be seen around the organization and be seen by others’they are the role models. The majority of people working at home are followers (who are just as important as the leaders). The followers who do work at home are some of the best led as they are being motivated both extrinsically and intrinsically by being well paid and being allowed to perform their job as they best see fit.

WHY IS EVERYTHING ELSE WRONG

Great Companies VS Average Companies

Picture this. Train someone how to operate a sophisticated power tool than go to the jobsite to see if that person actually learned new skills.

How do you effectively measure their visioning skills’ Also, developing a leader is not accomplished in a two-week leadership course; that is where they learn the basics. The rest of what they learn comes through a trial and error period of practice.

The dominant values in the world’s most admired companies are teamwork, customer focus, innovation, fair treatment of employees, global reach, and vision. These are leadership skills!

In average companies, the overriding values are making budget, supporting the decisions of management, and minimizing risks. These are management skills!

Great companies have leaders, while average companies are run by managers!

The top five reasons for employee commitment are (notice that all five tasks are mostly leadership skills):

  • Employer’s recognition of personal and family time
  • The organization’s vision and direction
  • Personal growth
  • The ability to challenge the way things are done
  • Everyday work satisfaction

ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Good leadership showcases skills and qualities such as active listening, patience, empathy, positivity, reliability and team building.

Time ‘ Management / Organization Skills

You have a responsibility as a leader to effectively communicate the goals of your team and to make sure that your team meets deadlines while still turning in quality work. Consider outlining what your task management process is, including how you communicate expectations, set goals and track progress. Be sure to describe the results of your process to show you can lead a team in completing important tasks.

Manage Conflict

A good leader knows how to manage conflict in the workplace and can negotiate without creating more tension. Your answer should demonstrate how you use your problem-solving and communication skills to resolve disagreements in the workplace. Illustrate a time when you mediated and resolved a difficult situation to keep your team focused.

Make Tough Decisions

When faced with an important decision, effective leaders know how to think through their options and the potential impact of their choices. Your answer should demonstrate your problem-solving, critical thinking and decision-making skills.