Leadership…. Everyone thinks they can lead but not all can get someone to follow…. Not everyone is a natural-born leader, BUT everyone can DEFINITELY develop the skills to lead and lead successfully! If you want to be a leader, you must be a leader worth following.
If you lead and no one follows… are you really leading?
To be a “Leader Worth Following” here are some quick key tips to get you started,
or on the right track if you are struggling in this department.
Learn Your People– It doesn’t take long to get to know and understand the people you’re trying to lead. Everything you need to know about someone will become clear if you take a moment to get to know them. Learn everyone’s strengths and use them for good, Point out their strengths! Focusing on people’s strengths makes them and the team stronger all around. If someone is weak in one area, then someone else is strong there. God provides people with different strengths to work together. Move people around according to their strengths to make the work easier for all, keep shifting as talents and strengths grow and change until everything just flows.
Listen to Them– Ask Questions, Let them know you care and they will open up. I’m not suggesting to get involved with people’s dramas, definitely not- but genuinely caring about them and their family, knowing their spouse, kids & dogs name, their birthday or big events in their lives, goes way further than someone just barking out facts about the company or cause you’re in. That is a Charlie Browns Teacher kind of leader… not good. If you don’t listen to them – they will not listen to you. If you don’t care about them, they will not care about you, and definitely not want to give their best effort in anything.
People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
Character Check– Most important, Do they have Integrity? Yes — experience is great, a bonus in fact, but character, integrity and a willingness to learn means go so much further than a jerk who thinks they know it all, and won’t listen to others directions. People are watching all the time and whether we are at work, a community event or where ever, their work ethic, personality, energy, will this person represent the company or group well?
Heart Check– If they care about themselves, their family, their possessions, they generally will care about your cause or company. Keep looking for people with a kind heart. Heart Matters! Some people just don’t care. If they don’t care about the job or the relationship or friendship then they need to go. A company is only as good as its worst employee. And a Group is only as good as the worst person in it. They hold everyone back. Get rid of them! They are not worth the irreparable damage they will cause. Reputations or testimonies take years to build up and seconds to tear down.
Quality Check– Schedule in regular reviews. Things happen, life happens, people change. A person who was a race horse last year may have become a tortoise this year. He may need to just talk with you. Maybe there is a misunderstanding that needs to be cleared, maybe there are health problems to consider if the person is still indeed right for that job, they may need to be moved to another that would better suit their current needs.
A company or group is only as good as its WORST employee or team member.
Recruit and Replace- Write down a list of all the people in your company/group. Circle the ones who’s presence is a blessing, whom your company/group would not be the same without. Rate each name on a scale. -10 to 10, on the joy they bring to the group. Anyone 0 and below needs to be replaced, loved and released. They are not meant to be in your group. They are meant to be a 10 in someone elses. If your holding them hostage to be a negative number where they are, it’s simply not fair to either of you! Let them go so they can become a 10 somewhere else! Bless and release! Set them, yourself and your company/group FREE from that burden. Recruit and replace until everyone is a 10+. The fact that people don’t want to be replaced teaches them to always bring their own 100%. If someone doesn’t care enough to be someone worth keeping… why are you keeping them? Let them go to flourish somewhere else.
Keep Hiring and you will keep growing– Good companies or groups NEVER STOP hiring or recruiting. If you stop your team will die. Its like water, if it stops moving it becomes stagnant and rancid. People get comfortable and lazy. Recruit and replacing until everyone is at their best, it is only then that you GROW. Until you have all cylinders running perfectly in tune, your company or cause will never move forward. Remove all the misfires that throw everyone else off. It’s also good for morale, to keep introducing new people and new personalities to the group. New people come in and that creates a new energy around the office. The more fresh people you bring in the less drama you will have, everything will flow smoother… “Heyyyyy a new guy!! Cmon in!” – thats where you want your team to be. The friendliness is of course taught by you. Remember, with new people come NEW IDEAS, It may just be the next thing that takes your company to the next level of success!
Reward Positive Attitudes and Positive Behaviors– No one likes a Negative Nelly, don’t support those things in your team environment. No one likes the one guy whom is always in a bad mood either, don’t allow it in. Even if he is in a bad mood. He is not to bring it out in your group. You shouldn’t call people out in front of their peers either, that is unfair to them and makes the whole crowd respect you less. If there is a problem one on one is always better. Compliments go so much further than negative remarks. Hostile environments cause people to stop caring about the goals, the reason you’re all here. And when they stop caring they STOP giving their best. Its destructive all around.
Lead By Example– You are here to love and encourage people, they should know how to do their assigned jobs. You are to be their cheerleader not necessarily to control them. Yes you are managing them, Yes some people need training and that is part of the job. What you want to do is TRAIN them to have pride in their jobs with or without you watching. TRAIN them to give 100% all the time by you giving 110%. Train them to want to present perfection every time.
Be approachable– Be someone that they can ask for help if needed, But TEACH them how to do it, don’t train them that if they ask you, then you will do it for them. Teach them how. Remind them and yourself nicely, that if you’re doing their job, then what do you need them for? If they can’t do it, find someone who can.
Be a good teacher, but be teachable– Help them work though it – most of the time talking things out people generally come to their own answer. Ask them questions to help them come to their own answer. Be patient. If they have a different idea than you, allow them to try it and see if it works out, if it doesn’t then show them the correct way. who knows.. Maybe their idea is better than yours? Be willing to learn as well as you teach.
Be Helpful– Be an amazing worker, as well as an amazing team leader. Get right in there and work WITH everyone, pulling people together, loving on them, making them laugh and just positively encourage everyone, every single day! Send positive energy everywhere you go, to your whole group and teaching them to do the same. Be the kind of person who loves to serve others, see the needs and do them,
Influence them– Bring GREAT energy and love to everything and everyone you come in contact with! Encourage them to be go getter’s, world changers, and become their own cheerleader for everyone else and especially themselves! Positivity is contagious!
Teach them to BE EXACTLY the kind of person that if they had their dream business that they would want to hire.
Be a Peace Keeper– When people are not getting along and are stressed the environment around them shows, is awkward, negative energy is spread and people feel it! Makes everyone have a bad time. And that is not what anyone wants. A good and positive environment is key to success.
LOVE THEM: Be a leader worth following! Be a leader who loves, those that are following them. Love, we know it goes so much further than meanness or a drill sergeant mentality. I once had a manager that was an absolute nightmare. She threw her undeserved power around, never lifted a finger to help, she just stood there, barking, cutting people down, destroying people. She would actually make people mess up to justify her own behavior. She was so negative, and everything she in her life oozed negativity, She created so much turmoil and strife in her life, and in the work place that it was felt in the atmosphere when someone walked into the door. She truly was unhappy and it showed. Demeaning others is no way to lead.
What is inside will come out. And like a boomerang, what you put out ALWAYS comes back to you. If you put negativity out in a workplace or group, that is what will be brought back. That is no way to succeed! The company will surely fail. The things you say and do come back to you. Thank goodness for positive people who come in and save the day! Be that person to counterbalance all the people pumping negativity into work places, communities, families. You can’t control others, you can only control you. Come in each day with cheer and encouragement and lifting others up in every way possible! Complimenting EVERYONE you see! The mood, the atmosphere instantly becomes different, better, even the air seems to become less thick, more breathable when a joyful person enters the room!
Whether your leading a big group or small you can have great success, if you set your intentions out there to the group, help get them on the same page and to set those same intentions as their very own. Get excited together and go for it!
Finally, HAVE FAITH– Believe in yourself and your team and you can become the best leader that the world has ever seen! Teach your team to put ONLY good thoughts and energy into the mission. Can the negative people who don’t see the vision or understand the mission along the way. Remember to focus on people’s strengths as well and building them up. You are going to be fine!
Don’t worry grab the bull by the horns and make him your friend!
You vs You- Who will win?
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