There is no doubt that there are several spheres of work and life where leadership and hierarchy is followed. The presence of a hierarchical system automatically places the image of a leader before us. John C. Maxwell defines leadership, “a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” No matter what, the success or failure of an event, group, task, project, etc. depends largely on the leader of the group. A great leader is a person who is budding with futuristic ideas and knows how to bring these into realities and emerge successfully. Following are a few qualities that can help one become a great leader and rise among the masses.
Confidence
In order to be a great leader, you should be confident in all that you do and about your decisions. You should be confident that the group shall follow your commands. If you are not confident or are unsure about your own qualities and decisions, those who belong to your group as your subordinates will not be confident about your commands and about you. In order to be a great leader, you should be very confident in all your approaches and be assertive in your instructions in order to get the work done successfully and gain the respect of all those who are a part of your group as your subordinates.
Honesty and Integrity
Honesty and integrity of character are such qualities that make the best leaders. In order to be a good and a successful leader, integrity becomes the utmost trait to be in possession. Honesty and integrity become important be it in the office, on the sports field, in defense, or any other strata. For leaders lacking these two essential qualities, they cannot expect their subordinates to be completely honest to you as well as to the work assigned to them. You can become a good leader when you are ethical and honest and you carry your value system with you at all times. Without integrity and honesty, you cannot expect to be a good and respected leader.
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Vision and Purpose
Vision and purpose are other two essential ingredients that make a good leader. A great leader is futuristic and has a vision, keeping in mind which he/she moves forward. A good leader not only visualize it for themselves. In fact, they share their vision with all the members of the group as well. It is necessary to share your reasons and purposes, and to share your vision with your followers. This is so because when the followers know the vision and the purpose of things they have clarity of where they are headed and what exactly are they expected to do.
A good leader does everything in his/her power to explain the purpose and the activities to be carried out to the followers. He/she shares all the strategies and plans with the followers and keeps them well informed for best output and more success rate.
Delegation
It is important for a person to know that if he/she is in the position of a leader then it is not possible for you to do everything on your own. Thus, delegation of work becomes an essential becomes if utmost importance for the smooth functioning in achieving the goal. It is important to take over the work that is concerned with the overall responsibility and giving the other smaller tasks to the followers in the group you are the leader of.
You need to as a good leader, delegate tasks to your subordinates. Not doing so, can lead to mistrust and you may also lose focus from the more important matters at hand. While delegating over more important issues, observe the way each person completes the responsibility assigned to them. You need to give a chance to all your subordinates to complete their responsibility as you provide them with the necessary resources and give them a chance to prove themselves.
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Inspiring Others
One of the most difficult tasks for any leader is to inspire others and motivate them to follow him/her. Inspiring your subordinates can only be done if you set a good example for them. When things at hand might be getting difficult and there is no smoothness, keep in mind that your subordinates will always look up to you in order to see and understand how you approach such a situation. If you are able to handle the situation properly, your subordinates and other members of the group are sure to follow you through it.
As a leader it is best to stay positive and motivated and not give in to the pressure. Stay calm and let all of these attributes be reflected in your actions as well. This will not only help you deal with unwanted situations in a more efficient manner but also help you inspire and motivate the others. If you succeed at inspiring your subordinates then you can overcome challenging situations with absolute ease.
Decision Making Abilities
As a leader, you should be efficient in taking decisions. Other than possessing visionary qualities, a leader should be capable enough of taking the correct decision according to the demands of the time and need of the hour. The decisions that you take as a leader will be really impactful on the masses and the members of the group. A leader should think thoroughly before taking a decision and take good amount of time in doing so. However, once decided on to something, it becomes necessary as a leader, to stand by it.
Although, it has been observed that most of the leaders take decisions on their own, it is advised to take an opinion of the members as well as the experts on the team. This way the members will acknowledge that you respect them enough to have a say. You might also ponder over some amazing solution to the problem at hand or this may help you take a better decision.
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You have it in you!
We hope that this article was useful to all those who aspire to be great leaders in almost all spheres of their life. You possess all that it takes to be a great leader. All you need to do is work on certain areas and skills and keep in mind the qualities mentioned above. Constant effort and work on oneself can be wonderful contributing factors along with the ones mentioned in this article to push you towards success and become a great leader.