WHY SHOULD PEOPLE FOLLOW YOU?

Anybody can be a leader. Really. From top-line CEO to front line employee, anybody can be a leader in your organization. In fact, everyone in your organization should be a leader and should think like a CEO. As authors, Tom Rath and Barry Conchie so eloquently write in Strengths-based Leadership, “A leader charging forward WITHOUT followers is just taking a walk.”

Great leadership involves many factors but one of the most critical discovered by the folks at Strides is giving your followers what they need so that they can feel confident following you. So what should you be giving your team if you want them to follow you – and others to follow them? And how do you encourage your team to step up and be leaders too?

If you haven’t asked yourself this question recently, it’s a good time of the year to do so as you’re working on refining your plans and it’s essential if becoming a better leader is one of your aspirations.

So what do effective leaders give their teams to get them to follow? What do followers actually want from their leaders?

HERE are the four basic needs of followers

1) Trust – The basis of all solid, well-functioning relationships, the ability to trust a leader is essential to cultivate followers – and the one requirement that successful leaders cannot afford to take for granted. In a high-trust environment, not only is there less organizational “chatter”, but tasks will get done more quickly – with a lot less effort and time. But creating a trusting relationship isn’t always simple according to Robert Shaw, the author of “Trust in the Balance”. He outlines three critical factors to consider when determining how trustworthy someone is.

First, a leader needs to deliver results in a quality manner. They need to follow through on business commitments and hold others accountable to their commitments. Second, a leader needs to demonstrate Integrity. They need to behave in a consistent, reliable manner, be open with information and walk the talk when it comes to ethics and values. And third, they need to show concern for others and promote the well-being of their team members. And trust is multiplicative. When any one of these factors is missing, the equation goes to zero.

How are you delivering on the three factors of trust? What would your team members say?

2) Compassion – People want leaders who care about them as people. When people feel as if someone cares, not only are they more engaged and productive, but they’ll stay around longer – certainly something you want as a leader.

What kind of environment are you creating in your organization (company/church?) How do you show your followers that you care about them as people?

3) Stability – Security, strength, support and peace. People want some sense of stability in their work environment which can be challenging for leaders to provide in chaotic times. But this desire echoes the consistency theme that people need in order to trust and knowing that a leader has a firm grip on the rudder even in the midst of a storm promotes “followership”. Financial stability is a crucial part of this need for security – something that can be provided if leaders choose to be open with their plans and especially if there’s some form of Open-Book Management practice in place at the company – even if it’s a work in progress to educate people on the basis of financials so that they can understand what they’re learning.

How are you providing a sense of stability in your church or company? What information are you sharing to give people confidence about the business and how often are you sharing it?

4) Hope – Finally, followers want to know that there are a future and a direction for the organization. The most engaged employees and members are those who have faith in their leaders’ visions, generating both optimism as well as higher productivity. Without hope, uncertainty and paralysis can take the upper hand. And if you’re only working on the day to day, there’s no time to create a bigger picture for your followers.

How are you sharing your vision for the future with your team? When you have an all-hands meeting, do you ask them what they’re hearing? And if you don’t have a vision or if it’s unclear even to you, maybe it’s time to get one!

God bless you.

THREE BIGGEST MISTAKES LEADERS MAKE

One of the best qualities that a leader can have is the ability to build up self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-respect in others. As a leader, your choices affect your entire team, especially your leadership mistakes.

However, we’ve all had bad bosses who do just the opposite. Today, I am going to identify 3 of the biggest leadership mistakes people make and provide some solutions.

Perhaps some of us have made some of these leadership mistakes in the past. The good news is, we can all learn what makes a good leader by taking a look at these missteps and correcting them.

By focusing on building self-esteem, you can help your team reach peak performance.

Each person has unlimited potential and can flourish in the right environment once that potential is tapped into. They have huge reservoirs of creativity that can be unleashed to solve problems, overcome obstacles and achieve business goals.

This includes you!

Raise Your Team’s Self-Esteem

The leader is the most important person in any organization.

The leader sets the tone by the way he talks, behaves, responds to others and treats people on a day to day basis.

People tend to “follow the leader” in that they imitate or mimic the behaviour of the leader toward others. When you lead by example and treat other people with courtesy and respect, the rest of the group will follow.

A kind word from you to one of your staff members can make them feel happy all day. An angry word can make them feel frustrated, afraid and insecure for the rest of the day. You must be careful.

There are specific behaviours that you can practice each day in any interaction to raise your team’s self-esteem.

When you deliberately take the time to build self-esteem in other people, you simultaneously eliminate the fears that hold people back from doing their best. A peak performance work environment, like flowers in the spring, blooms naturally around you.

Three Leadership Mistakes People Make

THEY CRITICIZE OTHERS

The first leadership mistake that managers make is that they criticize others.

Refuse to criticize anyone for any reason. When people make mistakes, you focus on the solution. Focus on what can be done rather than who did it and who is to blame.

This is the mark of the superior leader with admirable leadership questions

We all know that destructive criticism is harmful. Personally, we all hate to be the recipients of destructive criticism. It can make us angry for days, and even years.

Destructive criticism attacks our self-esteem, hurts our self-image and hinders us from reaching peak performance. It makes us angry and defensive.

If it is so hateful to us, why would we ever do it to someone else?

THEY COMPLAIN

The second leadership mistake people make is that they complain for any reason.

Complainers are always looking for something or someone to complain about.

They tend to associate with other complainers. They talk together at work and socialize after work. They go out for lunch and coffee breaks together.

Complaining becomes a natural way of life for them.

But there is a major problem with both criticizing and complaining. In both situations, you are positioning yourself as a victim. When you complain you actually weaken yourself.

You feel inferior and inadequate. You feel angry and resentful. You feel negative and unsure. Your level of self-esteem and self-respect will decline as you complain about anything to someone else.

If you are not happy about something, as the manager, you are entitled to bring it to the attention of the other person.

You are responsible for putting it on the table and discussing it. These are admirable leadership qualities that you must learn to develop.

If you are not happy with a behavior or an outcome, your job is to actively intervene to correct the situation. You can do this by being objective about the difference between what you expected and what has actually happened.

You then invite input on how you and the other person or persons can solve the problem or improve the situation. But you never complain.

THEY CONDEMN OTHERS ON THEIR TEAM
The third leadership mistake people make is condemning anyone for any reason, inside or outside of your company.

When you condemn other people, you demoralize the listener, and the self-esteem of the other person will be severely lowered.

When you condemn people outside the company, organization someone will eventually tell them what you have said. Usually, a distorted version is told and will come back to haunt you.

This seems to be a law of nature, and completely unavoidable.

These recommendations are equally as important when you are talking about competitors or customers in the marketplace. As a business leaders, never criticize your competitors.

Admire them if they are more successful in some areas than you are. Then, look for ways to produce even better products and services, and sell them even more effectively.

Never complain about people and problems outside your business. Instead, use that same amount of mental energy to find solutions. Resolve the problems that led to the complaints in the first place.

The Best Leaders Create Positive Environment

When you develop positive leadership qualities, your general attitude diffuses a warm light and fills the entire workplace.

You create an environment where people are relaxed and feel good about themselves and their work. You will raise the self-esteem of everyone in the workplace.

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LEADERSHIP AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

An organization is made up of people and when people are involved, emotions automatically come into play, and a workplace is no different. It would be unwise to assume that a workplace is all objective, no-emotion only performance kind of a packed room where hormones have no scope to creep in however the fact is that emotions alone are the biggest motivator or de-motivator of an employee. The emotions alone, govern the performance and efficiency of a worker and had it not been the case, we would have never talked about the importance of work-life balance and for the present context, the need of emotionally intelligent leaders.

The 4 important aspects of Emotional Intelligence are:

Self Awareness
Self Management
Social Awareness
Relationship Management or Social Skills
A leader tends to have a huge influence on the thoughts and motivation of people. He/she has the capacity to enthuse optimism and confidence in the followers and lead them to constructive endeavors which is called resonance and on the other hand they can negatively influence them to destruct, e.g of such leaders being Hitler and d Osama Bin Laden which is opposite to resonance called dissonance.

Leaders are closely observed in terms of their body language, facial expressions etc. So, it is important for a leader to consider the non-verbal form of expressions as well, which may positively or negatively influence followers. Therefore, if a leader is talking about ethics in business with a slightly unconvinced and bemused look on his face, the followers make a note of it and the message is not received by them. A leader has to act as a role model too, supporting his statements, ideologies and values with appropriate actions.

As a leader one also has to be aware of one’s own capabilities and weaknesses, it is difficult to accept guidance from a leader who is not self aware. As managers, leaders have to empathize as well with the situations, emotions, aspirations and motivations of the subordinates. A decreasing performance of a team member might be because of a number of reasons, a disruptive worker might be facing motivation issues and a subordinate who uses abusive language with others might be lacking confidence in his own abilities. A leader needs to discern facts and try and reach to deeper levels and understand things beyond obvious.

So, to be able to attract and retain talented subordinates and keep them motivated, a leader needs to brush up on his people skills and emotional intelligence, as all of them are not born with the charisma to hold people. Fortunately, emotional intelligence with practice and carefully directed efforts can be increased.

God bless you

SECRETS TO EFFECTIVE MENTORING

WHO IS A MENTOR?

A mentor is one with EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE who helps a less experienced or inexperienced person grow FASTER by sharing his skills, expertise & experience with him or her.

I have never seen any great person become great without the help of a mentor.

Suffice it to add here that there is nothing like a SELF MADE MAN OR WOMAN.

Nobody is self-made. We are other people's investment whether we like it or not. Someone invested something in us at one time of our lives or the other. It might be money, words or prayers.

WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES YOU MUST LOOK FOR IN A MENTOR?

1. EXPERIENCE
A mentor must have experience. Money is not a criterion for mentoring. The first thing you must look for is experience.

Now, this is important, A MENTOR MIGHT BE YOUNGER THAN YOU BUT WITH MORE EXPERIENCE THAN YOU.

It's not about age but the EXPERIENCE.

2. EXPERTISE

Expertise stipulates both TECHNICAL & PROFESSIONAL KNOW-HOW.

A mentor must be EXCEPTIONAL in that area of skill or expertise. Don't go for a mediocre.

3. SUCCESS
There must be visible signs of success in that area of need.

A failure will produce failures. A successful man will produce successful people.

4. HEALTHY REPUTATION
A mentor must possess a viable reputation - Reputation of industry, commitment, transparency and assiduousness.

TYPES OF MENTORS

Now, there are various types of mentors

1. Professional mentor: someone who helps you grow in your chosen profession.

2. Ministerial or spiritual mentor: This guides you spiritually.

3. Distant mentor: I have a distant mentor. As a matter of fact, I haven't met him before but I've built a relationship with him and he consistently helps me grow.

Business mentor: If you are an entrepreneur or a business inclined person, it's pertinent that you have a business mentor.

NOW, WHAT ARE THE ROLES OF A MENTOR?

1. Manage you
2. Nurture you
3. Encourage you
4. Teach you
5. Coach you
6. Counsel you
7. Advise you
8. Criticize you
9. Listen to you
10. Push you
11. Support you

I must say here that it is not the responsibility of a MENTOR to support you financially or GIVE YOU MONEY.

Furthermore, there is a big difference between a MENTOR, COACH & ROLE MODEL.

A COACH is someone who helps you learn a trade, vocation or skill. A coach is paid to do the job. He's more concerned about your today.

A ROLE MODEL is someone you see as an example; who is already where you aspire to be or is someone you aspire to become.

WHY DO YOU NEED A MENTOR?

A mentor gives you a shoulder to climb on. He or she is like a staircase.

A mentor helps you achieve your dreams faster.

A mentor gives you a path to follow.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS FOR MENTORING

1. People Management: A mentor must be a good manager of people.

2. Emotional intelligence: I mentor must understand the feelings of people, facial expressions, countenance and body language.

3. LISTENING: A mentor must be a good listener. Use your ears more than your mouth.

Finally, for you to call someone a mentor, there must be a RELATIONSHIP.

IT IS NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MENTOR TO KEEP THE RELATIONSHIP GOING, BUT THE MENTEE.

When last did you sit down with your mentor or have an interaction with him or her?

Also, you can have as many as five mentors in various areas.

You can also change mentors. It's not do or die.

And don't just go to someone and say: 'I want you to be my mentor.'

Instead say,

'I want you to mentor me in business or career or ministry, or spirituality or profession'

BE SPECIFIC!