Some leaders are born, while others are created. It’s often difficult, especially as a manager, to convince others to follow in our footsteps, but it is possible. Whether you’re a natural born leader or not, the following qualities can and should be nurtured in order to enhance your leadership abilities.

Vision

Do you have a vision and are you able to share that vision with your team? Having a vision means you know what path you want to take in order to achieve optimal end results. Your communication skills must be strong enough to effectively convince your followers that your path is the right choice given the current situation.

Dedication

Are you really dedicated to your work? Are you willing, if necessary, to spend extra long hours at the office to get the job done? Your dedication will inspire your team members to share the same level of enthusiasm.

Humility

Humility means being able to recognize that you are no better off than anyone else on your team, regardless of your salary or job title. You’re all human and you all make mistakes. Your job status doesn’t exempt you from error.

Fairness

A good leader needs to be able to make fair decisions regardless of how he or she may feel personally about a given situation. Fairness means looking at the facts, not each team member’s personal opinions about them, and then making an educated decision.

Humor

Let’s face it – laughter is the best medicine. People are happy when they are laughing, and laughter eases tension and increases productivity (in moderation, of course). Those stuck in a boring or hostile workplace won’t accomplish much. Put your sense of humor to work and keep the entire team happy.

These are, of course, only a few leadership qualities you should keep in mind but they offer you an excellent place to start. Take a look at your day to day interactions with your team and determine whether or not you need to tweak your leadership style. Good luck!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

We talk about acting as leaders all the time, but what I don’t know is whether or not you really understand what leadership is. The concept of leadership is actually two-fold.

Leadership is about your ability to influence your organisation, specifically your teammates and peers, in order to achieve a common business goal. As a leader, you should be able to influence your peers without it seeming as though you’re trying to guide them in a certain direction. You should never be forceful. I think that if you have a passion for what you do, others will become naturally inclined to follow you.

Let’s look at an example of effective leadership. As a manager, you can sit down and create a plan for your next team project. You’ll sit down with the group and explain what needs to be done, but at some point you have to shift mindsets and become a leader instead of a manager. The leader in you has to share his vision and point his team in the right direction. A manager maintains control of a project, while a leader keeps his teammates motivated.

In order to be successful, you must be both a manager and a leader. Which are you? Do you lean towards one side or the other, or do you find you have established a pretty even balance between the two? Look at yourself and your relationship with your employees and determine what you might need to do to become a better leader.

Remember, it’s about sharing your vision without force! Have a great weekend…

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

No, I don’t mean how long does Richard Branson jog for each morning or whether Gordon Brown can bench press 200lbs!

What I mean is that I have got a leadership exercise for you to try out that will help you to become a better leader!

I am a believer in modelling excellent behaviours.

What do I mean by this? Well, if you want to know how to become a better manager, you should find out who the best managers are in your company and copy what they do.

Find out what they do and why they do it. Find out the mindset that they have when managing and leading their staff.

Find out what management training courses they go on and what books they read.

Try to learn as much about them as you can so you can "step into their shoes" and think like they do.

For example; whenever I have to speak in public at a conference in front of say 1,000 people, I gain the mindset of one of my heroes Tony Robbins. (For those of you that do not know Tony, he is a self development guru and the only one that actually connects with me)

I then ask myself the following questions:

What would Tony think before he went up on stage?

How would Tony act?

How would he talk?

How would he walk?

What would he say?

I then go out and pretend to be him and the results are amazing. I think like him and therefore I act like him.

Try this exercise; write a list of the most successful people, leaders and managers that you know and then write out what they do that stands them apart from the rest.

Copy a couple of these traits and put them into your daily life for the next 3 weeks and see the difference it will make not only to your working life but also your personal life too.

Live, love and laugh!

Sean Mc

PS - Looking for management training? Please click here to make an enquiry.

I received an email from Lisa Jenkins last week wanting some advice on how to get the best out of her team. Lisa is a newish manager working in a call centre.

Here’s what she asked:

————————————————-

"Hi Sean and the MTD Team,

I work for XYZ and we offer sales and service telephone support to our high street branches.

I am one of 25 team leaders within our call centre and I wondered whether you have got any type of checklist that could help me to see if I am getting the most out of my team?

Competition to be the best is fierce where I work so any help would be appreciated

Thanks for your wonderful tips, I don’t know what I’d do without them

Lisa Jenkins
Team Leader - Icarus Team
XYZ

————————————————–

Here’s my reply:

Hi Lisa

Thanks for your email and kind comments.

We completed some customer service skills training for your company about 3 years ago - a little before your time I’d expect!

I have put together 10 questions for you to ask yourself about the way that you are managing and building your team.

Here they are:

1. Do you know the trouble-makers within your team?

Have you identified them and spent time with them to find out what makes them tick and why they do what they do?

Have you a plan to deal with them and turn them around?

So what’s the difference between management and leadership?

We get this question on almost every management training course that we run!

Much has been written about the similarities and the differences but the one definition that says it all for me is the following:

"Managers do things right while leaders do the right things"

Leadership is more about inspiration, people skills, motivation and behaviours while management is about process, tasks and efficiency. There is a place for both so please don’t think that one is better than the other.

Thats all for now. What’s what your definition? I’d love to hear

Sean Mc