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The 10 “Secrets” of Leadership
There are many effective styles of leadership. Probably as many different effective styles of leadership as different personality types – of employees as well as bosses.
That having been said – I do believe that there are several “secrets” to leadership in any organization:
1 st . Vision.
You must have a clear and compelling VISION for the future of your organization. I'm not talking about benchmarked goals here – not talking about a target gross or active count – but something much more powerful.
Your vision is a picture of where you want the organization to end up – of the big picture of how it should look in as much sensory rich detail as possible.
Leadership starts from within. If you have a clear picture of where you want the organization to end up – then your conversation, actions, and goals will tend to fall in line with this vision and ultimately manifest itself.
2 nd . Communication.
Having a clear vision of the future is valueless unless you become exceedingly effective at communicating that vision to others. That does NOT mean that you have to be a gifted public speaker – many great leaders (including Thomas Jefferson among others) were not gifted speakers. You may communicate your vision through pictures, public speeches, written communications, or through ANY media – as long as your message gets through to the intended recipients in as compelling a way as possible.
3 rd . Emotional Commitment.
You must lead people from their heart and not their head. Daily commitment comes from an emotional attachment – to the leader, to the mission, to the vision or to the target feelings conveyed by your vision of the future. All leadership is based upon the emotional commitment of the followers much more than an abstract intellectual understanding of goals and objectives.
4 th . Values Based.
Although financial rewards help motivate or help maintain motivation. Ultimately people will get out of bed early – and work late – with the highest levels of intensity for contribution to others and contribution to the community. If financial rewards are directly tied – to personal contribution to others then motivation will remain high. Long-term motivation in any WIN-Lose environment is nearly impossible. Be clear on your overriding values – and, operate on a daily basis within those espoused values.
5 th . Congruence.
Your words and actions must be congruent. You cannot motivate people to contribute and encourage them to a higher purpose – if ultimately your integrity is questionable. Although we've seen managers (and, certainly politicians) attain high levels with questionable integrity – I maintain that long-term leadership must be based upon honesty and the highest integrity. If your manager co-opts your help to cover up his extramarital affairs – how much trust will you give him? If your boss has a different persona in public than in private – will you trust their communications with you to be sincere?
6 th . Team orientation.
Someone said once – you can accomplish anything if you don't care who gets credit for it. In the martial arts this attitude is exceptionally rare. Many “Master” Instructors have really started to believe their own press – and, to act as if anything good that happens to them was their idea. GIVE Credit. Involve the entire team. Work as much as possible to accomplish new directions through consensus. Your are better as the leader to play a support role in many discussions and let the team members find the “means” to accomplish the “ends” in your vision.
7 th . Results orientation.
Focus on results NOT process. Create accountability from every team member and student for the end result not the activity. Many ideas are good – if implemented effectively – the greatest idea will fail if implemented poorly. Allow people within limits to choose their own means – to your agreed upon end. Manage based upon results – not based upon activity.
8 th . Goals.
Once all of the other pieces are in place – have daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. Make sure that they are all congruent with your mission, values, and vision.
Peter Drucker once said: “What Gets Measured Gets Done.” Keep records and statistics on everything in your business – but then boil your operation down into 2, 3 or 4 key numbers – and then watch them like a hawk. Graph them. Post them in your office, at the reception desk, in the employee break room – or, even on the front door of the school. Nothing motivates action – like a huge graph of your target active count in plain view – look at your key numbers daily or even hourly to maintain focus.
9 th . Walk Your Talk.
I know this is redundant – but really – nothing demotivates employees or students like hypocrisy. Make a decision – to live by your values – and to really be who you say you are 24 hours per day 7 days per week.
10 th . Fairness.
Ultimately everyone must benefit from success – and must suffer from failure. In compensation reward people greatly for successes – and, make sure they have consequences for failure. If you really delegate authority, focus on the team, and allow your staff responsibility – then they must take 100% of the responsibility for their outcomes. Be supportive but not paternalistic. If you never allow anyone to fail – you've never allowed them to achieve much either.
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