This post originally published on www.blueprintforleadership.com
“I want to inspire people. I want someone to look at me and say ‘Because of you, I didn’t give up’”
Since the early days of my career, in fact even as a student, the concept of leadership has really fascinated me. My early impression of a leader is someone who people look to for guidance. Their presence is sometimes enough for people to lift and move ahead with confidence. Things suddenly become a lot more clear when the leader is around.
On the other hand, I’ve also had experiences where people somehow became different- not being themselves while the leader was around. Whatever ideas they used to have, they felt reluctant to share them with their leader. Needless to say, the conversations that resulted were frosty and lacking in any positive energy.
Basically, how an organisation or a business grows comes down mainly to one thing- the quality of its leadership. At this point, I’d like to share with you 3 insights that help me explain this point. Here we go...
1. Inspiration: To quote Stephen Covey, “Leadership is communicating people their worth so clearly that they inspired to see it in themselves”. Have you ever had someone inspire you and made you believe that things are indeed possible? Even when we have had our doubts? Well, that’s what great leaders do. They make you believe that the road ahead is possible, and demonstrate it too. After all, all it takes is belief of one person to create a movement.
2. Vision: For any journey, there is a destination. For any business, its vision is that destination- where it wants to be. However, what makes the vision a reality? Just as you reach your destination after you complete your journey, a business achieves its vision by executing its operations, and completing what its meant to provide. A leader is someone who translates the vision to what needs to be done- goals, milestones, tasks etc for the team so that they can carry out the operations smoothly.
3. Culture: It is said, culture is the operating system of any organisation. An organisation is known for its culture. Because everything it does, is influenced by its culture. It’s similar to how everything we do is a reflection of our character. Organisations with a strong, positive culture are the ones that thrive and succeed. The ones with a negative culture eventually find their way to oblivion. A leader is someone who plays a key role in shaping the culture. A leader ensures that the teams stay true to what the business values, demonstrate strong work ethics and promptly address any situations where the team does not live up to the culture.
So there you have it, 3 key areas where a leader makes a telling contribution. In fact, imagine if he/she doesn’t. Would the business thrive at all?