A leadership role, while exciting and proof of your worth to an organization, can be intimidating. Anybody who has been thrust into such a position knows, all too well, that inquiring eyes, from the staff members to the hiring managers, will be watching, observing with intent. Surely, each individual wants to impress their superiors, proving they were the right choice for the promotion, but some will be fearful of the new responsibilities, wondering how they will handle the workload and guide the staff. Andrew H Campbell of Bellevue, NE, is the Director of the International Peace and Leadership Institute and has compiled his top five tips to be a better leader.
1. Be Self-Aware
To be an effective leader, Andrew advises you to know your strengths and weaknesses, particularly the ones that will be examined or scrutinized in your position of influence. The foundational platform of emotional intelligence is to lead oneself through self-awareness and self-regulation. Proponents of emotional intelligence advocate that self-awareness recognizes how one’s inner thoughts, values and beliefs, emotional trigger points, feelings, and actions which influence one’s behavior and actions. Researchers argue that self-awareness is “about understanding ourselves and knowing what pushes our buttons and why. More importantly, it also determines the way we act and the effect we have on others.” A person with a healthy self-awareness is attuned to inner emotional triggers and able to constructively convey frustration over intergroup in-fighting, miscommunication, and turf wars to resolve organizational tension.
2. Coach Everyone Thoughtfully
All great leaders are self-aware that their success, or lack thereof, is a direct reflection of their surrounding team’s work ethic, creative ideas and unity. For the sake of forming or maintaining such a strong nucleus, Andrew H Campbell of Bellevue, NE’s notes that a thoughtful leader is a resilient leader, and will be attentive to all members, giving each one constructive criticism, feedback and advice when the time is right. It is important to remember that each employee is a different person and will respond differently to different forms of leadership. As a leader it is your job to understand and figure out what works best for each person. Not only will they be highly appreciative, their motivation towards contributing and sustaining a consistent level is bound to be propelled further.
3. Be Open About Tough Subjects
Usually, a leader’s tenure is defined by his or her ability to wade through the stressful, uncertain, complex and ambiguous periods. Layoffs and budget reduction are frequent, and a company’s future might be hanging in the balance; it is up to the organizational leader to be the voice of reason and stability in an uncertain environment. An effective organizational leader is not only a coach and mentor but also transparent in all communication up, and down the organization. Bad news does not get any better with time. Thus, good leaders don’t keep their team in the dark or hesitant to communicate troubling news. Frequent transparent communication by organizational leaders are important in order to control the rumor mill and speculation of events. After all, followers still need to be motivated to accomplish organizational goals and objectives in the midst of a chaotic, uncertain, and fluid environment.
4. Trust Your Employees
Leaders can get the best out of the people when there is trust. People feel motivate to do more for a leader they can trust. Leaders must keep a balance, there are ways to ensure that the mission is on track (as in the example of updates/feedback). However, the best feeling is to know that leadership trust you to deliver results. Empowerment is a critical part to any innovation that needs to be granted and fostered by any leadership. Andrew H Campbell of Bellevue, NE states that the best way to find success is to communicate the organizational vision from the senior executive to the manufacturer worker, being able to communicate allows people to overcome obstacles even in complex environments. Without effective communication in an ever-changing environment, people are all accomplishing different tasks that may not pertain to the mission or vision. As a strategic leader, one must be able to effectively communicate their vision to others and their plans on how they are going to lead everyone to the goal. Those under them must have a way to communicate back to their leaders what they need to accomplish the mission. This is one way to build trust within an organization. Thus, leaders should trust that their subordinates do not expect perfection from leaders, but they should also know subordinates expect honesty from them.
5. Strive to Be A Role Model
The most important core value of an effective strategic and organizational leader is integrity. A leader needs integrity, as it is the foundation upon which trust is built. Having integrity means you are honest, you follow through with your promises, and it means you put the mission and your subordinates needs before yourself. Andrew believes good leaders with integrity are good role models that empower followers to do the right thing when no one is looking and consider the people that work for them and the organizational mission before their own self interests. Therefore, when our integrity comes into a situation, we generally know the right thing to do already. Integrity must be treated like a muscle, and the more you work it the stronger it gets. This is the reason Andrew H Campbell of Bellevue, NE believes integrity is the most important to be a successful and effective leader. A leader’s integrity can be seen in the way they conduct themselves when things are difficult. The leaders who Andrew thinks of as inspirational are those leaders who do not sacrifice their integrity. They prioritize doing the morally upright thing ahead of everything — sometimes even ahead of the service and sometimes ahead of excellence. Essentially, success will come with more ethical trials, so these leaders who remain focused on being morally upright do not fall prey to temptations that would lead others astray.
