COGNITIVE intelligence is not enough to make one stand and shine, but we need emotional intelligence.
As a certified leadership and success coach, one of the important skills I acquired and required is not necessarily what I learnt at university, but that extra edge, the small things that do matter.
I have seen intelligent and educated people who struggle with their lives because they have not mastered the small, but important competencies.
Success is about that extra touch that goes beyond education; it’s the soft skills for business, leadership, USUALLY when one becomes a leader, they are expected to assume, portray and uphold a certain behaviour.
It follows that when you assume a leadership position, what you do will determine your growth or your demise.
What you do when you become a leader is very crucial for your developmental growth and the success of the organisation.
Your journey to leadership should not define the impact you will make but what will matter most is how you will carry yourself when you have occupied the esteemed office.
Being a manager means you are a role model and, as such, subordinates always look up to you and are bound to emulate how you carry yourself and your approach in solving challenges encountered time after time.
- Lead from the front and by example
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Feedback and continuous learning and growth
No organisation worth its salt will scale to heights of success without prioritising feedback.
A serious manager prioritises feedback and regularly demands to know the challenges that his subordinates would have encountered and to get their thoughts, views and perspectives about any stage of the process.
From that feedback, the manager could identify areas that need improvement and whether the organisation is heading towards the right direction or not.
Delegation
Delegate tasks, responsibilities and autonomy to employees and always seek feedback.
It is important to have trust in your employees and give them autonomy while also providing support and guidance throughout the production process.
Crucially, reward hardworking employees to motivate them.
Be an effective communicator and good listener
As a manager, use simple language and package your message in a simple format so that it would be understood by everyone.
Your staying power could be fortified by being approachable.
Have an open door policy and listen to your subordinates’ concerns, challenges, suggestions and views.
Build trust and respect
As a manager or a leader, one of the fundamental qualities that one should strive to develop is consistency in decision-making and being a visionary leader so as to earn trust from the subordinates.
It is important to treat everyone equal and never discriminate, but be fair and firm.
Be truthful and honest
Most of the times when an organisation is facing financial challenges, there are some managers who have a propensity of withholding truthful information and have a tendency of making empty promises to employees.
Workers tend to lose trust in such leadership.
It is advisable to be truthful, for example, about the financial challenges that an organisation might be going through.
Problem-solving leader
An organisation might face a challenge and in that regard, it would need a manager who is courageous and approaches circumstances or challenges with a problem solving-mindset.
Being a leader you have to be flexible and adopt an appropriate leadership style which suits a specific situation.
Be a transformational leader
A transformational leader makes sure everyone in the organisation is aligned to the mission, purpose and vision of the company.
In the process, the manager motivates the workforce to put extra effort to achieve set targets, short- and long-term goals of the company.
This type of leader inspires, engages and fosters team-work.
To ensure high performance and great output from employees, leaders must invest in helping subordinates succeed by motivating them and building some psychological safety for the team.
Employees are different, so it follows that being a transformational leader, you need to acknowledge that workers are different and a specific support to specific individuals should be tailor-made.
There are some workers who are lazy, while there are others who are proactive and, as such, deserve different management attention.
Transformational leaders could play a crucial role of providing vital information about particular workers suitable to carry out certain tasks and could help in transforming a low productivity employee to a highly engaged worker.
Your influence should shape culture or reflect organisational culture.
The way you react when you are faced with challenges will determine how the organisational culture will be shaped.
It is advisable to remain unshaken and resolute in the face of challenges.
- Innocent Hadebe is a United States based certified John Maxwell Leadership business coach and mentor. He runs the Innocent Leadership Group, an organisation inclined on capacitating upcoming entrepreneurs with the requisite skills to run their businesses.
