How to a Bold Leader
Effective leadership utilizes a wide variety of traits and skills. One such trait is confidence. Your self-confidence will play a vital role in your ability to lead others. Often, you can improve your confidence in a particular skill such as leadership simply by knowing your task as well as possible. In this case, your task is leadership. Familiarize yourself with the skills that lead to effective leadership and your management confidence will improve considerably.
1. Know who you are and be yourself. Trying to be someone you are not is a common pitfall that rarely brings positive results. People will see through an act. Those people will respect you far more for having the courage to be yourself. This means that you must accept your flaws. Do not be afraid of being wrong. You are human. Showing some humility will only strengthen your relationship with subordinates.
2. Put objectives first. An important part of leadership is direction. You must provide direction to those you lead. Having clear objectives will help you do that. Make sure that the primary goal is clear and that you have a logical plan to achieve that goal. This gives your group focus and is a crucial part of leading any team toward positive results. You will also find that leading your team toward your objective will require good decision-making skills because even the best plans endure some changes along the way. Be flexible.
3. Know your people. Get to know the people who work for you personally. This will help you establish a more cohesive team. At some point, you will have to evaluate them and be familiar with their skills. Communication plays a vital role in getting to know your team. Become a good listener and keep your people well informed. People will work harder to achieve goals that they understand. Rarely do people show high levels of motivation to work toward goals that they cannot see or understand. Get them involved. Know when to delegate tasks and responsibility to others within the group.
4. Resist the urge to micro-manage. Experience shows that micro-management, in most cases, is less effective than other management approaches. This is useful only in rare cases of low-skilled labor where people need extreme supervision in order to perform adequately. This does not apply to most modern management situations. Provide direction and the necessary resources and let people operate and think for themselves. You are here to guide progress, not think for everyone.
5. Lead by example. If you want your staff to work hard, show them that you are also willing to work hard. This will help you motivate others to follow your lead. There are several styles of leadership but you can apply leadership-by-example to any of them. Treat the people who work for you with the same respect that you would expect from them. Avoid using stress tactics to motivate them. This will result in resentment that can quickly erode an employee’s motivation as well as your relationship. You will find that being tactful and realistic in your expectations will receive far better results.
Practice these proven management techniques and you will be well on your way to developing an effective leadership style of your own. As you do this, you will also gain a greater confidence in your leadership skills.
For more information about controlling anxiety or building confidence, visit my site: How To Be Confident
Or feel free to check out my next article: How to Give a Speech
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